Quick! What are the first five facts that come to mind about history, right off the top of your head?
For me:
1. Benjamin Franklin liked hookers.
2. Van Buren was the only Cabinet member not to snub Peggy Eaton.
3. Temujin = Genghis Khan
4. Taft got stuck in a bathtub once.
5. Einstein's Jewish.
Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
I don't have any, but I love little facts and always ready to acquire some new ones!
Posted by Hamson (Member # 7808) on :
1. Lincoln had a tall hat
2. Teddy Roosevelt liked the outdoors
3. FDR had discussions with Stalin and Churchill
4. A lot of folks lived in Hoovervilles during the great depression
5. German planes had great fuel difficulties while fighting in the Battle of Britan
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
There are only two dates you need to know in British history. 55BC and 1066.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
1. Augustus Caesar's daughter was married off so many times, she'd practically slept with every man in Rome, and Augustus was the last to know. She was more or less a giant nympho, and he exiled her to an island, never to see another man again.
2. Archeologists in North Africa discovered a massive cavern with thousands upon thousands of jars full of burned baby parts in them from Carthaginian human sacrifice rituals. There could be thousands more, but when they found room after room after room full of them, eventually they just stopped looking.
3. I can't remember who, but I want to say it was Charlemagne, either way it was one of of those Frankish emperors, died while on campaign. His horse reared up on him and drove the pommel of his saddle up into his, ahem, royal jewels. He later died of sepsis of the, jewels, and was taken to his home town to be buried. It being a hot summer on campaign, his corpse began to expand from the heat. He had to be stuffed into a premade coffin made of stone, but his body didn't fit because it was so bloated. So after they stuffed him in and put the lid on to try and cover the smell, the bishop started giving the service, only the coffin exploded from the expanding gases, covering the mass of mourners in emperor soup.
4. During the American Revolution, the grand majority of the people were Tories, not Revolutionaries.
5. After Louis the XVI had been taken to his Paris palace after being dragged there from Versailles, the people stormed the palace to get at him. He ordered his Swiss mercenary guard not to defend themselves, as he honestly didn't want to hurt his people. They were summarily butchered. Louis, knowing that there was nothing he could do asked the mob if his household staff would be allowed to exit safely. The mob agreed. When the household staff exited, the people promptly killed them, butchered them, and even fired their heads back into the palace with a cannon. The head of his children's tutor crashed into the room where his family was hiding and rolled in front of his young son. Eventually Louis and Marie were captured and put to death while vendors sold little toy guillotines in the surrounding areas.
Posted by Amilia (Member # 8912) on :
1. So much flour was used in hairdressing during the 1770s that it contributed to the food shortage which contributed to the French Revolution.
2. When they autopsied Stalin after his death, they discovered that large portions of his brain had deteriorated.
3. When the Tatars (Mongols) invaded Russia, they didn't take time out to cook their food. They would just put their meat under their saddles as they rode around all day. The meat would marinate in the horse's sweat, and be ready to eat at night when they climbed off the horse. So if you order meat at a restaurant Tatar style, that's what it is. Raw and marinated.
4. After the Russian army defeated Napoleon, they followed him back to France. There, they went to the restaurants, ordered food, and yelled, "Bistro, bistro!" (Quickly, quickly!) The name stuck.
5. The Netherlanders were prepared to open all of their dykes and flood the country to stop Hitler's army advancing through them to France. Unfortunately, the Germans came through on bicycles pretending to be tourists.
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
1. George Washington had wooden teeth.
2. Pocohontas married John Rolfe, went to England and died.
3. The colony of Roanoke disappeared and no one has ever known exactly what happened to them. (Although it is now suspected that they may have been absorbed into the Lumbi Indian tribe.)
4. John Adams final words were, "My only regret in dying is that Thomas Jefferson is still alive." Ironically, Thomas Jefferson died a few hours before John Adams but there was no way to get the news to him.
