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History Facts They Didn’t Teach You At School

During WWII, the British & Soviets launched a joint invasion of neutral Iran.​


What could both the Brits and Ruskies want with this Middle-Eastern neutral country, you ask? C’mon, don’t be that guy.

It’s Iran for crying out loud.

They wanted all of that oil – that sweet, sweet oil – and they got it!

By invading the country in 1941 during Operation Countenance, they were jointly able to secure the Iranian oilfields, as well as a secure supply line for the Allied forces.
 

One in 200 men are direct descendants of Genghis Khan.​


The Mongolian Emperor was known for siring many, many children – at least 11!

Scientists conducted a study in 2003 which showed that one in 200 men share a Y chromosome with the conqueror.

This may not sound like a lot, but you should consider that there are roughly 3.7 billion men on the planet.

That makes a total of around 19 million men ancestors of the Great Khan!
 

Russia ran out of vodka celebrating the end of World War II.​


If you ask somebody to name things that are quintessentially Russian, they’ll probably say winter, communism and, of course, vodka.

It should come as no surprise that, after being punched almost all the way to Moscow by the Nazis then fighting their way back to Berlin, the Russians were pretty elated when they heard the news of the Third Reich’s fall.

Jubilation and street parties engulfed the Soviet Union, lasting for days and days – even non-drinkers saw this as cause enough to join in with the revelry.

That is until all of the nation’s vodka reserves ran out. A mere 22 hours after the partying started.

Now started the nationwide hangover…
 

There were “dance marathons” during the Great Depression.​


It wasn’t exactly a means of keeping the American spirit up through the darkest financial crisis in its history, either.

These human endurance contests served as a way of giving broke married couples a roof over their head and food to eat for a few days.

The dance partners would take turns sleeping while the other propped them up and continued dancing with them.
 

The Circus Maximum in Rome is still the largest capacity sports arena ever built.​


It was used for the execution of prisoners like Christian and Jewish people, part of the Roman Triumph, along with chariot racing.

Historians believe the Circus Maximum could hold between 150,000 – 250,000 people at any given time.

This means that it could hold more spectators than the Rungrado May Day Stadium in North Korea – the world’s largest capacity stadium – which can hold roughly 114,000 people.
 

The fastest surgeon ever ended up causing a 300% mortality rate.​


Before anesthesia, speed was essential when performing surgery to minimize pain to the patient, and also to ensure they didn’t have as much chance to writhe about during surgery.

Surgeon Robert Liston was considered “the fastest knife in the West”. He was a pioneer in speed-surgery.

One time, when performing a battlefield amputation in front of a group of spectators, Liston cut through his patient’s leg so quickly that he accidentally cut the fingers off his assistant.

One man who witnessed the surgery was also caught by the doctor’s knife. Upon feeling it tug on his coat and seeing blood splash on him, he collapsed and died of a heart attack.

Then, to make matters worse, Liston’s patient and his assistant died of blood poisoning from their joint-amputation.

This made Liston the only surgeon ever to have performed a surgery with a 300% mortality rate!
 

Adolf Hitler’s nephew fought against the Nazis in World War II.​


Born to the Führer’s half-brother Alois Hitler Jr. and his Irish wife Bridget Dowling in Liverpool, England, William Patrick Hitler (later William Patrick Stuart-Houston) moved from the UK to Germany, but later in life moved to the US.

During the Second World War, he was drafted into the United States Navy where he served as a Hospital Corpsman throughout the war until 1947.

He was wounded in action and was awarded with the Purple Heart, and went on to gain American citizenship.
 

Charles Darwin invented his own wheeled office chair.​


Why? Because the man was a genius, that’s why.

Although office chairs that were wheeled were already in production, they were not comfortable or in any way as ergonomic as what we have nowadays.

So, Darwin did something radical with his luxury armchair.

The man was a renowned workaholic, and when he wasn’t collecting specimens or eating them, he was sat down studying them and making notes.

He found that, in his study or lab area, he would have to go through the rigmarole of walking about the office from bench to bench, desk to desk.

So, to maximize his productivity and save him some valuable study time, he decided to attach wheels to his luxurious armchair.

Bonus history fact: Did you know that Charles Darwin ate one of every animal species he discovered?
 

