Give me a mind-blowing history fact

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nortex97
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nortex97
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I think this one is true, anyway. Some comical bits;
Quote:

Attempts were also made to manufacture jeans in the USSR, but they were a failure - the result looked nothing like what was popular in the United States. Understanding that the same could happen with the shoes, Adidas decided to enact a strict staff selection process.

Misha Ulikhanyan, the director of the Egvard sports shoes factory, who's been manufacturing Adidas products since 1985, recalled: "The Germans arrived here, hiring a bunch of young girls under 23 years of age, not accepting anyone older. They just didn't allow it And [another condition] was that they couldn't have had prior employment or possess any other specialization. As, at that age, you couldn't have had enough expertise yet to learn to produce sloppy work. So their training would only be in producing Adidas, with no experience in producing sub-par footwear."

Cool shoes for the Spetsnaz
As a result, the sports shoes produced in the USSR were actually high quality, just as you'd see in Germany. And, for that reason, the 'Moskva' brand, ended up on the feet of soldiers in Afghanistan, which had served as pretext to boycott the Games.

The crux of the matter was that the equipment on offer in the USSR was just not up to par when it came to Afghan soil and the shoes were an especially big issue: Soviet boots made too much noise and weren't suitable for scaling mountainous terrain.

As a result, members of Soviet elite forces, such as the VDV (the paratrooper division) and Spetsnaz, were given permission to improvise - to choose their own "universal" shoes, suited to the requirements posed by the geographical location. The 'Moskva' shoe seemed like the ideal choice, save for one PR issue: The commanders were issuing what were, essentially, tennis shoes to their soldiers, according to a U.S. military research report from 1995.

Soviet command understood this, so was against the appearance of any publications with photos that featured the shoes. Nevertheless, a few did manage to make it into the media - and so, the 'Moskva' shoe was catapulted to cult status. The trend for the shoes blew up so massively that the particular model used in Afghanistan was immortalized (with the Chechen military campaign following in its footsteps): they began popping up in movies and military reenactments, on toys and action figures and in various game environments.
BQ78
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During the Napoleonic Wars one of the French Cuirassier (heavy cav with the breastplates) regiments had an unusual test for selecting their officers. Candidates were given three horses, three bottles of champagne and three willing wenches. They had to drink the champagne, bed the "ladies," and ride a rough 20 mile course in three hours. Candidates could partition the test as desired.
CanyonAg77
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"Okay, I drank the champagne, rode the wenches for 20 miles, where are those three horses?"
nortex97
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Kind of fascinating historical trivia, I guess. Link to a non-X version of his role/story.
BrazosBendHorn
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Years ago I read a book about the trials and executions (sorry, don't remember the title). I do remember the author saying that Woods was never called upon to perform another execution. The execution of the Nazis took much longer than anticipated, wrapping up shortly before dawn broke, for the reasons described above. Evidently this did not go unnoticed by the big brass.
12th Man
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When I was a student, way back in a dark section of the Sterling C. Evans library that was called "the stacks", I found a book titled "The First World War".

It was published in 1930.
nortex97
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Jugstore Cowboy
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12th Man said:

When I was a student, way back in a dark section of the Sterling C. Evans library that was called "the stacks", I found a book titled "The First World War".

It was published in 1930.

Newspapers and observers were already calling it that in 1914.
StockHorseAg
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Sounds like an average night at a college rodeo.
Who?mikejones!
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Yall have probably heard about this but I learned about the Athens, Tennessee war yesterday.

It occurred in 1945 between ww2 vets and a corrupt govt and law enforcement group. Essentially, while the vets were away at war, local sheriff's and politicians started extorting the locals, stealing elections, running criminal organizations.

The vets get back from ww2 and realize whats going on. They then formed what was essentially a local political group promising the next election would be totally transparent and that they would win and end the corruption.

Come the day of the election, the sheriff brought in reinforcements from surrounding communities and the vets gathered a force of at least 60 guys.

A sheriff deputy ends up shooting a black voter and chaos broke out. The vets tried to pressure the law to bring the ballots out to count. The sheriff kept sending deputies to the hq of the vets and the deputies kept disappearing.

