History is rich in interesting facts, many of which are little known. So, a little digression into history.

Tobacco enema. This picture shows the "tobacco enema" procedure, which was very popular in Western Europe in the 18th and early 19th century. Like smoking tobacco, the idea of ​​blowing tobacco smoke through the anus for medicinal purposes was adopted by Europeans from the North American Indians.

One of the weight units of antiquity was scruple, approximately equal to 1.14 grams. It was mainly used to measure the weight of silver coins. Later, scruple was used in the pharmaceutical system of measures. Today it is not used, but is preserved in the word "scrupulousness", which means extreme accuracy and accuracy in small things.

Fifty years ago, English referee Ken Aston was driving home reflecting on some of the problems of international communication. He
stopped at a traffic light and then it dawned on him - this is how yellow and red cards appeared in world football.

Count Potemkin offered Catherine II to write out convicts from the English government for the development of the Black Sea steppes. The queen was seriously carried away by this idea, but she was not destined to come true, and English convicts were sent to Australia.

Caesar's resourcefulness. During the invasion of Africa, the army of Julius Caesar suffered from failure from the very beginning. Severe storms scattered the ships in the Mediterranean, and Caesar arrived on the African shores with only one legion. Leaving the ship, the commander stumbled and fell face down, which was a good sign to return back for his superstitious soldiers. However, Caesar did not lose his head and, grabbing handfuls of sand, exclaimed: “I hold you in my hands, Africa!”. Later, he triumphantly conquered Egypt with his army.

The Russian scientist Vasily Petrov, who was the first in the world to describe the phenomenon of an electric arc in 1802, did not spare himself when conducting experiments. At that time, there were no such devices as an ammeter or voltmeter, and Petrov checked the quality of the batteries by feeling the electric current in his fingers. And in order to feel very weak currents, the scientist specially cut off the top layer of skin from the fingertips.

At the actor who played Superman, the children tried to shoot to test his invulnerability. American actor George Reeves became famous for playing the title role in the television series The Adventures of Superman in the 1950s. One day, a boy approached Reeves holding a charged father's Luger in his hands - he intended to test Superman's superhuman abilities. George narrowly escaped death by persuading the boy to give him the weapon. The actor was saved by the fact that the boy believed that a bullet could bounce off Superman and hit someone else.

In the 1950s and 1960s, American aircraft often violated Chinese airspace for the purpose of reconnaissance. The Chinese authorities recorded every violation and each time sent a “warning” to the United States through diplomatic channels, although no real action followed, and such warnings were counted by the hundreds. This policy has given rise to the expression "the last Chinese warning", meaning threats without consequences.

Berdashi. In almost all Indians of North America, there were so-called berdashi, or people with two souls, who were referred to as the third sex. Berdashi men often performed only female functions - they cooked, were engaged in agriculture, and the Berdashi women took part in hunting. Because of the special status of the berdash, men who had sex with them were not considered homosexuals, but the berdash themselves were not allowed to build relationships with each other. In some tribes, they were given a cult status, since it was believed that they were closer to ordinary people to the world of spirits and gods, so berdashi often became shamans or healers.

In Sparta, after the death of the king, two institutions were closed for 10 days - the court and the market. When the Persian king Xerxes learned about this custom, he declared that such a custom would not be possible in Persia, since it would deprive his subjects of two favorite activities.

In 1913, 19-year-old student Terry Williams created mascara by mixing soot with petroleum jelly. His discovery was first used by a sister named Mabel, after whom the first and most popular mascara in the history of cosmetics is named.

Previously, a monument to Minin and Pozharsky stood in the center of Red Square. When the Mausoleum was built, the monument pointed to it. One night, someone wrote on the monument "Look, prince, what scum, it started up in the walls of the Kremlin!" After this incident, the monument was moved.

In 1992, a group of Australians set themselves the goal of winning the national lottery jackpot at all costs. They invested $5 million in lottery tickets ($1 per ticket) to cover almost every possible combination and won $27 million.

II

One nun really needed a ladder, and she had no one to turn to. The pious woman began to earnestly pray to the patron saint of carpenters, Saint Joseph. Soon a man appeared on the doorstep, who offered his services and in a couple of months made a beautiful strong spiral staircase. When the work was completed, the man simply disappeared without receiving any payment or gratitude, and all attempts to find him were unsuccessful. It is curious that the staircase is made without any props, without a single nail, and at the same time makes a 360-degree turn.

