'We put man on the moon before wheels on suitcases': 20+ Surprising historical facts to make you question reality

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
May 29, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

As the old saying goes, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." But sometimes the past is so hard to wrap your head around that you can't fully integrate it into your understanding of reality. As they often say, truth is stranger than fiction. Nobody knows that better than historians. The fact that always gets me is that Martin Luther King Jr. and Anne Frank were born in the same year. That one is always a shock to the system. 

But it's important to remember these moments because they help us understand our place in space and time. No, we did not fall out of a coconut tree… we exist in the context of everything that came before us and will come after us. So here is a collection of surprising historical odds and ends that will remind you of that. And you can use them at your next dinner party. 

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  • 01
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    via Giammarco Boscaro
  • 02
    r/AskReddit u/thankdestroyer • 1d What's a historical fact that would shock most people to find out?
    via u/thankdestroyer
  • 03
    Putrid-Reputation-68 • 20h The ancient Greeks, inventors of democracy, would elect their officials to one year terms. Each officials' finances were audited at the beginning and end of their term. If anything was amiss, they would be tried and executed.
    via u/Putrid-Reputation-68
  • 04
    lordpanda 22h . Picasso, Bruce Lee and JRR Tolkien all died the same year.
    via u/lordpanda
  • 05
    SuvenPan 23h The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War was the deadliest conflict since World War 2 with over 5 million people killed. Most people have never heard of it despite it ending in 2003.
    via u/SuvenPan
  • 06
    little-bird89. 1d The year 536 was deemed the worst year to be alive. Volcanic eruptions caused prolonged dark sky for up to 18 months. This then caused a mini ice age, crop failures and plague over the next 10 years killing millions Also the name Tiffany has been in use since the 1600s
    via u/little-bird89
  • 07
    mightytonto 23h • Sharks are older than the rings on Saturn
    via u/mightytonto
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    BuckChickman2 • 1d Woodrow Wilson was mentally and emotionally incapacitated by a massive stroke in October 1919, and his wife and doctors essentially ran the country until Harding took office in 1921. Some historians refer to Edith Wilson as "the first female president."
    via u/BuckChickman2
  • 09
    pumper911 • 1d We are closer to the time of the T-Rex than the T- Rex is to the time of the Stegosaurus
    via u/pumper911
  • 10
    doublestitch • 1d Sharpshooter Annie Oakley had a stage act where she would shoot a cigarette out of someone's mouth. While she was touring Europe, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany surprised everyone on a whim and insisted on holding the cigarette. Ever the professional, Oakley shot the cigarette without harming the Kaiser. Several years later WWI is underway and the US goes to war against Germany. Oakley wrote a letter to Kaiser Wilhelm asking if she could have another try at that shot. He didn't r
    via u/doublestitch
  • 11
    HerpinDerpNerd12 • 1d It took about 4 times longer to get from copper swords to steel swords, than it took from steel swords to atomic bombs.
    via u/HerpinDerpNerd12
  • 12
    Tsquare43 23h Hitler, Stalin, Tito, Freud and Trotsky were all in Vienna, 1913.
    via u/Tsquare43
  • 13
    Ceilibeag 22h • You may not want to visit the shore town of Sheerness in England; what with all the unexploded ordinance right off the coast that someday *might* become the largest non-nuclear explosion made by man...
    via u/Ceilibeag
  • 14
    Knowledge_Regret ⚫ 21h • We put man on the moon before wheels on suitcases
    via u/Knowledge_Regret
  • 15
    LemmingLou • 1d As far as we know, John Adams is the only "Founding Father" of the United States that never enslaved anyone.
    via u/LemmingLou
  • 16
    RaspberryBirdCat ⚫ 23h • Approximately 8% of Canadians were enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I. That isn't 8% of eligible Canadians, or 8% of Canadian men; that's 8% of the entire population of Canada. If a similar proportion enlisted in the United States today, there would be 26 million people serving in the US Armed Forces.
    via u/RaspberryBirdCat
  • 17
    Extreme-Insurance877 • 21h The tram was invented by a Mr. Train King George III was personally against the Stamp Act, and in NY a statue was erected of him in thanks for his role in appealing it Nelson Mandela was listed as a terrorist threat (and remained on the terrorist watch-list) in the USA up until 2008
    via u/Extreme-Insurance877
  • 18
    WJMorris3 21h • The last use of the guillotine in France and the release of the firstStar Wars movie occurred in the same year 1977.
    via u/WJMorris3
  • 19
    I_might_be_weasel • 23h Door knobs were invented in 1848.
    via u/I_might_be_weasel
  • 20
    ChronoLegion2 • 14h The world's first programmer was Ada Lovelace in the 1840s. She was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron. Two programming languages were named after her
    via u/ChronoLegion2
  • 21
    No-uh19 19h . Some Greenland sharks have been alive since before the U.S. became a country
    via u/No-uh19
  • 22
    20 viscousrobot46 • 1d George Washington's dentures were not wooden, but were crafted from various materials, animal teeth, and the teeth of enslaved people.
    via u/viscousrobot46
  • 23
    Fun_Intention_484 • 23h That Ronald Regan and Harriett Tubman were alive at the same time.
    via u/Fun_Intention_484
  • 24
    nmkelly6 19h • When the colosseum was used for fighting they used to line the stage with sand to soak up the blood. The Latin name for sand is harena, which means "sand" or "sandy space"...so that's why we call modern concert/show spaces arenas.
    via u/nmkelly6
  • 25
    Ironborn 62 • 23h Jimmy Stewart tried to join up in World War 2. They told him he was too skinny. He went home, got a trainer, and bulked up. He flew 20 combat missions.
    via u/Ironborn_62

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