Finally, the deputies take the ballots into the jail and place at least 60 armed guards. The vets retreat back to their hq, and after a while, determine that they will physically remove the law enforcement and ballots.

They then head up the the national guard armory and convince the one guardsman on duty to open up the armory and proceed to arm themselves to the teeth (the vet leader was a marine who had fought on Guadalcanal and Okinawa).

Armed with a massive amount of weaponry, the vets went back and surround the jail, shot out the lamp post and asked the sheriff if he wanted to surrender.

The sheriff declined and the vets started firing. A small firefight ensued, miraculously no one was killed and after a while, the vets decided to burn them out by lighting Molotov cocktails. Those failed to light so they proceeded to start throwing sticks of dynamite.

While all this was going on, the natl guard had been allegedly called in and the marine vet went up in a piper and conducted arial surveillance. The natl guard was never sent.

Eventually, after the dynamite, the cops gave and surrendered. The sheriff had escaped in an ambulance.

The vets counted the ballots and they had swept the election. The found hundreds of premarked ballots for the criminal govt candidates.

This all happened while thousands of townspeople stood in the street to watch

When the feds showed up to investigate, no one saw anything, neither the townspeople nor the national guardsman who gave up the guns. Every gun had been cleaned and returned and the records of the ammunition had been lost.

The vets, to my knowledge, didn't have any punishment
USAFAg
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Battle of Athens

12thFan/Websider Since 2003
ABATTBQ87
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happened in 1946

The Battle of Athens Saw Armed War Veterans Take On Corruption in Their Local Government
nortex97
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The Los Angeles riots of…1943, over Zoot Suits.

Quote:

Zoot suits might be out of style, but the riots remind us that fashion can be a battlegroundjust ask your local tailor about the dangers of trendsetting!

:
Tensions boiled over when servicemen attacked zoot-suit-wearing Mexican American youths, sparking days of violence.
The riots, fueled by racial and class tensions, saw hundreds arrested, mostly minorities.
Media coverage sensationalized the events, deepening societal divides.

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June 3, 1943: The riots began with servicemen targeting zoot suiters.
June 7, 1943: Rioting peaked with widespread attacks across Los Angeles.
June 8, 1943: Military authorities declared Los Angeles off-limits to servicemen to quell the riots.
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Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron: Blamed the riots on juvenile delinquents, ignoring underlying racial issues.
Eleanor Roosevelt: Publicly criticized the riots, highlighting the racial discrimination at play.
Sleepy Lagoon defendants: Mexican American youths whose trial and conviction added fuel to the racial fire.

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Highlighted deep-seated racial tensions in the U.S. during WWII.
Led to increased awareness and activism regarding civil rights and racial justice.

:
Did you know that zoot suits used an exorbitant amount of fabric, which was rationed during WWII, leading to public resentment?
Did you know the term "pachuco" became synonymous with the zoot suit culture, representing a distinct Mexican American subculture?
Did you know that the riots inspired the play and later film "Zoot Suit," bringing the story to new audiences?
Did you know that zoot suits were not just a fashion statement but a symbol of rebellion against mainstream American culture?
The riots' impact today is seen in continued discussions about racial profiling and the role of fashion in social justice movements.
A year before D-day.
nortex97
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Dora Von Nessen, a woman who deserves to be remembered.

More at the thread.
nortex97
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Per grok:
Quote:

The incident you mentioned did not happen in 1945. The UN Charter was signed on June 26, 1945, in San Francisco, with Saudi Arabia's King Faisal, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, as a signatory. Yoda, a fictional Star Wars character created in 1977, could not have been present. However, in 2017, a Saudi high school textbook mistakenly included a doctored image of Yoda with King Faisal, created by artist Abdullah Al Shehri in 2013 for an art project. The Saudi Ministry of Education apologized, recalled the textbooks, and dismissed responsible officials. The claim likely stems from this 2017 error, exaggerated for humor.
nortex97
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From linked piece;
Quote:

