History
Discover facts about history. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
History
Gamelan orchestras require bronze gongs
Because subtle acoustics are boring when you can just hammer on heavy metal. These Indonesian ensembles are painstakingly tuned to each other rather than a…
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Before live scores, pigeons carried Olympic results
Because live streaming wasn't exactly an option. Towns heavily relied on strapping tiny scrolls of parchment to the legs of remarkably fast birds just to find…
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Who enforces international law
Unlike domestic laws which are enforced by police, international law relies exclusively on states mutually agreeing not to be terrible to one another. Since…
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Barbie has a surprisingly ordinary full name
Because even a tiny plastic icon needs a remarkably mundane backstory. The creators aggressively committed to the lore, gifting the world's most famous…
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African blacksmiths built early drafting furnaces
Pumping bellows manually is exhausting, so brilliant metalworkers constructed tall clay chimneys that naturally sucked in air at the base. This created a…
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How Paganini turned broken strings into a spectacle
Niccolo Paganini wasn't just a virtuoso; he was a master manipulator of the dramatic arts. To prove his unmatched skill, he would secretly fray the strings of…
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Secret military pacts forcefully triggered a global conflict
It turns out that making secret promises to defend your friends no matter what is a terrible geopolitical strategy. In the early 20th century, Europe was a…
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Chinese sailors used magnetic compasses for ocean navigation
While other mariners were nervously hoping the stars wouldn't get covered by clouds so they could figure out where they were, Chinese navigators were already…
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Antwerp Olympics featured korfball as a demonstration
Because basketball was clearly too violent. The 1920 Games showcased korfball, a Dutch sport where men and women play together and absolutely no dribbling or…
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Incas worshipped active lightning as holy events
To the Incas, a thunderstorm wasn't a reason to run for cover; it was a front-row seat to divine intervention. Illapa, the god of thunder, supposedly kept the…
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How coal tar helped create synthetic detergents
Getting your clothes flawlessly clean originally required industrial waste. When natural fats were scarce, chemists figured out how to synthesize aggressive…
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Japanese agents carried a brutal escape trick
Running away from highly aggressive guards is incredibly stressful, especially when they are catching up to you. Covert operatives effectively highly deterred…
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Oldest surviving piece of clothing resembles an ancient rag
Preserving a piece of fabric for over five thousand years results in a garment that looks exactly as terrible as you would expect. Excavated from an ancient…
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The prince forced to cluck on a nest of eggs
Empress Anna of Russia absolutely loved cruel practical jokes. When a prince displeased her, she literally forced him to sit on a giant nest of real eggs in a…
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Whistling indoors supposedly summoned spirits
Because making casual wind noises inside the house was viewed as an open invitation, people believed malicious entities would eagerly crash on their couch.
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Golden spike connected opposite American coasts by rail
The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad culminated in the driving of a ceremonial golden spike in Utah. It perfectly linked the east and west,…
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United States annexed Hawaii using a simple joint resolution
Taking over an entire sovereign nation usually requires a massive formal treaty, but lawmakers were heavily impatient. In 1898, pro-annexation politicians…
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Roman Pantheon has a massive hole in the ceiling
Sometimes brilliant engineering just accepts defeat against the weather. The ancient Roman Pantheon features an unreinforced concrete dome that is…
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Max Planck was told physics had no future
Receiving awful career advice is apparently a rite of passage for legendary scientists. Before fundamentally altering human history by discovering quantum…
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Revolutionary France tried a 10-day week
In a desperate bid to banish the traditional religious calendar, the government forced citizens to labor for nine exhausting days before granting a single day…
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Romans had a god of manure
When you have a deity for literally everything, you eventually have to assign one to feces. Sterculius was the Roman god of odor and manure, essential for…
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Louis XIV's courtiers copied his painful surgery
Nothing screams sycophancy quite like voluntarily undergoing rectal surgery to match the king. When King Louis XIV developed a severe anal fistula, a custom…
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Early cooking pots had long legs to stand over hot coals
Without convenient flat stovetops, every heavy piece of iron cookware had to awkwardly straddle the glowing embers like a creepy metallic spider.
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The Hundred Years' War lasted 116 years
Historians are notoriously terrible at counting. The massive dynastic slugfest between the kings of England and France over who had the right to wear a heavy…
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