III

Elephants rape and kill rhinos. In the Pilanesberg National Park (South Africa) alone, 63 such cases have been reported.

IV

In 1995, the New York magazine Newsweek published an article "Why the Web Can Never Become Nirvana" mocking the future of the Internet. The author of the article ridiculed the idea that someday people will get the news, buy airline tickets and study online. This article can still be read on the publication's website.

V

There is a territory between Egypt and Sudan that is not claimed by any state. It is called Bir Tawil and is a quadrangle with an area of ​​about 2000 kilometers. In theory, this territory should now belong to Egypt. However, in 1958, Egypt demanded that Sudan return to the 1899 borders and transfer the Halayib Triangle, refusing Bir Tawil in return. Sudan refused. So Bir Tawil turned out to be the only "no man's land" outside of Antarctica.

VI

In 1730, the French pirate Olivier Levasseur was sentenced to the gallows. Just before the execution, he unexpectedly threw a note with a cryptogram into the crowd, shouting: “Find my treasures if you can!” The treasure has not yet been found.

VII

During the excavation of an ancient Roman temple in London's Southwark, a jar of ointment was discovered, which is at least 2000 years old. The substance retained its structure, it even left fairly clear fingerprints.

VIII

The largest robbery in Japan took place in 1968. One day, a bank car carrying a large amount of money was stopped by a policeman on a motorcycle. He said that according to his information, a bomb was planted in the car and ordered everyone to get out. He then climbed inside "to defuse the explosive device." Suddenly, the car filled with smoke and the bank employees who were escorting the valuable cargo fled in a panic. And the “policeman” calmly left. During this heist (crime scene pictured below), 300 million yen was stolen and remains unsolved to this day.

IX

Most of the borders of the Middle East were set by a couple of European aristocrats in 1916. The Frenchman François Georges-Picot and the Englishman Mark Sykes developed the so-called "Sykes-Picot Agreement", which demarcated the spheres of interest of Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy in the Middle East after the First World War.

X

In 1967, Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared without a trace. Went for a swim with friends in the bay and vanished. He could not drown, as he was an excellent swimmer, there were no sharks in those places, and the cheerful prime minister had no reason to commit suicide. Holt's body was never found. This disappearance has entered Australian folklore. The expression "make Harold Holt" means to the locals to disappear suddenly and mysteriously.

XI

In May 2013, an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York was forced to make an emergency landing to expel a Whitney Houston fan who had driven passengers and crew to despair. The woman, without stopping with a good obscenity, yelled the famous hit “I Will Always love you” and flatly refused to shut up. She sang even when the police took her out of the salon:

Good day, dear friends!

Recently, the last bells in schools died down - and the graduates took a breath: they were distracted from preparing for the unified state exam. And this is great, since periodic rest is a necessary component of any preparation. By the way, I wrote more about this in a post.

Today, I suggest that you also take a break from preparation and spend time with intellectual entertainment - acquaintance with funny historical facts. These facts will help you look at history not as a boring series of facts and events, but as entertaining stories that can motivate you to study more thoroughly this or that period of national history before the exam.

If the story has already finished the channel for you, then I also highly recommend that you read my post on how to learn history so that this teaching is more interesting and exciting.

Well, now let's move on to the most interesting: fun facts from history. I will focus on a few entertaining stories and facts, but I will draw parallels with national history. By the end of the article, you will understand why I did it :).

Let's move chronologically and start from the 13th century.

FIRST FUNNY STORY. KAMIKAZE

As you well remember, in the 13th century, Russia was not going through its best time, it fought off both the Mongol-Tatars and the crusaders ... At the same time, Japan was also experiencing the aggression of the Mongol-Tatars. Japan, as well as Russia, was fragmented into different principalities, and therefore it could not withstand the onslaught of the Mongols. Meanwhile, her enslavement did not happen. Therefore?

