History Facts

    Random History Facts

    There are 163 History Facts!

    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.
    50
    In medieval Italy, if a man was caught kissing a woman in public, he had to marry her whether he liked it or not.
    456
    The World Trade Center towers used to have two zip codes, 10047-10048, one for each building.
    77
    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.
    44
    The exact cause of death and burial site of Genghis Khan is unknown, because all of the 2000 funeral guests and 800 soldiers were killed in order to preserve the secret.
    16
    The life expectancy in 1900 was just 47 years.
    49
    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."
    23
    In 1980, the city of Detroit presented Saddam Hussein with a key to the city.
    29