21 Historical Badasses No One Ever Talks About

Nellie Bly was killing it
21 Historical Badasses No One Ever Talks About

They say that fortune favors the bold, and that goes double for history. You never hear about someone conquering an outsized army, saving untold numbers of lives or changing everything we thought we knew about something by being super chill; so most of the figures in our history textbooks are at least portrayed as badasses. Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders. Abraham Lincoln and his vampire hunting. George Washington and his approximately 30 goddamn dicks. At least one of those is definitely real.

But there are plenty of badasses in history that we never hear about. Often, it’s because they were a woman or racial minority, and the white men who have usually served as historians had a medical condition that made those kinds of badasses invisible. Other times, they just never attracted much attention for whatever reason, even if they did stuff that handily outshone more famous figures. When user sgtxsarge asked r/AskReddit, “Who are some badasses in history that school didn’t teach you about?,” Reddit proved just how many did.

DaDogeDestroys . 4y ago Sgt. stubby a dog from ww1 captured a German sniper position and saved many lives from gas attacks and charges from the enemies. Stubby also led field medics to injured soldiers positions. It just proves that dogs are mans best friend.
-eDgAR- 4y ago Tommy Fitzpatrick. In 1956 he stole a small plane from New Jersey for a bet and then landed it perfectly on the narrow street in front of the bar he had been drinking at in Manhattan. Two years later, he did it again after someone didn't believe he had done it the first time. What's also crazy is that the punishment for the first time ended up being only a $100 fine, since the charges were dropped by the owner of the plane, and the second resulted in only 6 months in jail.
pntlesdevilsadvocate 4y ago Bass Reeves. First black US Marshal; credited with arresting over 3000 felons. Very badass dude.
Sausthab_123 . 4y ago Lacchiman Gurung, a Gorkha soldier. Man had just lost an arm in midst of battle and still continued battling 100s of Japanese with a single rifle single handedly.
Mewmacree 4y ago Leo Major. Canadian hero who liberated and ENTIRE DUTCH CITY IN WW2 SINGLE HANDEDLY Honestly Canadians seem all polite but as soon you in war with them, you dead.
4y ago I haven't seen it yet. Pegahmagabow was a Canadian sniper from ww1. Не would often go to enemy trenches to steal food and supplies and even cut off pieces of german uniforms and a whole lot of other things. Look him up.
4y ago Marcus Cassius Scaeva Не was a Roman centurion unlike any other. Had a shield covered in arrows, ripped an arrow out of his eye, got shot with two more, and still held the line.
4y ago Vasily Zaitsev. Не was a ww II Russian Sniper with deadly accuracy. Between 10 November 1942 and 17 December 1942, during the Battle of Satlingrad, he killed 225 enemy soldiers, including 11 snipers. Many of his tactics are used by snipers today.
jlweed94 4y ago John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, also went by Jack Churchill, Fighting Jack Churchill and Mad Jack. This wonderous British Officer carried around a longbow and arrow and a Scottish longsword during WW2. To top that all off, he also had some bagpipes.
4y ago Gotta go with the berzerker of Stamford Bridge. A giant Norse axeman who apparently slaughtered about 40 English soldiers and held up their entire army himself, and was only killed when one soldier snuck under the bridge and impaled him, presumably in the groin.
asleepingpotato 4y ago Horatius Cocles, a Roman officer who almost single-handedly held off an entire army at a bridge, stalling long enough for his comrades to destroy the bridge, cutting off the enemy from Rome. I know he has some help on that bridge, but damn.... that's badass imo
akoontz 4y ago Hercules Mulligan. Sons of Liberty spy who made uniforms for British officers during their occupation of New York in the Revolution. The officers openly talked about British plans and strategies and Mulligan got that info to Washington. Twice, he saved Washington's life.
