ChocolateCupcakes
Member
GCX said:
Damn. I had to read that twice. Seriously? Finland?
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Insane Things You've Learned About Your Country's History That Blew Your Mind
- Thread starter JzeroT1437
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Damn. I had to read that twice. Seriously? Finland?
ConfusingJazz
Member
ChocolateCupcakes said:
For derivatives of this war, see: The Sport of Biathlon, or Soviets using sniper tactics against the Germans in Stalingrad.
Seriously, biathlon was a sport invented by the Finns to practice killing commies.
speculawyer
Member
We once condoned ownership of other people. Now I know that is not some great revelation but I still find it utterly fucked up.
People sometimes look back at the Nazis and wonder how people became so inhumane. Sadly, that is more the rule than the exception over the long haul of human history. But in the last few decades we really have made a lot of progress.
People sometimes look back at the Nazis and wonder how people became so inhumane. Sadly, that is more the rule than the exception over the long haul of human history. But in the last few decades we really have made a lot of progress.
Sweden has the Crown Jewels of what is today the Czech Republic. They have asked for them back, and got the answer "No, they're ours. But you can come to Stockholm to see them!". :lol
Sweden bought a small island which became one of the largest centers for the slave trade in the Americas for a time. They later sold it back to France, who had sold it to them in the first place.
One of the bloodiest battle recorded (in terms of how large a percentage of participating troops that lost their lives in a single day) was fought between Sweden and Denmark-Norway. The battle lasted less then a day but both sides lost roughly 50% of their troops.
Sweden bought a small island which became one of the largest centers for the slave trade in the Americas for a time. They later sold it back to France, who had sold it to them in the first place.
One of the bloodiest battle recorded (in terms of how large a percentage of participating troops that lost their lives in a single day) was fought between Sweden and Denmark-Norway. The battle lasted less then a day but both sides lost roughly 50% of their troops.
50 Things You Are Not Supposed To Know!
http://50thingstonotknow.blogspot.com/
http://50thingstonotknow.blogspot.com/
i was pretty surprised to find out that people of 17th century fishing villages on the south-west coast of england lived in a perpetual fear of being raided by north-african barbary corsairs and sold in to slavery. it was one of the primary causes for the ramping up of british naval strength, which led on to their eventual nautical dominance.
which1spink
Banned
We somehow managed to start two World Wars.:lol
scotcheggz
Member
Anasui Kishibe said:
Just looked this guy up on wiki. A true, good old fashioned, British eccentric :lol
JzeroT1437
Member
Every few posts further drives me to believe that Ronald Reagan never should have been president. Ever.
ChocolateCupcakes said:
If memory serves me correctly, this particular skirmish is where the Molotov Cocktail earned it's name; A soviet politician by the name of Molotov claimed that the cluster bombs his country was dropping on the Finns were, in fact, rations. The Finns started calling these bombs 'Molotov Bread Baskets' and dubbed their bottle-based incendiary bombs 'a drink to go with the food'. Despite being an improvised weapon, Molotov cocktails were actually mass-produced.
Only one thing springs to mind for me...
- There was a 'war' between Michigan and Ohio over a 8-mile wide stretch of land that now makes up the northern border of Ohio. Both states disputed the border and wanted control of the Maumee Bay, a valuable port on the Great Lakes that allowed for easier overland shipping to the west. No one was killed, but both states' militias ran circles around each other for the better part of a year. A compromise was eventually reached that gave Ohio the 'Toledo strip' and Michigan the Upper Peninsula.
fizzelopeguss
Banned
ghst said:
White meat was in great demand, still is.
Amazing that europe survived really, many coastal regions in the west were completely depopulated by the barbary states. And the Ottomans and Tatars of the Crimean khanate were constantly waging vast slave grabs in the east.
Proper conan style "riders of doom" shit.
$1148 Jack
Member
Australia
- Former Prime minister in the 1980s Bob Hawke is famous also for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds in 1954, a record in the Guiness book of records at the time.
