History Facts Generator

• [History fact 1]  During World War 2, British newspapers falsely claimed that the Germans rendered down soldiers’ corpses to make soap, candles, and nitroglycerin. As a result, when the news of the Holocaust reached Britain during World War 2, the government assumed it was another made-up atrocity story.

  History, Media source

• [History fact 2]  The oldest dingo fossils in Australia are about 4,000 years old, so dingoes’ ancestors must have reached Australia by boat. Whole-genome studies consistently place dingoes between wolves and wolflike dog breeds.

  Animals, History source

• [History fact 3]  In 480 B.C., two Persian pontoon bridges across the Dardanelles were destroyed by a storm. Hot-tempered King Xerxes I punished the strait by throwing fetters into it, whipping it 300 times, and branding it with hot irons, while his soldiers were commanded to shout at the water.

  Misc, History source

• [History fact 4]  Empress Dowager Cixi, one of the numerous concubines in the court of Emperor Xianfeng, launched a successful coup after his death to unofficially control the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Despite facing many obstacles, Empress Dowager Cixi brought a medieval empire into the modern age, ruling China for almost 50 years.

  History, Monarch source

• [History fact 5]  The first student protest in the United States happened at Harvard in 1766 when a student yelled out "Behold, our butter stinketh!— give us, therefore, butter that stinketh not." This sparked The Great Butter Rebellion.

  Food, History source

• [History fact 6]  The Parthian shot was an ancient military tactic where archers on horses would feign retreat and then turn their bodies while at full gallop to shoot at the pursuing enemy. It required great skill to master. Without a stirrup, the rider relied solely on pressure from his legs to guide his horse.

  Animals, History, War source

• [History fact 7]  The world prison population rate, based on United Nations estimates of national population levels, is 144 per 100,000.

  History, Prison, War

• [History fact 8]  A solar eclipse helped end a six-year war in 585 BCE. When the sky suddenly darkened during a battle between the Lydians and the Medes in modern Turkey, soldiers took it as a sign to cease fighting.

  Astronomy, History

• [History fact 9]  Tutankhamun's mummy contains the oldest known genetic proof of malaria.

  Disease, History source

• [History fact 10]  Lice were so prevalent during the middle ages that delousing became a social activity. People would sit down and have a chat or gossip while removing each other's lice.

  Animals, History source

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