99 best r/historyanecdotes images on Pholder | A death squad mercenary takes a lunch break in El Salvador. The photographer said he bought the man a beer and “took three shots before he went ballistic”, 1980s.

A death squad mercenary takes a lunch break in El Salvador. The photographer said he bought the man a beer and “took three shots before he went ballistic”, 1980s.

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In 1923 King Zog I of Albania was shot twice in the chest. Instead of going to the hospital he gave a speech. He would later fight off a pair assassins after they killed his bodyguard. Zog survived 55 assassination attempts and 600 blood feuds by the time he was deposed by Fascist Italy in 1939

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A protestant husband and his catholic wife were not allowed to be buried together. Here are their headstones reaching across the two cemeteries in 1888.

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Adrian Carton De Wiart, during WW1 was shot in the face, skull, ear, chest, and leg. After losing a hand and an eye he refused to retreat, staying to toss grenades. When a doctor was later amputating his fingers he got impatient and pulled them off. - he later said Frankly I enjoyed the war

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The first vaccines were invented in 14th century China. Where powdered small pox scabs were blown up peoples noses. Nasal Insufflation killed 1 - 2% of recipients which was still preferable to smallpox. This method was brought to Europe in the late 17th century before being banned in the 1800's

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True story from NPS.gov

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Queen Mary (born in 1867), Husband to George V, pictured in c.1949 with her great-grandson the current Prince Charles, who is still yet to inherit the throne from his mother Queen Elizabeth II.

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In 1941 John Capes was travelling in a submarine in the Mediterranean when it hit an Italian mine and sunk to 60 metres. No one had ever escaped a sub from that depth. Capes got to the surface swum to an island. And evaded capture for 18 months. When he got home no one believed his story until 1997

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In 2018 the Mt Vernon Museum planted a cannabis crop at George Washington's old home. Washington loved hemp as did most people at the time. It was a versatile crop that was vital for maritime trade. Virginia even passed a law requiring farmers to grow it in 1632, and had 20'000 acres of hemp by 1783

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The Battle of Saragarhi 1897, sometimes called the Sikh Thermopylae. 21 British Sikh soldiers were besieged by 10'000 Pashtuns holding them off for 6 hours. The entire battle was relayed in real time by a helioscope to a nearby fort also besieged.

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Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's full self appointed title was: His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hajj Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of all the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.

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When the Chief Doctor of Hamburg Max Joseph, derided Koch's discovery, Koch sent him a soup infected with cholera. Joseph drank it and was sick for weeks but insisted it wasn't Cholera

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Bridget Driscol was the first pedestrian killed in a car accident. In 1896 Driscol stepped into the path of a car giving show rides at the Chrystal palace. Driscol saw the car and froze in shock. It swerved but she went under and died. It was travelling at a reckless pace of about 7kmph (4.3mph).

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The Titanic had 2 sister ships, the Britannic and the Olympic. Stewardess Violet Jessop was on the Britannic in 1911 when it collided with a warship, the Titanic in 1912 when it sank and the Olympic in 1916 when it hit a mine and sank. Jessop died at 83 in 1971, she never stopped working on ships

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In 1831 Tsar Nicholas I rode into the middle of an out of control riot in St Petersburg. Ordering the rioters to kneel, he pacified a portion of the crowd. The riots had kicked of due to Anti Cholera measures. Rioters blamed the doctors come to treat water for starting the disease and lynched them

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Race organizers attempt to stop Kathrine Switzer from competing in the Boston Marathon. She became the first woman to finish the race, 1967

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The 3000qt Cullinan Diamond, the Star of Africa, is the largest uncut diamond in history. It was sent to Britain in 1905, locked in a safe, and surrounded 24/7 by a team of detectives. The transport was a ruse. And the real diamond was sent to London in a plain white box by ordinary registered post

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Dr Ignaz Semmelweis discovered medical hand washing and equipment sterilization in 1847. Semmelweis' work was dismissed and wouldn't become accepted for 20years. Semmelweis would have a breakdown and be institutionalized where he died in 1862. Louis Pasteur would vindicate his ideas in 1864.

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Julie D'Aubigny was a French noblewoman who grew up fencing, horse riding, and dressing like a boy. She ran away from home as a young woman earned money fencing, fame as Frances preeminent Oprah singer, and infamy for illegal duelling and several (likely sexual) relationships with women

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In 1998 excavations at Ben Franklin's old house found a secret underground room containing 15 skeletons, 6 of which were children. Forensic study showed the bones almost certainly date to Franklins time in the London house where he lived for 20 years. However he probably wasn't a serial killer.