- Australia was the second country to give women the right to vote.
- In April 1933, 68 per cent of West Australians voted in favour of seceding from the Commonwealth of Australia. However, they needed permission from the British Parliament before they could officially become a new country. Meanwhile, Australia's Federal Parliament was arguing that Britain should not interfere in Australian politics. The end result was that Britain never made a decision. Consequently, Western Australia remained part of the Commonwealth.
- Former Prime minister in the 1980s Bob Hawke is famous also for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds in 1954, a record in the Guiness book of records at the time.
- Australia was the second country to give women the right to vote.
- In April 1933, 68 per cent of West Australians voted in favour of seceding from the Commonwealth of Australia. However, they needed permission from the British Parliament before they could officially become a new country. Meanwhile, Australia's Federal Parliament was arguing that Britain should not interfere in Australian politics. The end result was that Britain never made a decision. Consequently, Western Australia remained part of the Commonwealth.
ryutaro's mama
Member
Wii said:
Wow, Black Confederates.
Never knew that one.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
Wow. They really are like our very own version of Texas.$1148 Jack said:
Also, the most interesting story to come out of Australia: Harold Holt, Prime Minister. He went swimming one morning and just disappeared. Some conspiracy theories claim that he was a spy the whole time he was in office and was picked up offshore by a US or Soviet submarine, depending on how you viewed him politically. Others say he was assassinated by one side or the other.
Hmm... I was born in El Salvador and there's all sorts of f*cked-up things in its history. For instance:
- The indigenous population refused to join the national community for a very long time (long after independence and well into the 20th century), refusing to take on Spanish customs, way of life, religion and language. This ended in 1932 after the Salvadoran military and auxiliary groups of landowners, fearing a communist uprising, roamed the countryside, killing everyone wearing traditional indigenous peasant dress they could find. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people were killed. Thereafter, indigenous people began to take on Spanish customs, language and dress and their children stopped identifying as indigenous. This one act basically amounted to ethnocide and the killing of Salvadoran indigenous culture.
- El Salvador was once the home to a multitude of very lucrative indigo farms. Since the conditions on these farms were such that indigenous peasants would die en masse when forced to work them, they would run away or slip into the hills when presented with the prospect, never to be seen again. This resulted in black slaves being imported into the region from the Caribbean. The indigo trade eventually died off and slavery ended, but in the regions where the slaves lived, you'll notice a greater prevalence of darker skin and curlier hair than in the rest of El Salvador. Of course, the average Salvadoran will deny up and down that they have any African ancestry whatsoever and a long-standing national mythos depends heavily on ethnic unity between the indigenous and Spanish pasts, leaving no room for an African connection but it's definitely there.
- The indigenous of El Salvador were descended from the Aztecs, not the Mayans.
- El Salvador went to war with neighbouring Honduras over a World Cup Soccer match featuring the last areal battle between biplanes in recorded history. Granted, there were territorial disputes and other tensions that led to this, but soccer is SERIOUS BUSINESS in Latin America.
I love reading up on events of the past Presidents. Some of my favorite tidbits:
- John Quincy Adams supposedly had a pet alligator that lived in the white house for a while. He also died after suffering an aneurysm when he shouted "No!" against a plan to honor soldiers in the Mexican-American war.
- Calvin Coolidge ran a very small campaign promotion for his second term election, mostly due to the death of his son at the time, and most people thought he was going to lose at the time. He ended up having a major victory. Also his family owned pet wombats and raccoons.
- Nixon is the only sitting president to have ever written an article for MAD Magazine.
- John Quincy Adams supposedly had a pet alligator that lived in the white house for a while. He also died after suffering an aneurysm when he shouted "No!" against a plan to honor soldiers in the Mexican-American war.
- Calvin Coolidge ran a very small campaign promotion for his second term election, mostly due to the death of his son at the time, and most people thought he was going to lose at the time. He ended up having a major victory. Also his family owned pet wombats and raccoons.
