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Some weird stuff went down, and we’re glad some weirdos wrote it down

32 Trivia Tidbits About History

June 28, 2024

You can roll your eyes all you want, but we wouldn’t be here without the good, the bad and the weird things that went on before our time. Not to get all “butterfly effect” on you, but today we’re stopping to appreciate the fact that these little facts all played a role in the fact that we’re all able to sit here reading these facts!

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32

The US military was segregated Black men and women fought for their country but were denied basic human rights. For example, Black servicemen could not enter Southern restaurants where their German prisoners were served meals. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

In the US, 70% of codebreakers were women . DAZOR 11,000 women were in the Army and Navy as codebreakers. In 1944, they intercepted 30,000 water-transport messages a month, enabling the Navy to sink almost every transport ship to the South Pacific. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Jewish resistance fighters fought against Nazi persecution From rescue missions to underground railroads to launching attacks even within camps, many Jewish people risked their lives to save others. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

There is one recorded case of men on horseback capturing a naval fleet. In the Battle of Texel in January 1795, a fleet of 14 Dutch ships was trapped in ice near Texel Island. The French heard of that and sent infantry, cavalry, and horse artillery forces to capture them. Apparently, there was no fighting - after a five-day standoff, the ships surrendered. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Muppets started the trend of post-credits scenes. 1979's The Muppets Movie kickstarted the trend in the '80s, which Ferris Bueller's Day Off was a part of ---and Ferris inspired the post-credits scenes in the MCU. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

27

As a young man, Samuel L. Jackson had to run from Atlanta for his life. In 1969, he was buying guns because he was sure there'd be a revolution, and somebody from the FBI came to his mom and told her to get him out of Atlanta so he doesn't get killed. So he flew to Los Angeles where his aunt lived. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

26

Germany lost WWII partly because Hitler slept in late. His underlings were told not to wake him up no matter what, and he slept until 11 or noon on D-Day. And even after he got up, he was sure the D-Day assault was just a diversion, so he didn't send any reinforcements - it took a while to change his mind on that. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Madame Tussaud made death masks for people executed in the French Revolution. The death masks were made using heads cut by the guillotine - and, to make things much worse, they were often her friends (she used to be the king's sister's art tutor). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Ancient Egyptians revered beer. They drank it daily and at religious rituals, and gave it divine status. The goddess Hathor was called, among other things, The Lady of Drunkenness. Even laborers, including those who built the pyramids, got a ration of over 10 pints of beer a day. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

23

The Great Wall of China is partly made of rice. The builders added sticky rice to the mortar, which made the Wall more stable and helped protect it against earthquakes and exposure to the elements. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

22

The UK dumped about 1.17 million tons of weapons in a deep sea trench. The sea above Beaufort Dyke They kept dumping both conventional and chemical weapons from the '20s to the '70s into Beaufort Dyke, which has caused underwater explosions over the years. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

21

In Australia, there's a fire that started burning before the pyramids were built. A coal seam under the surface of Mount Wingen began smoldering 6,000 years ago, and hasn't stopped since. It's the world's oldest continuous coal fire. x NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

20

A giant paperclip-like creature roamed the seas 68 million years ago. Diplomoceras maximum was about five feet long, similar to a squid, and had a shell shaped like a paperclip. D. maximum's lifespan might have been 200 years, and it grew a new rib on its shell each year. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

19

In the early 19th century, West Point's 1st year curriculum was just math and French. The best math textbooks at the time were in French, so students had to learn the language first. And they needed math because they were all military engineers -- West Point was the first engineering school in the U.S. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

18

Before you call some drab, uptight person a Puritan, realize that Puritans actually wore colorful clothes rather than the stereotypical all-black ensembles. They also drank in moderation and had healthy sexual appetites. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

A picture of an adorable little girl in the 1880's ? Nope, this is our 32nd President FDR, before children's clothes were gender GRACKED.COM specific. — Source

16

FRANCE STILL USED THE GUILLOTINE IN 1977, 3 MONTHS AFTER STAR WARS WAS RELEASED... CRACKED COM — Source

15

GRACKED.COM Not all Americans supported the JACOB HERRLICH SONS Allies - - UNSERE ENNAERA von EVERY ME American Nazis parade in New York City East 86th St. Oct. 30, 1939 Two months after WW2 started — Source

14

You might already know that when the French gave us the Statue of Liberty, it was bronze. But they also didn't bother putting it together, presumably sending Lady Liberty with IKEA assembly CRACKED.COM instructions. — Source

13

GRAGKED.COM Blitzkrieg sometimes looked like this. The german 1st Cavalry Division fought in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and on the Eastern Front. — Source

12

Bill Withers got into music when he found out how much Lou Rawls was making. Не heard a nightclub manager complaining that Rawls was late even though he was getting paid $2,000 a week - - and when Rawls eventually showed up to the club, he got a ton of attention from women. Soon, Withers bought a cheap guitar and started writing songs. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

11

We've only been cultivating blueberries for about 100 years. In 1911, botanist Frank Coville figured out that blueberries need highly acidic soil, which made it possible to start cultivating them. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

10

In the '70s, as part of the Apollo program, NASA was going to build a moon base for six people. The project was only cancelled because Nixon saw the Apollo program as a leftover from JFK's and LBJ's administrations, and stopped supporting it. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

9

When Lenin spoke English, he had an Irish accent. Specifically, he had a Rathmines accent (Rathmines is a Dublin suburb). Apparently, when Lenin was in London and was trying to learn English, he must have had an Irish tutor. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

8

Beethoven used exactly 60 beans in his cup of coffee. This was so important to him, he would often count every bean when he made coffee. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

7

The oldest known joke is about farts. It's a 3,900-year-old Sumerian joke that goes Something which has never occurred since time immemorial - a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

6

There's a region in Canada with slightly less gravity. People in the Hudson Bay region would weigh a tenth of an ounce less than they would anywhere else, in a phenomenon attributed to a dent in the earth left by a massive ice sheet 21,000 years ago. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Canada is technically called The Dominion of Canada. The spooky formal title, which was applied after the Canadian confederation in 1867, was meant to signify Canada' place within the British empire, but has since been steadily phased out as the country grew more independent. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

Canada was a training hub for WWII pilots. Over 130,000 air crewmen, including pilots from Britain, Australia, and New Zealand were trained in Canada during the second world war as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Program. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Mounties were created to fend off dumb Americans. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were created in part as a response to the shenanigans of Americans trading illegal whiskey along the border between the two countries CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Maple Syrup has a long history in Canada. MAPLE SYRUP A FAMILY TRADITION MAPLE SYRUP A FAMILY TRADITION First harvested from maple trees by Canada's first nation peoples, maple sap became a valuable commodity to Europeans settlers. Syrup and sugar became a major export for colonists in the 1700s and 1800s, and it's still a major Canadian industry today. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

Canada took in 120,000 Vietnam War refugees. Fleeing political violence following the war's end in 1973, thousands of refugees from South Vietnam arrived in Canada from 1975 to 1982. A number of refugees arrived by Boat to Canada's shores. CRACKED.COM — Source

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