History Facts

    Random History Facts

    There are 163 History Facts!

    The life expectancy in 1900 was just 47 years.
    49
    Chinese General With Only 100 Men Made An Army of 150,000 Retreat
    According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Shu general Zhuge Liang had to defend a town with a mere 100 troops against an army of 150,000. He hid his men, flung open the gates, and sat on the walls playing a lute. The opposing general of Wei, Sima Yi, certain it was a trap, ordered a retreat.
    43
    In 1518, a "dancing plague" struck Strasbourg, Alsace, whereby hundreds of people danced fervently in the streets over the period of a month. Some suffered heart attacks or strokes, and many others died from sheer exhaustion. It remains unexplained.
    19
    Knocker-Up
    Knocker-Up
    Until the 1920s, there was a profession called 'knocker-up', which involved going from client to client and tapping on their windows (or banging on their doors) with long sticks until they woke up.
    46
    Tsar Bomba
    Tsar Bomba
    The largest nuclear bomb ever built, the Tsar Bomba, caused damage up to approximately 1,000km away.
    161
    In Ancient Egypt, some people paid their taxes in honey.
    152
    The first bomb dropped on Germany in WWII killed the only elephant in the Berlin zoo!
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    The Titanic is about as long as the Empire State building is tall.
    174