- Nixon is the only sitting president to have ever written an article for MAD Magazine.
lorebringer
Member
genjiZERO said:
Dublin itself was founded by Scandinavians but the name is the anglicised version of the Irish name 'Dubh Linn' (that's pronounced Duv for you non Irish) which means Black Pool.
ShinobiFist
Banned
ShinobiFist
Banned
Oh shit, my bad. Didn't see it.confused said:
the_zombie_luke
Member
-Hours after JFK was killed, LBJ was almost killed by accident.
Can't even imagine how awful that would have been.
That's how the legend goes. They were mass-produced because they are cheap and don't require much vital raw materials, and because Finland was very short of war supplies. Molotov coctails were used as anti-tank weapons.Retro said:
This conflict also contains one of the greatest "what if's" of the WWII.
France and Britain actually had plans to intervene in Finland fighting against the Soviets. The plan was to send over 100 000 well supported troops to aid the Finns via Norway and Sweden. The intervention force was gathered and almost ready to go but both Norway and Sweden declined to allow transit through their territory in fear of losing their neutrality and being dragged into the war.
As the politics intervened the intervention the plans dwindled. And as the Soviet offensive was picking up the pace, Finnish government decided couldn't make the formal request for the intervention as it would've affected the peace negotiations adversely, and an immediate ceasefire was pretty much the only way for Finland to survive from being occupied at that point.
So yeah, France and Britain could have gone to war against Soviet Union, and it was very close it didn't happen.
Lionheart1827
Member
Goldrusher said:
Awesome, thanks.
Myke Greywolf
Ambassador of Goodwill
A tidbit from Portugal:
Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a portuguese diplomat who was consul at Bordeaux, France, during the first months of WWII.
In 1939 and 1940, acting against orders from the portuguese government, he proceeded to issue over 30,000 safe-passage visas to anyone wanting to flee from the german invasion of France, including more than 10,000 desperate jewish people. Even after being recalled to Lisbon, he intentionally stalled his return at every occasion so that he could keep on stamping and signing as many visas as he could.
For his trouble, he was stripped by the dictator Salazar's government from his diplomatic post, his driver's license and his law practice license.
He was financially ruined by this punishment, and lived the rest of his days from the support of his extended family and the jewish community in Portugal. He died, totally broke, in 1954.
Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a portuguese diplomat who was consul at Bordeaux, France, during the first months of WWII.
In 1939 and 1940, acting against orders from the portuguese government, he proceeded to issue over 30,000 safe-passage visas to anyone wanting to flee from the german invasion of France, including more than 10,000 desperate jewish people. Even after being recalled to Lisbon, he intentionally stalled his return at every occasion so that he could keep on stamping and signing as many visas as he could.
For his trouble, he was stripped by the dictator Salazar's government from his diplomatic post, his driver's license and his law practice license.
He was financially ruined by this punishment, and lived the rest of his days from the support of his extended family and the jewish community in Portugal. He died, totally broke, in 1954.
I just recently learned about August Engelhardt.
Born 1875 in Germany he was the original hippy. In 1902 he settled on Kaka Kon Island in German New Guinea and formed a cult of nudist cocoivoreses (yes, they lived off coconuts). It's really a tragic-comical story.
The colonies in Polynesia must have been paradise.
Some crazy quotes taken from the wikipedia article
Born 1875 in Germany he was the original hippy. In 1902 he settled on Kaka Kon Island in German New Guinea and formed a cult of nudist cocoivoreses (yes, they lived off coconuts). It's really a tragic-comical story.
The colonies in Polynesia must have been paradise.
Some crazy quotes taken from the wikipedia article
The Australian state of Tasmania is that little island you see in the southeast corner. It occasionally gets forgotten in overseas films, so I feel the need to point it out.