In the event of Mongol-Tatar aggression, the western principalities of Japan would be the first to suffer. The princes of these principalities ordered a service in a Shinto temple (Shinto is Japanese paganism). And when the Mongol Khan gathered a huge fleet and sent it to enslave Japan, a storm broke out that scattered the Khan's fleet! This storm was called kami kaze (kami - deity, kaze - wind). That is why during the Second World War, Japanese pilots called themselves that, because they, like the divine wind (kamikaze), fell on the enemy fleet ...:

SECOND FUN FACT. LIFE AND MORALS OF MEDIEVAL RUSSIA.

There is every reason to believe that domestic violence and alcoholism are almost a tradition in Russia. Here, for example, is a quote from Domostroy Sylvester:

“Punish your son in his youth, and he will give you rest in your old age, and give beauty to your soul. Loving your son, increase his wounds - and then you will not praise him. Punish your son from youth, and you will rejoice for him in his maturity, and among ill-wishers you will be able to boast of him, and your enemies will envy you. Raise children in prohibitions and you will find peace and blessings in them.

And here is the testimony of the doctor of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Samuel Collins:

“At Maslenitsa, before Great Lent, Russians indulge in all kinds of amusements with unbridledness, and in the last week of fasting there is so much, as if they were destined to drink for the last time in their lifetime. Some drink vodka, distilled four times, until the mouth flares up and the flame comes out of the throat, as from the mouth of hell (Bocca di inferno); and if they are then not allowed to drink milk, they die on the spot. .

Some, returning home drunk, fall asleep in the snow, if there is no sober comrade with them, and freeze on this cold bed. If one of the acquaintances happens to walk by and see a drunken friend on the brink of death, then he does not give him help, fearing that he does not die in his arms and fearing to be subjected to the anxiety of investigations, because the Zemsky Prikaz knows how to take a tax from any dead body coming under his department. It is a pity to see how a person is being transported on a sleigh by twelve frozen ones; some had their hands eaten by dogs, some had faces, and some were left with nothing but bare bones. Two hundred or three hundred people were brought in this way during the fast. From this you can see the pernicious consequences of drunkenness, a disease (Epidemick), which is characteristic not of Russia alone, but also of England.

“The most amazing thing is that her death was not avenged by anyone, because in Russia there is no criminal law that would prosecute the murder of a wife or a slave if the murder is committed as a punishment for a misdemeanor; but murder is a strange punishment: the purpose of punishment has never been to end life, but always to correct. Some husbands tie their wives by the hair and flog the completely naked. Such cruelties, however, are rare, and the only causes are infidelity or drunkenness. Now it seems that husbands do not treat their wives so cruelly, at least the parents try to warn them and, giving their daughters in marriage, conclude a condition. They demand from the son-in-law that he supply his wife with decent dresses, feed her with good and healthy food, do not beat her, treat her kindly and offer many other conditions somewhat similar to those rules that are prescribed in England by customs that have received the force of law.

Something needs to be done about this! Or what do you think? Unsubscribe in the comments! I'm waiting!

THIRD HISTORICAL FACT: Emperor Peter the Third had two great people in his pedigree: Peter the Great and Charles 12. Irony of fate?

FUNNY FACT FOUR: Hitler and Lenin played chess with each other:

THE FIFTH FUNNY STORY ABOUT HOW THE EMPRESS ANNA Ioannovna Became Single.

All of you know very well that Peter the Great had a weak-minded brother, Ivan. By the way, you don’t have to laugh at this, because in order for you to be considered weak-minded in the old days, you would just have to not believe in God.

So, the weak-minded brother Peter Ivan had a daughter, who was named Anna, who then became the Russian Empress during palace coups. She was given in marriage to the Duke of Courland. Well, they celebrated the wedding there, everything is as it should be. On the way to Courland, the duke died. The official version claims that he was old and died of a heart ... A more avda-like version says that the dear one was distant, his wife was young ... well, the duke could not stand it, he overdid it, so to speak ... 🙂

This is how Anna Ioannovna became a widow ... which did not prevent her from becoming the Russian Empress.

SIXTH FUNNY STORY. VERA ZASULICH

Vera Zasulich is known for shooting the mayor of St. Petersburg, General Trepov. I shot twice, but didn't hit, or I hit where I was aiming. As a result, Yeral remained alive, and a trial was carried out over Vora, which, as you remember, became the most advanced: with the bar, the prosecutor's office and jurors. So, at the trial, the lawyer presented the case in such a way that Vera Zasulich became a victim of terrorists and she was not really to blame, he himself came 🙂

And what do you think? The jury acquitted the terrorist, who after the trial safely fled abroad. The authorities realized it, but it was already too late ...

