History
Discover facts about history. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
History
Westphalian treaties literally forged the modern nation state
After thirty years of utterly destroying the continent over internal religious squabbles, exhausted delegates finally sat down and invented the deeply radical…
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Mechanized printing destroyed the scribe industry
Prior to the printing press, copying a book meant paying a professional scribe to manually write out thousands of pages over several months. Mechanization…
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The lacquer finish built one toxic layer at a time
Creating a shiny bowl shouldn't require risking a massive allergic reaction, but that never stopped traditional artisans. The sap used to coat wooden items is…
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Early plates were squares of wood with a carved depression
Fine china was centuries away, meaning you aggressively ate your daily gruel out of a slightly scooped-out wooden plank like a mildly civilized farm animal.
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Aristocrats once served live animals in pies
Four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie wasn't just a nursery rhyme. Aristocrats loved 'entremets' where cutting the crust released a swarm of live animals…
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Woad leaves were processed for blue dye in the Levant
Before alternative blue dyes became widely available, dyers in the Levant heavily relied on the woad plant. Processing the leaves involved a highly pungent…
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The Soviet tank designed to fly
When regular ground superiority isn't enough, just strap glider wings to a heavily armored death machine. In 1942, Soviet engineers designed the Antonov A-40,…
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Why Picasso carried a revolver loaded with blanks
Because normal artists just heavily critique people, but legendary artists fiercely pretend to shoot them. Picasso deeply idolized the aggressive writer…
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Warli stick figures map out communal life
Because highly detailed realism takes too much effort. Using basic circles, triangles, and white rice paste, tribal artists covered entire mud walls with…
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Immanuel Kant barely left his hometown
You don't need to see the world to fundamentally change how humans perceive it. Despite writing extensively on geography, anthropology, and the fundamental…
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Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first pro baseball team
In an era where athletes firmly insisted on playing for civic pride, one team realized they could just openly ask for cash. Founded in 1869, the Cincinnati…
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Ohio and Michigan nearly fought over a strip of land
Nothing screams American pride quite like nearly triggering a civil war over a swamp in the Midwest. In 1835, due to poorly drawn mapping lines, both the…
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The cat that survived three shipwrecks
A deeply unlucky, yet simultaneously indestructible feline managed to be on board three separate massive ships that aggressively sank to the bottom of the…
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Ashtapada served as an early Indian grid board game
Played on an uncheckered 64-square board, Ashtapada laid the conceptual groundwork for multiple future tabletop obsessions. Ancient Indian enthusiasts spent…
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Richard Wagner insisted on pink silk underwear
Richard Wagner wrote thunderous, aggressively masculine operas, but his personal wardrobe was a wildly different story. He had an obsessive sensory fixation…
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The baseball game that cheap beer turned into chaos
Selling unlimited incredibly cheap alcohol to angry sports fans remains the worst promotional idea in history. A 1974 baseball game descended into apocalyptic…
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When hailstones grew as large as melons
A historically violent 19th-century storm over rural Europe battered the landscape with jagged, absurdly massive hailstones. It casually smashed roofs,…
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The riot sparked by Chicago's closed taverns
You can mess with a lot of things, but do not touch the cheap pints. In 1855, the city tried to drastically raise liquor license fees and close taverns on…
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The dot over your i has a strange name
Yes, that annoying little speck you always forget to write has an actual, somewhat ridiculous name. Scribes introduced the tittle in the 11th century just so…
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How Chinese garments stay fastened without buttons
Plastic buttons and metallic zippers are hideous interruptions to a perfectly good piece of silk. Instead, classic garments secure themselves using complex,…
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Patents began as a way to steal trade secrets
The concept of intellectual property didn't begin as a noble quest to protect inventors. Fifteenth-century Venice essentially bribed foreign artisans by…
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Romans sweetened wine with poisonous lead
Nothing elevates a mediocre vintage quite like heavy metal poisoning. Romans boiled their grape juice in lead pots to create a syrup called sapa, which tasted…
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Medieval bathhouses were social clubs
Contrary to the widespread myth that everyone was permanently filthy, medieval bathhouses were hugely popular, steamy social hangouts.
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A cat's walk inspired a sonata
Long before keyboard cats took over the internet, they were influencing classical composition. Scarlatti had a pet cat named Pulcinella who enjoyed walking…
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