History Stories

[Kpyna]

Man, all of the lines I have to wait in have really put me on a roll with making topics...

I'm a huge fan of history and I love to discuss amusing or questionable things that happened in the past, as well as dispelling myths and so on. I know a lot of weird or funny historical consequences, but this one I just heard in my Euro History class takes me cake:

A french noble revolutionary by the name of Marquis de Condorcet. He had some pretty radical views and was even one of the few revolutionaries who believed women should even have rights. However, he was a nobleman and during the Reign of Terror he got caught in some trouble with the Third Estate revolutionaries and fled to the boonies of France to escape. He probably would have gotten away from his death too... if he didn't ask for an omelette at the Inn he was staying at. Being a nobleman and being able to pay cooks, he knew very little about cooking himself, and when the innkeeper asked how many eggs he wanted in his omelette he replied, "A dozen". At that exact moment the Third Estate innkeeper realized he was a noble and he was captured and killed. Too bad, he was a great thinker. All for not knowing a damn thing about cooking.

Maybe it's a common story in europe, but living in America and taking a ton of history courses, I didn't hear about it until an hour ago, and we have units on the French Revolution.

So, do you guys know any crazy history stories? Even if it's just weird local history.

[Milsap]

I really love WWII based stuff. Especially some of the stuff us Brits got up to during.

Such as Operation Mincemeat: It helped to convince the German high command that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia in 1943 instead of Sicily, the actual objective. This was accomplished by persuading the Germans that they had, by accident, intercepted "top secret" documents giving details of Allied war plans. The documents were attached to a corpse deliberately left to wash up on a beach in Punta Umbría in Spain.

How did they do it? and his team determined what kind of body they needed: a man who appeared to have died at sea by hypothermia and drowning, and then floated ashore after several days. However, finding a usable body seemed almost impossible, as indiscreet inquiries would cause talk, and it was impossible to tell a dead man's next of kin what the body was wanted for. The top brass also reassured the team that the state of the corpse would not be that important because "Spaniards, as Roman Catholics, were averse to post-mortems and did not hold them unless the cause of death was of great importance." Under quiet pressure, Bentley Purchase, coroner of St. Pancras District in London, obtained the body of a 34-year-old Welsh man named Glyndwr Michael, on the condition that the man's real identity would never be revealed. The man had died after taking in rat poison which contained phosphorus. After being ingested, the phosphide reacts with hydrochloric acid in the human stomach, generating phosphine, a highly toxic gas. Coroner Purchase explained, "This dose was not sufficient to kill him outright, and its only effect was so to impair the functioning of the liver that he died a little time afterwards," leaving few clues to the cause of death. Montagu later claimed that Michael had died from pneumonia, and that his family had been contacted and permission obtained, but none of this was true. The man's parents were already dead and no known relatives were found.

So they dressed this dude up as a Royal Marine with a full military history, a girlfriend and The rank of acting major made him senior enough to be entrusted with sensitive documents, but not so prominent that anyone would expect to know him. The name "Martin" was chosen because there were several Martins of about that rank in the Royal Marines. They also gave him two love letters, a bill for an engagement ring and good quality underwear, at the time extremely difficult to obtain due to rationing. He also had a pompous letter from his father, a letter from the family solicitor, and a letter from Ernest Whitley Jones, joint general manager of Lloyds Bank, demanding payment of an overdraft of £79 19s 2d (£79.97). There were a book of stamps, a silver cross and a St. Christopher's medallion, a pencil stub, keys, a used twopenny bus ticket, ticket stubs from a London theatre, a bill for four nights' lodging at the Naval and Military Club, and a receipt from Gieves for a new shirt (this last was an error: it was for cash, and officers never paid cash at Gieves; but the Germans did not catch it). All these documents were on authentic stationery or billheads. The dates of the ticket stubs and lodging bill indicated that Major Martin had left London on 24 April. If his body washed ashore on 30 April, presumably after several days at sea, then he must have flown from Britain and crashed at sea.

And the Jerries bought it!

The success of Operation Mincemeat caused the Germans to disregard later genuine document finds. Two days after the D-Day landings, the Germans discovered an abandoned landing craft washed up on the Vire estuary in Normandy, containing top secret documents detailing future military targets in the region. Hitler, believing this was a deception similar to Operation Mincemeat, ignored the documents, having already been convinced by numerous deceptions that the main invasion was still to come through the Pas de Calais. (We came through Normandy instead)

[lets all go out for some frosty chocolate milkshakes]

its YOU. the one reading this post RIGHT NOW.