[ol]
  • Autotune: The autotune popular among musicians (shoutout T-Pain) is based on mathematics used by the fracking industry. Geologist call the process reflection seismology, which uses seismic waves to see if there is oil underground. (Link)
  • Running shoes: The gridded-pattern on a waffle iron became the inspiration for early Nike running shoes. In the early 70s, Bill Bowerman Phil Knight's running coach and business partner put rubber in a waffle iron and sewed the sole to a pair of runners. (Link)
  • Liver disease device: An ultrasound machine designed to scan the ripeness of expensive cheeses was adapted to find liver disease. (Link)
  • Chainsaw: The chainsaw was originally invented for childbirth. Before the C-section technique, doctors would use a hand-cranked saw to remove part of the pelvis if the baby couldn't pass. Later, it was adapted to forestry. (Link)
  • Foldable stroller: Owen Maclaren created the first foldable baby stroller (AKA lightweight baby buggy or pram) by borrowing the design of an airplane's landing gear. As a former aeronautical engineer, he understood the mechanics of lightweight, collapsible structures. (Link)
  • [/ol]
    nortex97
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    Went for over a million pounds.
    Quote:

    The flag was sold at Christie's in London yesterday, July 1, and was expected to realise between 500,000 and 800,000.
    The hammer finally fell at 1,068,500.
    The 2.3-metre by 3.5-metre flag, probably hand altered by the ship's crew to add the saltire of St Patrick, was a vital part of Nelson's Trafalgar plan.
    On October 21, 1805 he took the unorthodox decision to sale his fleet directly at and through his opponent's line. With close-quarters combat in all its bloody chaos expected, he needed his crews to know who was a friend and who an enemy.
    Union Jacks were flown high and proud, often all over the vessels.
    More fun with (historical) flags;
    Quote:

    The most valuable battle flag ever sold is a Stars and Stripes from the United States Revolutionary War that was auctioned for 12.3 million in 2006.

    Last month, a Stars and Stripes flown during the D-Day Landings made over $80,000 at auction.
    CanyonAg77
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    That's $1,459,00 American.

    And I only heard 850.000 pounds as the hammer price. I assume the additional was buyer's premium.
    nortex97
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    Yeah I edited that before posting to reflect the article. I assume it was Christie's premium/commission/fee, but really don't know.
    QBCade
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    nortex97 said:

    Yeah I edited that before posting to reflect the article. I assume it was Christie's premium/commission/fee, but really don't know.


    Sounds about right as their premium is usually 20-25%
    BQ_90
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    That sure seams cheap considering how important this battle was in British navel history


    CanyonAg77
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    BQ_90 said:

    That sure seams cheap considering how important this battle was in British navel history
    BQ_90
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    p_bubel
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    I finally started listening to Brandon Seales excellent " New History of Old Texas" podcast and he made the assertion that no city made more of a sacrifice for Mexico's Independence than San Antonio did.


    It's compelling and very interesting listening.
    nortex97
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    Socrates' marriage likely drew/caused him to many of his famous public discussions.



    Pretty funny. Open Yale course is pretty cool on him etc, just as an fyi.
    BQ78
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    Charles Maurice Talleyrand was a man born of the French Revolution, but when revolution came again to France in 1830, he was not in favor of it. However, he had an important role in the creation of the most famous icon of that revolution, the painting Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix:



    The painting so frightened King Louis-Phillipe that he bought it in order to hide it from the public.

    Talleyrand's role in the creation of the painting occurred during the first revolution, when he fired the Minister of Foreign Affairs Charles Delacroix and sent him to the Hague as an ambassador in 1798. But that was not the only replacement Talleyrand made. He also took Delacroix's place in the bed of Mme Delacroix. The result of this affair, was the artist Eugene Delacroix.
    nortex97
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    The USS Alaska, one of 2 heavy cruisers built during the war, was perhaps responsible for saving the USS Intrepid (now home to a space shuttle).
    Ciboag96
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    Wyoming's worst serial killer was a woman

    ?quality=89&ssl=1

    https://buckrail.com/wyomings-worst-serial-killer-murderess-slaughterhouse-gulch/

    Ran a boarding house in South Pass city, Wyoming, for gold prospectors. Would get them drunk, and then poison them, steal all their stuff and bury them in the backyard. Killed 22 men Killed the son of a wealthy mine owner , who hired the Pinkerton detective agency to figure it out. She was eventually captured on the run, brought back to Wyoming.