SEVENTH FUNNY STORY

What actually started the Russo-Japanese War. Otsu Incident=>>

EIGHT FUNNY STORY: HIROO ONODA

Hiroo Onoda is a Japanese army officer who fought in World War II in the Philippines until 1974. Officially, the authorities recognized him as dead, but he did not die, but fought. He did not believe all the rumors that the war had ended back in 1945, and only when his direct general arrived in the Philippines, who gave him a task and gave the order to hand over his weapons, Onoda obeyed. Subsequently, Onoda left Japan for Brazil, hiding from excessive attention to himself. After all, he just followed orders and stood to the end. Since 1984, Hiroo Onoda has been writing his memoirs. When I read it, I'll be sure to post them.

And now you ask why he did not make himself seppuku (harahiri). In August 1945, an order was given not to do seppuku, but to stand to the last.

I think we will focus on these eight fun facts and stories. I hope they entertained you in some way. I plan a few more posts on this topic, so don't miss it! See you!

History is a rather vast subject and it is impossible to fully study it, especially in the smallest detail. Sometimes these seemingly insignificant details can be the most interesting part of it. Here are some interesting facts from history that will not be covered in class.

1. Albert Einstein could have been president. In 1952 he was offered the post of the second President of Israel, but he refused.

2. Kim Jong Il was a good composer and throughout his life the Korean leader composed 6 operas.

3. The Leaning Tower of Pisa has always been tilted. In 1173, a team building the Leaning Tower of Pisa noticed that the base was warped. Construction was halted for almost 100 years, but the structure was never straight.

4. Arabic numerals were not invented by Arabs, but by Indian mathematicians.

5. Before the invention of alarm clocks, there was a profession that consisted of waking other people up in the morning. So, for example, a person had to shoot dried peas at other people's windows to wake them up for work.

6. Grigory Rasputin survived many assassination attempts in one day. They tried to poison him, shoot him and stab him, but he managed to survive. In the end, Rasputin died in a cold river.

7. The shortest war in history lasted less than an hour. The Anglo-Zanzibar War lasted 38 minutes.

8. The longest war in history took place between the Netherlands and the Scilly archipelago. The war lasted 335 years from 1651 to 1989 and suffered no casualties.

9. This amazing species, known as the "Majestic Argentine Bird", with a wingspan of up to 7 meters, is the largest flying bird in history. She lived about 6 million years ago in the open plains of Argentina and in the Andes. The bird is a relative of modern vultures and storks, and its feathers reached the size of a samurai sword.

10. Using sonar, the researchers found two strange pyramids at a depth of 1.8 km. Scientists have determined that they are made of a kind of thick glass and reach enormous sizes (larger than the pyramids of Cheops in Egypt).

11. These two men with the same name were sentenced to the same prison and look very similar. However, they have never met, are not related, and are the reason why fingerprints began to be used in the judicial system.

12. Footbinding is an ancient Chinese tradition where girls had their toes tied to their feet. The idea was that the smaller the foot, the more beautiful and feminine the girl was considered.

13. The mummies of Guanajuato are considered the strangest and most frightening mummies. Their twisted faces make one believe that they were buried alive.

14. Heroin was once used as a substitute for morphine and was used to relieve coughs in children.

15. Joseph Stalin may have been the inventor of Photoshop. After the death or disappearance of some people, photos with him were edited.

16. Recent DNA tests have confirmed that the parents of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen were brother and sister. This explains many of his illnesses and defects.

17. The Icelandic Parliament is considered to be the oldest functioning parliament in the world. It was founded in 930.

18. For years, miners in South Africa have dug up mysterious balls about 2.5 cm in diameter with three parallel furrows. The stone from which they are made belongs to the Precambrian period, that is, their age is about 2.8 billion years.

19. It is believed that Catholic saints do not decay. The oldest of the "non-decaying" is Caecilia of Rome, who was martyred in 177 AD. Her body remains virtually the same as it was 1,700 years ago when it was discovered.