The first official Medals of Honor were awarded during the American Civil War.​


They were awarded to Union soldiers who participated in the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862.

Volunteers of the Union Army, led by James J. Andrews, snuck in deep behind Confederate lines, commandeered an armored train and took it northward towards Tennessee, wreaking havoc on their Confederate foes along the way.
 

Hollywood moved from New York to Los Angeles to escape Edison’s patents.​


Hollywood is globally recognized as the movie capital of the world. Yet it wasn’t always so.

The movie industry was originally based in New York in the 1800s, which was close to New Jersey – and New Jersey was where patent-master Thomas Edison was based.

Edison had patents on over 1,000 different things, including most of the technology needed to make high-end movies, and boy did he flex on them patents.

In short, if you wanted to be in the movie business, you basically had to go through Edison.

So the “independent” film-makers chose an alternate option to fighting Edison: fleeing Edison. And that’s what they did!

They moved to California, to an area of the country where the judges weren’t as friendly to Edison and his patents, and where the wheels of copyright law would take longer to roll over them.
 

During World War II, Americans called hamburgers “liberty steaks”.​


This was due to the fact that “hamburger” sounded a little bit too German!

Also, during World War I, sauerkraut was re-dubbed “liberty cabbage”.
 
I love reading these facts!! All I watch is history or science stuff, so this is awesome for me.
 

The 7.62mm rifle bullet was created 129 years ago.​


Even if you’re not a gun nut, you’ve probably heard someone refer to this type of ammunition before. It’s the ammunition AK47 assault rifles use.

Therefore it should come as no surprise that it was developed by the Russian Empire in 1891

Originally designed for the Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifle, this round is still in-use today.

It’s one of the most common types of firearm ammunition in history.
 

Adolf Hitler helped design the Volkswagen Beetle.​


That’s right, the fella who gave a big thumbs up to the Holocaust also invented Herbie.

Nothing from your childhood is safe from Nazis.

Between Hitler and Ferdinand Porsche, the iconic and globally-loved Beetle was designed as part of a Hitler-revived German initiative to create “the people’s car” – an affordable and practical car that everyone could own.

In fact, the car manufacturer’s name “Volkswagen” translates to English as “People’s car”.
 

Winston Churchill had a Doctor’s note to drink an “indefinite” amount of alcohol in Prohibition America.​


Other than defiant hand gestures, iconic speeches, cigars and dapper hats, Winston Churchill is also renowned for his love of alcohol. Whiskey in particular.

In 1931, Churchill was involved in a car accident which left him with chest pain, as well as having bouts of depression to contend with.

Because of this, he was granted a Doctor’s note in 1932 for his time in the United States This allowed him drink an “indefinite” amount of alcohol for his duration of time in the Prohibition-era United States.
 

In Ancient Greece, they believed redheads became vampires after death.​


This was partly due to the fact that redheaded people are very pale skinned and sensitive to sunlight… unlike the bronze Mediterranean Greeks.

As well as the fact that a fair bit of vampire folklore existed within Greek mythology.
 

Abraham Lincoln was a wrestling champion.​


Before becoming America’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln was an avid wrestler. He only lost one fight out of 300.
 

The guillotine was invented to create “equality in execution”.​

The guillotine is an image that is fairly synonymous with France and the French Revolution.

Until it’s advent and widespread use, the regular methods of execution in France were rather savage. Punishment like being drawn and quartered were common.

The idea to use the guillotine as the main method of execution was part of the movement for equality in France that spurred on the revolution.

This created an equality in death and execution for citizens from all backgrounds.
 

Ferrets, dogs and monkeys were the most popular pets in the Roman Empire.​


Rather than having cats to hunt down vermin like mice and rats, the Romans used ferrets.

They also used dogs as sentries and guards, whilst they used monkeys for entertainment…

…Because monkeys are funny.
 

A Chernobyl firefighter was exposed to so much radiation, it changed his eye color.​


Vladimir Pravik was one of the first firefighters to reach Reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26th, 1986.

His job there was to contain the flames spewing from the building.

During his shift dousing the highly-radioactive flames of the burning reactor core, he was exposed to a shockingly lethal dose of radiation

It was so deadly that it changed his eye color from brown to blue.

Like the majority of the first responders to the Chernobyl disaster, Vladimir died 15 days later from severe radiation poisoning.
 

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