History
Discover facts about history. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
History
Steven Spielberg helped turn World War II into a video game
Spielberg helped bring the World War II game Medal of Honor to life, aiming to give younger players an interactive way into the conflict. The result was a hit…
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The Vatican has its own soccer team
The Vatican’s amateur squad draws from people who work there: Swiss Guards, papal employees, and museum guards share the yellow-and-white kit. It’s less a…
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When the Soviet Union gave everyone different weekends
In 1929, the Soviet Union replaced the conventional calendar with a five-day rotating workweek, so family members often had different days off. The schedule…
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The pope who quit after five months
The hermit pope Celestine V wrote a decree allowing himself to resign after just five months, then returned to his cave. His successor confined him in a…
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King John's baggage disappeared into the Wash
In 1216, the king's baggage train suffered a disaster while crossing the tidal waters around the Wash. The event became the foundation of a famous…
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A palace ceiling killed Pope John XXI
A roof in a secluded palace study collapsed on Pope John XXI, fatally injuring him.
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Spanish royal court required women to wear huge hoop skirts
A broad skirt announced status at court, but its rigid willow-and-whalebone frame made ordinary doorways a daily negotiation. The silhouette could command a…
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The 1900 Paris sporting spectacle included balloon competitions
Ballooning events ran alongside the exposition and the loosely organized Games, with contests involving distance and other challenges. They are not counted as…
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Pineapples were once rented as status symbols
Growing pineapples in Georgian England cost so much that the fruit became a status symbol. People who couldn’t afford to buy one rented it for dinner…
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'Ladies from Hell' sold a fearsome image of Scottish soldiers
The phrase appeared as the title of Robert Douglas Pinkerton's 1918 war account, linking Highland dress with a reputation for ferocity. Its supposed German…
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An Impressionist painted Paris from hotel balconies
In his later years, he booked high-rise hotel rooms around Paris and painted the views from their balconies.
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Sweden’s king carried a revolutionary tattoo
The tattoo was a relic of his revolutionary past; once he wore Sweden’s crown, it became a less convenient thing to explain at a checkup.
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Richelieu's cats became part of his legend
Later accounts surround the formidable cardinal with pampered cats, attendants, and elaborate feeding arrangements. The stories are not all securely…
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Catherine's memoirs turn Peter's toy soldiers into a royal embarrassment
She described her husband playing with miniature troops and making her join late into the night. The account is revealing partly because of who tells it:…
Discover moreA Spanish king reportedly synchronized every clock in his palace
He reportedly paced around his palace to check that every clock showed the same time.
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The writer who hoarded stacks of blank paper
His fear of running out turned blank paper into a stockpile: towering stacks filled his office, unused but reassuring.
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Alexandre Dumas raced his own ghostwriter
Dumas challenged his hired collaborator to see who could produce a complete, readable manuscript faster.
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Napoleon wrote a romance about his heartbreak
After a real-life romance ended, Napoleon turned heartbreak into Clisson et Eugenie, a melodramatic novella. Even his heartbreak came with a plot.
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Lope de Vega churned out exactly three thousand sonnets
He was so prolific that he also produced thousands of plays, earning a reputation as a one-man literary factory.
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Vladimir Nabokov hunted butterflies between novels
Nabokov spent hundreds of hours hiking with a net, collecting and studying butterflies as a serious lepidopterist. His work in the field was more than a…
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A French poet became famous for a lobster on a leash
A well-known anecdote has Gérard de Nerval walking a lobster on a blue ribbon in Paris. The story attached an unforgettable pet to the Romantic writer's…
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Taras Shevchenko hid his personal writings in his boots
Under close surveillance, Taras Shevchenko hid his latest poems in his leather boots for years.
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Cyrano de Bergerac imagined reaching the Moon with dew
Cyrano de Bergerac imagined strapping bottles of morning dew to his waist so the Sun would draw him upward toward the Moon. In his version of space travel,…
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A French poet became famous for a story about walking a lobster
Gérard de Nerval was said to have led one through the Palais-Royal gardens on a blue ribbon. The tale survives as an anecdote about the poet, rather than a…
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