MattyDub89 4y ago Edited 4y ago William Billy Lee...he was George Washington's attendant slave, and as such, he accompanied Washington just about everywhere. As a result, he not only became an accomplished horseman (due to Washington being a top level rider himself), but he was also in the midst of the fighting throughout the entire Revolutionary War (likely making him one of the first African Americans to be a part of that cause...in general, non-whites weren't allowed to participate directly until a ways into the war, IIRC). Не was also the only slave of Washington's who was freed immediately when
vvvaaaggguuueee 4y ago Edited 4y ago Ernst Junger Professional soldier im WWI. Had a blast, loved it and wrote a book about how much fun he had called Storm Of Steel. Lamented conscription as picking off lads who didnt want to be there was too easy and just seemed unsporting. Outspoken about German politics, remained in the military, not a fan of Hitler but when his henchmen said to kill him, Hitler famously said let Junger be... because he was such an actual, genuine badass and legend. Не got posted looking after occupied Paris and keeping folk in check there
you_cant_pause_toast 4y ago Nellie Bly - A female journalist who in 1887 pretended to be mentally unstable to be admitted into the Women's Lunatic Asylum in New York City. She stayed there 10 days and wrote an expose of the abuses and deplorable conditions there. She also lived in Mexico for 6 months and wrote dispatches back the US. She later took a trip around the world that took 72 days, a world record at the time. She wrote about her travels in the New York World newspaper. She also traveled abroad to cover World War I, was arrested mistakenly thought ot
JupiterTarts 4y ago Lapu-Lapu. History books often cite Magellan's death with a passing sentence like died in southeast asia while circumnavigating the world but Filipinos know he was killed in the Philippines by Lapu-Lapu in the Battle of Mactan. When Magellan landed in the Philippines, he made a deal with a neighboring king, Humabon, that if Magellan took care of a rival chief on the other side of the island, Humabon would swear fealty to the the king of Spain. Magellan had no idea he was being used. Magellan initially offered not to attack Lapu-Lapu if he bowed to both
CapaxInfini 4y ago Agnodice was a woman living in Athens. She became tired of seeing women dying in childbirth so she decided to be a doctor. Of course everyone told her no because she was a woman so she used mad acting skills to disguise herself as a man and enrolled in medical school. A few years later she finished studying and began working as a doctor for pregnant women. All the other doctors became antsy about this new doctor who was doing a better job than they were and accused Agnodice of sleeping with her patients. At the court
mindfeces 4y ago Ahmose I The Hyksos had conquered Lower Egypt and retained it for several generations. Ahmose's father, Segenenre Tao, of the Theban nobility, desired to reunify Egypt. Tao led an army to meet the Hyksos, personally entered the battle and was killed in the fray. Ahmose's brother died shortly after and his burial indicates he, too, may have been a warrior pharoah. Ahmose was a child watching this unfold. Не waited years, trained and schooled, preparing for his time. When he came of age, he, too was a warrior pharoah, and he led a scorched earth campaign against
verminiusrex 4y ago Joe Medicine Crow was the last Native American to completed all four tasks required to become a war chief: touching an enemy without killing him (counting coup), taking an enemy's weapon, leading a successful war party, and stealing an enemy's horse. Не did this during WW2. Не died about 4 years ago, age 102.
4y ago Ching Shih She was a Chinese pirate who led a massive fleet of somewhere between 20,000 to 40,000 men, and ruled over the South China Sea and had influence in all of China's territorial waters. Her fleet stood toe to toe with the likes of the British Empire, the Portuguese Empire, and The Qing dynasty.
Noximilien05 4y ago Edited 4y ago Albert Jacka some kind of Australian superhuman that : Slashed his way trough Dardanelles and made a trône out of the ottoman corpses. This fight owned him the Victoria's cross in the north of France he god blown up by a grenade but he got up and began to PUNCH his way out of a trench, got shoot 7 times with 1 bullet in the head... but got up AGAIN free 20 prisoners and push back thé offensive Не then was transferred to a communication and information-gathering unit where he kept his usual modus operandi

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