History Facts

    Random History Facts

    There are 163 History Facts!

    The ancient Egyptians bought jewelry for their pet crocodiles.
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    During World War 1, Harry Houdini took 1 year off performing to help sell war bonds and teach american soldiers how to escape from German handcuffs.
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    Leonardo da Vinci was dyslexic, and he often wrote backwards.
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    Chinese General With Only 100 Men Made An Army of 150,000 Retreat
    According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Shu general Zhuge Liang had to defend a town with a mere 100 troops against an army of 150,000. He hid his men, flung open the gates, and sat on the walls playing a lute. The opposing general of Wei, Sima Yi, certain it was a trap, ordered a retreat.
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    A monk had once written over a book that contained information about calculus that was written by Archimedes in ancient Greece that could have made us 100 or even 1000 years more mathematically and technologically advanced.
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    Winston Churchill's Letter of Apology for Escaping from Prison
    Before escaping prison, Winston Churchill left a letter of apology on his bed. The letter began: "I have the honour to inform you that as I do not consider that your Government have any right to detain me as a military prisoner, I have decided to escape from your custody."
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    The handbook issued to US soldiers in Britain during WW2 included the line "The British don't know how to make a good cup of coffee. You don't know how to make a good cup of tea. It's an even swap."
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    Japanese Holdout
    Japanese Holdout
    After World War 2 ended in 1945, a Japanese officer named Hiroo Onoda didn't surrender and continued the war for 29 years because he didn't know that Japan had surrendered and the war was over.
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