20. The encryption from Chaborough in the UK is one of the mysteries still unsolved. If you look closely, you can see the inscription in the form of letters on the monument: DOUOSVAVVM. No one knows who carved this inscription, but many believe it is the key to finding the Holy Grail.

Interesting historical facts beckon with their diversity. Thanks to them, humanity has a unique opportunity to understand what happened in a particular period of development of a nation, society and states. Facts from history are not only what we were told in school. There are many secrets from this area of ​​knowledge.

1. Peter the Great had his own method to fight alcoholism in the country. Drunkards were awarded medals, which weighed about 7 kilograms, and they could not be removed from oneself.

2. In the days of Ancient Russia, grasshoppers were called dragonflies.

3.The national anthem of Thailand was written by a Russian composer.

5. Those who urinated in the pond were executed during the time of Genghis Khan.

7. Braids were a sign of feudalism in China.

8. The virginity of English women in Tudor times was symbolized by bracelets on their hands and a tightly tightened corset.

9. Nero, who was an emperor in ancient Rome, married his male slave.

10. In ancient times in India, mutilation of the ears was used as a punishment.

11. Arabic numerals were not invented by Arabs, but by mathematicians from India.

13. Foot binding was considered an ancient tradition of the Chinese people. The essence of this was to make the foot smaller, and therefore more feminine and beautiful.

14. Morphine was once used to reduce coughs.

15. The ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's parents were a sister and a brother.

16. Gaius Julius Caesar had the nickname "boots".

17. Elizabeth the First covered her own face with white lead and vinegar. So she hid traces of smallpox.

18. The hat of Monomakh was the symbol of the Russian tsars.

19. Pre-revolutionary Russia was considered the most non-drinking country.

20. Until the 18th century, Russia did not have a flag.

21.Since November 1941, there was a tax on childlessness in the Soviet Union. It was 6% of the total salary.

22. Help in clearing objects during the Second World War was provided by trained dogs.

23. Virtually no earthquake was recorded during large-scale nuclear tests in 1960-1990.

24. For Hitler, the main enemy was not Stalin, but Yuri Levitan. He even announced a reward of 250,000 marks for his head.

25. In the Icelandic "Saga of Hakon Hakonarson" it was said about Alexander Nevsky.

26. Fist fights have long been famous in Russia.

27. Catherine II abolished flogging for the military for same-sex contacts.

28. Only Joan of Dark managed to expel the invaders from France, who called herself the messenger of God.

29. The length of the Cossack gull, which we remember from the history of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, reached about 18 meters.

30. Genghis Khan defeated the Keraites, Merkits and Naimans.

31. By order of Emperor Augustus, in ancient Rome they did not build houses that were higher than 21 meters. This minimized the risk of being buried alive.

32. The Colosseum is considered the bloodiest place in history.

33. Alexander Nevsky had the military rank of "Khan".

34. In the days of the Russian Empire, it was allowed to carry edged weapons.

35. Soldiers in Napoleon's army addressed the generals as "you".

36. During the Roman war, soldiers lived in tents of 10 people.

37. Any touching of the emperor in Japan before World War II was blasphemy.

38. Boris and Gleb are the first Russian saints who were canonized in 1072.

39. A Red Army machine gunner with the name Semyon Konstantinovich Hitler, who was Jewish by nationality, participated in the Great Patriotic War.

40. In the old days in Russia, to clean pearls, they gave it to peck at a chicken. After that, the chicken was slaughtered, and the pearls were pulled out of her stomach.

41. From the very beginning, people who do not know how to speak Greek were called barbarians.

42. In pre-revolutionary Russia, name days for Orthodox people were a more important holiday than birthdays.

43. When England and Scotland came to an alliance, Great Britain was created.

44. After Alexander the Great brought cane sugar from one of his Indian campaigns to Greece, he immediately began to be called "Indian salt."

45. In the 17th century, thermometers were filled not with mercury, but with cognac.

46. ​​The Aztecs invented the first condom in the world. It was made from a fish bladder.

47. In 1983, not a single human birth was registered in the Vatican.

48. From the 9th to the 16th century in England there was a law that every man should practice archery every day.

49. When the Winter Palace was stormed, only 6 people died.

50. About 13,500 houses were destroyed in the great and famous fire of London in 1666.