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Anita Berber, Berlin, 1921. When she wasn’t on stage or screen, she was in residence at the city’s most luxurious hotel, swanning about with a pet monkey on her shoulder, wearing a fur coat with nothing underneath except for rolled stockings and an antique locket on a chain filled with cocaine.

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This is the highest denomination note ever printed. The value is 100 Quintillion pengo. In 1946 Hungary suffered the worst hyperinflation in history. At its height prices doubled every 15 hours.

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In 1944 Helen Duncan became the last person imprisoned under witchcraft laws in the UK. A medium popular for producing 'ectoplasm'. The trial found the ectoplasm was made of cheesecloth and she was found guilty of pretending to be a witch and jailed till 1945.

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Leech therapy is often considered a medieval pseudo science, but the height of leech therapy was actually during the industrial era. In 1830 France alone used 35 million leeches. Leeches would fall out of fashion in the 20th century... but are back and are now used to rehabilitate microsurgeries!

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Frederick Fleet, 24, the lookout who first spotted the iceberg that sank the Titanic. Photographed in 1912. He went on to serve in both World Wars. In 1965, he experienced depression and later hanged himself. (1600x1137)

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In the 19th & early 20th centuries, college students across the US would anonymously publish satirical and sometimes scandalous underground newsletters called 'boguses'. Here is one such 'bogus' from the Univ. of Indiana in 1890

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For 👏wearing👏 pants. How dare she!

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The story of when President Andrew Jackson met a delegation of bankers seeking renewal of the 2nd Bank of the US’s Charter

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In 1859 there were Auroras over Hawaii caused by the Carrington Event solar storm the largest storm on record. It was so powerful it pushed the northern and southern lights into the tropics. The storm knocked out half the worlds telegraph system and set many lines on fire.

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L.Colonel Mad Jack Churchill DSO, is the last soldier to kill an enemy combatant with a bow. He also carried a sword and bagpipes with him during the war. And said Any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed. After the war he helped introduce surfing to Britain.

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Sometimes history’s most legendary criminals were also the worst ...

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In 1888, Vincent Van Gogh cut his left ear with a razor. He was taken to the hospital, where he was treated by Dr Felix Rey. Van Gogh painted a portrait of Rey and gave it to him. Rey was not fond of it used it to repair a chicken coop, then gave it away. In 2016, it was valued at over $50 million.

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They been out here playing capture the flag for years!

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In 1945, a B-25 bomber crashed into the empire state building. 14 people died. An elevator operator named Betty Oliver survived a 75-story elevator fall. She suffered severe burns, and a broken pelvis, back and neck. It remains the world record for the longest survived elevator fall.

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Abraham Lincoln was not the keynote speaker at the Soldiers' National Cemetery dedication ceremony, Edward Everett was. Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address was only 272 words long and took 2 minutes to deliver. Everett then spoke for 2 hours.

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DON'T F*CK WITH CATS - MEDIEVAL EDITION

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HAHA Canada and Denmark be out here playing capture the flag. Been going on for over 15 years. LOL 😂🖤

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Colonel Gail Halvorsen, a US air force officer who was known as the Berlin Candy Bomber or Uncle Wiggly Wings because he airdropped candy to German children during the Berlin Airlift from 1948 to 1949. He would wiggle his wings to let them know he was coming.

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After Beethoven went deaf, he found he could affix a metal rod to his piano and bite down on it while he played, enabling him to hear perfectly through vibrations in his jawbone. The process is called bone conduction.

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Presidential Hide and Seek

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This redditor’s bitter story about his grandfather’s life after WWII really stuck with me.

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John L. Burns, a veteran of the War of 1812, The Mexican-American War, and the American Civil War. He fought in the Battle of Gettysburg at the age of 69 and was a skilled marksman, even shooting a confederate marksman off his horse. Afterwards, he became a national hero and even met Lincoln.

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Today is the anniversary of the freeing of Auschwitz. The photo shows a boy named Jugen Istvan Reiner, days before he was sent to the gas chambers. He’s smiling into the camera, because that’s just what kits are taught to do. Istvan Reiner was murdered by the Nazis at 4 years old.