5. In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
1. The Christian Scientists once thought this guy Noel Pemberton-Billing (Britain's pet xenophobe during the first World War) was the Savior, but he was in jail awaiting libel trial and they feared he'd be convicted so they sent a fine woman from among their number to him and she made sweet sweet love with Pemberton-Billing so that in case he did get convicted at least there'd be little Savior offspring to continue his good work. 2. The Stonewall Riots began on Christopher Street on June 27, 1969. 3. CCC means Civilian Conservation Corps, one of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs. 4. Voltaire said the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire. 5. Ernest Hemingway wrote a poem once making fun of Dorothy Parker for failing to kill herself properly.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Here's just one for you.
1. The Battle of New Orleans, the biggest battle of the Spanish-American war, was fought two weeks after the treaty ending the war was signed.
Posted by Paul Goldner (Member # 1910) on :
Here's a good one: News of the American victory over teh British at Trenton arrived several weeks after the french had already decided to support the Revolutionary cause.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
When President Harding died the newsboys association saved pennies to build a statue of his Airedale, Laddie Boy, which was actually cast out of those pennies.
Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
quote: the coffin exploded from the expanding gases, covering the mass of mourners in emperor soup.
Oh man. That's priceless!
Posted by james01 (Member # 8863) on :
When Romulus and Remus were at Rome, Remus got the first sign, but he only had six birds. Romulus' came next, he had twelve birds which meant that his was better. So he killed his brother and founded Rome on the Palatine hill.
When Rome shrank, it abandoned all it's hills and basically existed in the campus martius area.
Posted by Raventhief (Member # 9002) on :
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: Here's just one for you.
1. The Battle of New Orleans, the biggest battle of the Spanish-American war, was fought two weeks after the treaty ending the war was signed.
Isn't that the War of 1812?
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
quote:Originally posted by Raventhief:
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: Here's just one for you.
1. The Battle of New Orleans, the biggest battle of the Spanish-American war, was fought two weeks after the treaty ending the war was signed.
Isn't that the War of 1812?
Umm...No. The war of 1812 was called the War of 1812. The Spanish-American war was different and was fought in 1898 almost 100 years later.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
Uhmm..No. The Battle of New Orleans was the last battle of the War of 1812 and was won by Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :
quote:Originally posted by andi330: Umm...No. The war of 1812 was called the War of 1812. The Spanish-American war was different and was fought in 1898 almost 100 years later.
I'm assuming that Raventhief meant that the battle in question took place during the war of 1812 instead of the Spanish American war. I'm pretty sure that he is right about it, too.
Posted by Raventhief (Member # 9002) on :
Yes, Ricree, that's what I meant. The Spanish-American War wasn't fought on US soil, and gave us such things as "Remember the Maine" and the battle of the Philipines.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
this song is much much better.
Posted by A Rat Named Dog (Member # 699) on :
1. During World War II, the Finnish hid land mines under the surface of frozen lakes. They weren't powerful enough to destroy a Russian tank, but they were powerful enough to SINK one.
2. Vlad the Impaler impaled people.
3. Genghis Khan was one of the first conquerors to employ hand-carried firearms.
4. Easter Island was probably NOT settled from South America.
5. Shackleton's expedition totally died.
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
quote:John Adams final words were, "My only regret in dying is that Thomas Jefferson is still alive." Ironically, Thomas Jefferson died a few hours before John Adams but there was no way to get the news to him.
From what I understand, his final words were "Thomas Jefferson lives." (Nothing about regret) Those two men were almost the last living signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Posted by dantesparadigm (Member # 8756) on :
Lyrhawn, the aforementioned French monarch was William the Conqueror. I just had to do a report on him and I took the liberty of borrowing some of your explicit detailing of his corpseification. Hope you don't mind.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Cay is right, those were Adams' final words.
And William the Conqueror! Can't believe I forgot that.
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Oh man. That's priceless!
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