The entire population of Tasmanian Aborigines was wiped out during the 1800's, either at gun point or from diseases introduced by Europeans. The last full-blooded Tasmanian was exhumed from her grave and put in a museum. Her remains stayed there for almost a hundred years until they were finally put to rest in 1976.
The entire population of Tasmanian Aborigines was wiped out during the 1800's, either at gun point or from diseases introduced by Europeans. The last full-blooded Tasmanian was exhumed from her grave and put in a museum. Her remains stayed there for almost a hundred years until they were finally put to rest in 1976.
The "Venus Hottentot" story.
The French Museum of Man exhibited the stuffed body of a Black women until the mid 1970s. Her skeleton and organs were also kept by the museum. The story of this woman is horrible on its own but what really blew my mind is that it took until the 70s to remove the body from the public exhibit, and until 2002 to return the body where it belonged (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1957240.stm).
The French Museum of Man exhibited the stuffed body of a Black women until the mid 1970s. Her skeleton and organs were also kept by the museum. The story of this woman is horrible on its own but what really blew my mind is that it took until the 70s to remove the body from the public exhibit, and until 2002 to return the body where it belonged (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1957240.stm).
seb said:
Ha, this reminds me...
I know of a German noble family that has a stuffed body of an African man stored in the cellars of their castle. They were freaked out when they found it and try to keep it out of the media. The only way to deal with it is contact the local church and quietly bury it imo.
Always-honest
Banned
it wasn't untill i went to NY (and i saw the statue) that i realised that George Washington probably has the biggest cameltoe in the history of mankind:Goldrusher said:
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Mexico's Daddy, the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, didn't actually want independence for New Spain. He was just angry that the French had conquered Spain and that their influence was spreading to the new continent.
The thing was that Mexico had already abolished slavery -an issue for which Texas landlords were obviously against.
Jea Song said:
The thing was that Mexico had already abolished slavery -an issue for which Texas landlords were obviously against.
Rocket Scientist
Member
I knew this would come up. Dude's bad-ass for sureRad- said:
crazy monkey
Banned
there is no other topic like this so i will post here, in windows calculator
do this
sqrt( 4)
than it will show 2
than - ( subtract )2
:lol
do this
sqrt( 4)
than it will show 2
than - ( subtract )2
:lol
j_k_redtail
Member
This is considered a myth by most historians, typically propagated by "Lost Cause" types.ryutaro's mama said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization
I watched a documentary about how someone who didn't pay a rail ticket in India would be sterilised for the offence. I care for India but its economic progress needs to be matched by its social progress.
I watched a documentary about how someone who didn't pay a rail ticket in India would be sterilised for the offence. I care for India but its economic progress needs to be matched by its social progress.
crazy monkey
Banned
Raxel said:
I have never heard anybody getting done compulsory. It was failed program they wanted to implant and show me that documentary or name of it.
other countries with similar law
* 1.1 Canada
* 1.2 Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic
* 1.3 Germany
* 1.4 Japan
* 1.5 India
* 1.6 China
* 1.7 Sweden
* 1.8 Switzerland
* 1.9 United States
SouthernDragon
Member
I dunno, how about Simon Bolivar, only one of the most badass and learned dudes in South American history, or how Venezuela used to be part of the Gran Colombian nation-state until it broke into three?Machado said:
SouthernDragon
Member
ryutaro's mama said:
This is a myth.
Funky Functionality
Member
Reading all about the Manhattan Project in 5th grade really sucked my mind's dick.
Nothing to diminish the heroic deeds of the Finnish soldiers, but it was far more Soviet failure than Finnish success. The purges of the 30s had taken a severe toll on officers of all ranks, this along with outdated and poorly maintained weaponry, no equipment for dealing with winter conditions and Kliment Voroshilov being entirely incompetent meant the Soviet position was not nearly as strong as figures on wikipedia would have you believe.ChocolateCupcakes said:
Anasui Kishibe
Banned
In Chester you can only shoot a Welsh person with a bow and arrow inside the city walls and after midnight.
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