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TOLSTOY LEVEL TRAGEDY

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A lesson in how one makes lies work

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The Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice in London England. It opened in 1900 and and commemorates the ordinary people who died saving the lives of others and who might otherwise have been forgotten. It has 54 tablets. A new one was added in 2009, the first in 78 years.

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Between the 16th and 18th century the Tobacco smoke enema was all the rage in Europe. Doctors would take a mouth full of tobacco and blow it up a patients ass either directly or through a tube. It was mostly used for resuscitation of drowning victims but also as a panacea

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Here’s what killed Londoners 302 years ago this week...

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Roman cursing tablet (tabella defixionis) inscribed in lead, 50-100 CE: Caecilia Prima, or whatever name she goes under, send her below, take the blood from her veins... infernal Burners, may you burn her eyes stomach, heart... let them consume her marrow. Baths of Diocletian Museum. Rome, Italy.

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A Russian beard token carried to indicate that the owner had paid the beard tax imposed by Peter the Great minted 1699

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The younger brother of Napoleon I, Jerome Bonaparte, married an American heiress, but his brother anulled the marriage just like that

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Funerary bust of Simon of Trent, a 2-year-old Italian boy who was found murdered in 1475. 15 local Jews were blamed and burnt alive. His corpse was said to perform miracles, so a cult began to worship him. He holds palm and laurel branches, symbols of Christian martyrs. Getty Museum. Los Angeles, CA

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Sorry if people are tired of this by now. Trying not to completely spam the sub..! The suicide of John McCabe, from The Morning Chronicle, London, March 17th 1837.

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In 1863 65 French Foreign Legionaries were eating breakfast when 3000 Mexican cavalry attacked. Outnumbered 50:1 the Legion fought for 10 hours. With only five men left and no ammunition they were given a chance to surrender. Instead they charged the thousands of waiting Mexicans with bayonets.

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In 1909, British suffragettes released a board game called “Pank-a-Squith”. It was set out in a spiral, and players were required to lead their suffragette figure from their home to parliament, past the obstacles from hated Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and the Liberal government.

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The Dachau Hypothermia Experiments were conducted between 1941 and 1942 on Romani, Russians and Jews left in ice water for up to 3 hours or in snow for 14. Detainees were then treated with, boiling water, enemas, and naked women. The data produced is still in use today.

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Elizabeth Bathory the Vampire Countess of Hungary was a 16th century noblewoman who was imprisoned for killing 80 girls though accusations ranged to 650. Bathing in and drinking their blood to stay young. She is the most prolific serial killer in history... or is she?

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TIL THIS - SEEN IT BEFORE BUT NEVER KNEW WHAT IT SAYS

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I found this in a book back when I was in high school. Supposedly Beethoven thought Mozart (at least twice his age here, btw) kind of sucked.

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Following his crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon would spend the rest of his life claiming he won the battle but that his army got confused by maneuvers at night and retreated.Snatching away his victory. The claim is not supported by historical evidence

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The marble-clad Pyramid of Cestius, a Roman politician who served in the priesthood of public banqueting. Rome, Italy, 18-12 BCE. Cestius was likely inspired by royal Nubian tombs he saw while campaigning in Sudan. Construction was sponsored in part by Agrippa, the principal imperial advisor.

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1870: When Paris ate the Zoo

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The Arrest of Governor William Bligh Rum Rebellion Australia 1808

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Broadside from the American Civil War, titled 'The Dead Soldier.’

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A somewhat brutal view of the deceased. The death of Ann Jewell/Dexter at Edgware Road's Britannia Public House, London. From The Morning Chronicle, March 16th, 1837.

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Should British museum return artefacts belonging to their respective countries?

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Looks like a Habsburg family member came back to bite him.

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Pricing of Texan slaves in 1856.

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This ad from a Portland newspaper, September 1883

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In 1886 Edison heard that Westinghouse was using AC to generate electricity. He wrote his VP “Just as certain as death Westinghouse will kill a customer within 6 months”!!

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An English translation of memories from former First Lady and wife of Haiti's notorious Dictator, Jean Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier...

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I've done some genealogy and found out that according to the Sagas, Queen Elisabeth II decends from the Nordic Gods !

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Old Polish wedding rings from ~1400 year. Do you think they are better than those nowadays, too?

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Emperor Hadrian has an uncanny resemblance to Mark Zuckerberg

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