UR HISTORY PAL!!! //shoots u with a sawn off shotgun at point blank range//

Such as Operation Mincemeat: It helped to convince the German high command that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia in 1943 instead of Sicily, the actual objective.

no, operation mincemeat was to send all our gay bletchley park nerds over to germany to honeypot trap them into giving up their secrets for a quick bout of wargames underneath the sheets







i still gotta read me Agent Zigzag and Most Secret War because the british espionage stuff is fascinating and i cant believe its taken till now for america to catch up only they had to publicly blab about their spy agency to everyone instead of bein an ominous silent building like ours

[Kerou 犠牲]

I'm past it all tbh

[kindtocrows]

This is pretty well timed. Today is actually the anniversary of the Ocean Ranger disaster, which was only 33 years ago, but still history, I guess. It's sort of a downer, probably not what you were intending this topic for, so, sorry about that, I'll post some more fun history stories later, but right now it just feels inappropriate.

The Ocean Ranger was an offshore oil rig (which makes me question the name). It was hit by a rouge wave and listed forward, eventually causing it to sink. Despite evidence that at least one lifeboat successfully launched, its entire crew of 84 died, those who managed to evacuate either succumed to hypthermia and/or drowned, those who didn't either drowned or were fatally hit by things flying around as the rig capsized. Only 22 bodies were recovered, so there is no way to tell.

I won't go into more detail than that. Also, there's a song.

[Liam]

that's well spooky aye

[Milsap]

The Ocean Ranger was an offshore oil rig (which makes me question the name). It was hit by a rouge wave and listed forward, eventually causing it to sink. Despite evidence that at least one lifeboat successfully launched, its entire crew of 84 died, those who managed to evacuate either succumed to hypthermia and/or drowned, those who didn't either drowned or were fatally hit by things flying around as the rig capsized. Only 22 bodies were recovered, so there is no way to tell.

Sounds like creepypasta to me haha

[Kitt]

I am into ancient civilizations. I love the story of the pyramids and how mysterious their origin is. There is no way Egyptians could have laid those stones up there by stacking them and they would have to build a ramp miles away to use a ramp system. So how were they built and how did the Egyptians know to built the pyramids of Giza under the three closest stars in the solar system. Interesting stuff that is. Makes ya think long and hard.

[Dorchadas]

I've always liked this one, from America's civil war:
I don't remember who it was he was fooling, but Robert E. Lee once fooled an enemy troop into retreating.
It was a fairly hilly area, and he had his troops march to the top of one hill, and then once they had marched out of sight of the enemy he had them circle back around to the beginning and go over again, and the enemy thought he had way more soldiers than he really did and retreated.

[DisturbedHaxorus]

I am into ancient civilizations. I love the story of the pyramids and how mysterious their origin is. There is no way Egyptians could have laid those stones up there by stacking them and they would have to build a ramp miles away to use a ramp system. So how were they built and how did the Egyptians know to built the pyramids of Giza under the three closest stars in the solar system. Interesting stuff that is. Makes ya think long and hard.

Watch AVP and you'll know how they did it.   

[Kitt]

what does AVP mean? Alien vs Predator contains no such knowledge last time I checked.

[DisturbedHaxorus]

what does AVP mean? Alien vs Predator contains no such knowledge last time I checked.

Oh, that was a joke. The movie suggests that yautja (any who know what this means without having to google, pat yourself on the back) taught humans how to build.

[lets all go out for some frosty chocolate milkshakes]

am i the only one who's a bit bothered by the Aliens Built The Pyramids rhetoric cos its ever so slightly dogwhistle racism

[Kpyna]

am i the only one who's a bit bothered by the Aliens Built The Pyramids rhetoric cos its ever so slightly dogwhistle racism

Someone brought this up (although jokingly) to my Ancient History professor and he said the theory was BS. He told the class, "If there was no internet and the most accessible way for you to entertain yourself was to stare at the stars all night and think, you'd probably end up figuring out some profound things."

He explained the pyramids with the same theory. Pharaoh money, obsession with the stars, and nothing else to do.

they would have to build a ramp miles away to use a ramp system.

It's assumed that they did use ramps, but instead of simple ramps, they built ramps that circled around the structure and were destroyed when the pyramid construction was finished.

[Kitt]

You have a point there, Kypna. However, the elevation still is a problem. If the ramps circled the area, 1. Where are they now? and 2. What would the ramps be made of to support the 1000+ pounds of stone?