40 Cool Historical Facts You Definitely Weren’t Taught In Schools

More planes were destroyed during World War 2 than what currently exists on earth today. US made about 30,000 heavy bombers in WWII with 15,000 being made in 1944 alone and the USA manufactured about 200,000 combat aircraft in total during the war. At one point, a B-25 bomber was rolling off the line every 25 minutes. Not just America, during the Battle of Britain the UK was producing more aircraft than Germany despite suffering from constant bombing. This, coupled with the fact that British pilots who were shot down over the UK could return to action instead of spending the war in a POW camp, meant that Germany could not win a war of attrition.

The first ship ever sunk in war by a submarine was during the American civil war. No one in the submarine survived though. H.L. Hunley was a fully functional naval submarine used by the Confederacy in the Civil War. Powered by hand cranks and armed with buoyant torpedos, it was the first submersible vessel in history to successfully sink an enemy ship. The first time a submersible was ever used in combat was during the American Revolution in 1776. It was named Turtle.

It was well known among educated people in the 15th century that the earth was not flat. There are writings older than Aristotle that mention earth as a sphere, and these writings were relatively common during Columbus's period. What Columbus was trying to prove was that the earth was small enough for a voyage from Europe to India to be possible.

Even 60 years after his death, George Washington was such a popular American president that when freed and given the opportunity to choose their surnames, more African-American slaves chose the last name of Washington than Lincoln.

Japan bombed Australia during World War 2. In the initial raid on Darwin (1942-02-19) they dropped more bombs than on Pearl Harbour, although the loss of life was far lower. They conducted ~100 raids on Northern Australia over the next 2 years.

One of the largest fault lines in America isn't in California but in Missouri. The New Madrid fault triggered a series of earthquakes in the area in 1811-1812 that not only destroyed homes, livestock, and natural habitat but created a crater that became the Reelfoot Lake. In December 1990, residents in the New Madrid area and surrounding counties were warned about a possible earthquake happening that would destroy the area. Schools were canceled, businesses closed for the day, and some people evacuated. Nothing happened. The New Madrid fault still occasionally has minor earthquakes, and there are still studies that say there is a chance it could cause a quake that could destroy parts of Missouri and the surrounding states.

The night of November 15, 1917, is known as ‘The Suffragists Night of Terror.’ 33 women fighting for the right to vote were picked up from in front of the White House and put in prison. They suffered beatings, being forced to stand/hang all night with their hands tied above their heads, being thrown around and smashed into iron furniture, and humiliation at the hands of guards. One woman was knocked out after having her head bounced off an iron bench and her cellmate became so distraught (under the impression the unconscious woman was dead) that she suffered a heart attack. She was denied medical care until the next morning. These women were picked up off the street and thrown in jails where they were abused with no access to the council, all because they dared to ask Woodrow Wilson to allow them to vote.

Rosa Parks was a plant. A 16-year-old pregnant girl named Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat months before Rosa Parks did. In fact, she knew Rosa Parks personally. The problem was that an underage pregnant girl who resisted arrest violently (she scratched one of the officers who was removing her from the bus) was a hard sell for the face of a civil rights movement. The case went to trial, and MLK and the company supported her as much as they could, but they didn't try to get it national attention. Instead, they simply recreated the scenario with Rosa Parks, a respectable member of society who was cool and calm when getting arrested.

The construction and use of the Warwolf was supposedly the largest trebuchet ever built. When it was disassembled it would fill up 30 wagons. King Edward the first built it to siege a Scottish castle, but before it was even built, the Scottish people tried to surrender. To which Edward responded with a prompt no (in actuality he responded with “You do not deserve any grace, but must surrender to my will” in other words, I built this trebuchet over 40 days and I am most definitely going to use it) and proceeded to use the trebuchet anyways.

Galvarino was a Chilean warrior who had both his hands cut off by the conquistadors for raising arms against the Spanish. Instead of letting himself serve as a message of helplessness in the face of the invaders, he strapped swords to his stumps and went on the warpath. One theory states that when he got defeated again, the Spanish were impressed by him and offered him to surrender, but he spit in the commander’s face so they literally fed him to their dogs.