History

History Why Was George Spencer Executed? June 5, 2021

History Was Hades Misunderstood? June 1, 2021

History Why Was a School in Poland Named After an Indian Maharaja? May 3, 2021

History Why Did Staten Island Want to Secede From New York? May 2, 2021

History La Reyne Le Veult: Why Are Bills in the English Parliament Confirmed in French? April 28, 2021

History In 1879 it was estimated the Oxford English Dictionary would take 10 years to complete, but in five years they'd only reached the word "Ant". After crowdsourcing readers to help, it was completed 44 years later. The publishers now estimate it would take a single person 120 years to just type it. April 16, 2021

History In 1969, at the height of the Cold War, the Apollo 11 crew carried commemorative medals to the moon to honor two Soviet cosmonauts who died as part of the USSR's human spaceflight program April 13, 2021

History During WW2, Ernest Hemingway used his fishing boat named after his ex-wife (Pilar) to hunt German U-boats in the Caribbean armed only with Thomson machine guns and hand grenades. He was given unlimited gasoline by the US government. April 13, 2021

History After Puyi, the last Emperor of China, was dethroned, he worked as a street cleaner and would visit the Forbidden Palace as a tourist and point out the various objects on display that he used to own as Emperor. March 28, 2021

History People who speak Icelandic can still understand the old Icelandic Sagas because of how little the language has changed over the past 1000 years. March 23, 2021

History The statue of George Washington in Trafalgar Square in London sits on a base of soil imported from Virginia because Washington swore he would never set foot on British soil again. "In a square that marks one of Britain's greatest victories stands a reminder of one of its greatest defeats." March 21, 2021

History For centuries the city of Troy was considered a myth until it was re-discovered in 1871 in present day Turkey. The area had been excavated before but the ruins of Troy were beneath newer excavations and had gone untouched for millennia even though the site had people living on top of it. March 21, 2021

History There is no physical description of Jesus Christ in the Bible. All current evidence and portrayals of his appearance are based on cultural settings, political settings and theological contexts. March 20, 2021

History It was illegal for Americans to own gold (except for some jewelry and collectors coins) between 1933 and 1975. March 15, 2021

History The soviets built a chain of remote lighthouses along the arctic coast, each one powered by it's own miniature nuclear generator. In total 1007 of these generators were put in place, several of which remain unaccounted for. March 15, 2021

History In 1992, a California middle school ordered teachers to cover up all "obscene" words in Fahrenheit 451 with black marker before issuing copies to students. The school stopped this practice after local newspapers commented on the irony of defacing a book that condemns censorship. March 14, 2021

History A Christian sect called "Millerites" believed that Christ would return by Oct. 22, 1844. When that didn't happen, the "Great Disappointment" caused them to fall into confusion and disband, with some former Millerites reinterpreting their doctrine and forming the Seventh Day Adventists. March 5, 2021

History When Truman told Stalin about the Manhattan project in July of 1945, Stalin displayed little reaction, since Stalin had known about the project for almost 4 years before Truman, and he arguably knew more about it than Truman himself did. February 26, 2021

History In 427BC Athens sent a ship to Mytilene which had instructions to kill all adult men in the city-state. The next day, Athenians voted to change their decision - a second ship was dispatched. Racing through the night, it reached Mytilene just in time to prevent the massacre from happening. February 25, 2021

History Female gladiators or "gladiatrices" existed in ancient Rome, but were rare because it was considered unwomanly. One gladiatrix of note was a woman who fought wild boars with a spear while topless, and who would squat to urinate in front of a stunned crowd. February 22, 2021