    While in jail awaiting trial the wealthy mine owner's henchman called her over to the jail window, where he shot her in the face point blank with both barrels of his coach shotgun. He was acquitted.
    nortex97
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    Larry Thorne. Quite a life story. Last picture of CPT Thorne, who just wanted to kill communists. ATI version of his story.

    nortex97
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    This is news to me.
    Quote:

    Irvine Stephens Bulloch:

    The younger of Teddy's uncle's on his mothers side, serving as a midshipman in the Confederate Navy. At 19, he left the University of Pennsylvania to join the Confederacy and served on the CSS Alabama, a famous Confederate commerce raider. He was noted for firing the last shot during the Battle of Cherbourg before the Alabama was sunk.

    Irvine's exploits, including running the Union blockade to deliver 14,000 Enfield rifles to Savannah, Georgia, in 1862, were particularly celebrated in family stories, making him a significant figure in Teddy's childhood imagination. After the war, Irvine settled in Liverpool, England, due to concerns about how his Confederate service might be perceived in the reunified United States.

    McInnis
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    I just finished the biography of Benjamin Rush, "Rush" by Stephen Fried. It provided a couple of nuggets that can fit in this thread.

    Rush, for anyone unfamiliar with him, was America's best know physician during the revolutionary period. He was a signer of the declaration and was good friends with some of the best known founding fathers including Jefferson and especially Adams.

    Among his most well known accomplishments was his work to improve care for the mentally ill who were kept in dungeon like conditions at the time. He is credited with the first psychiatric hospital built in America. Yet his first born son John, a navy lieutenant, suffered a breakdown and spent the last several years of Rush's life in a psychiatric ward under the care of his father.

    Another gem from the book: Alexander Hamilton, a long time political antagonist of Rush, had a son who was killed in a duel in 1801, three years before his encounter with Aaron Burr.

    To complete the circle of irony, the initiating event of John Rush's insanity was a duel in which he killed his best friend and fellow naval officer. That duel resulted, believe it or not, over an insult issued during an argument over a Shakespeare quote.
    BQ78
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    Speaking of Rush and dueling, I have held the doctor's dueling pistols in my hands. A friend of mine owns them.
    nortex97
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    15BC Vitruvius odometer model/discussion.

    Quote:

    Reconstruction of Hero's odometer, 1st century AD, Alexandria, Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum

    The odometer was probably invented about 15 BC by Vitruvius, a Roman architect and engineer. Like the wheel, which was mounted on a wheelbarrow, Vitruvius' odometer was based on chariot wheels of 4 Roman feet (1.18 m) in diameter, turning 400 times in one Roman mile (about 1,480 m).

    When pushed along the ground by hand, it automatically dropped a pebble into a container at each revolution, measuring the distance traveled. It was, in effect, the first odometer. The distance traveled would thus be given simply by counting the number of pebbles. However, whether this instrument was ever built at the time has not been determined.

    There is also evidence for using an odometer in the works of the ancient Roman Pliny (NH 6. 61-62) and the ancient Greek Strabo (11.8.9). Both authors list the distances of routes traveled by Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BC)

    BQ78
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    Charles Henri Sanson was the Royal Executioner of France from the reign of Louis XV into the empire of Napoleon I. During that time he executed over 2,918 people including the attempted assassin of Louis XV, Louis XVI, Charlotte Corday, Hebert, Danton, Desmoulins, Saint-Just, and Robespierre.

    As with other European executioners, it was a job past down through the family. The pay was good but socially you were ostracized. Charles had wanted to be a physician but when his father the royal executioner was paralyzed, Charles had to take up the family mantle.

    Similarly it was Charles' son Gabriel, his oldest and heir to the family business who assisted him for many of the executions, the majority during the Reign of Terror. But tragedy occurred for Gabriel as he fell off the scaffold while exhibiting the head of a just executed prisoner in 1792. The fall killed him. Charles had to turn to his youngest son Henri, to take over the family business. It would be Henri, not Charles, who would execute Marie Antoinette. Charles had unsuccessfully tried to beg out of executing Louis the VXI but apparently he was able to do that for the queen.
     
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