25 Odd and Interesting Historical Facts That Will Pique Your Interest

1.

Officially, the longest war in history was between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly, which lasted from 1651 to 1986. There were no casualties.

2.

Albert Einstein was offered the role of Israel’s second President in 1952, but declined.

3.

Soon after building started in 1173, the foundation of the Pisa tower settled unevenly. Construction was stopped, and was continued only a 100 years later. Therefore, the leaning tower was never straight.

4.

John F. Kennedy, Anthony Burgess, Aldous Huxley, and C.S. Lewis all died on the same day.

5.

Napoleon was once attacked by rabbits.

6.

The Anglo-Zanzibar war of 1896 is the shortest war on record lasting an exhausting 38 minutes.

7.

Karl Marx was once a correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune.

8.

Kim Jong Il wrote six operas.

9.

Princeton researchers successfully turned a live cat into a functioning telephone in 1929.

10.

Ronald Reagan was a lifeguard during high school and saved 77 people’s lives.

11.

Lord Byron kept a pet bear in his college dorm room.

12.

In 1912, a Paris orphanage held a raffle to raise money—the prizes were live babies.

13.

A New Orleans man hired a pirate to rescue Napoleon from his prison on St. Helena.

14.

The "D" in D-Day in fact, it does not stand for anything. The 'D' is derived from the word 'day'. 'D-Day' means the day on which a military operation begins. The term 'D-Day' has been used for many different operations, but it is now generally only used to refer to the Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944.

15.

The Constitution of the Confederate States of America banned the slave trade.

16.

When the American Civil War started, Confederate Robert E. Lee owned no slaves. Union general U.S. Grant did.

17.

England’s King George I was actually German.

18.

In 1838, General Antonio López de Santa Anna (President of Mexico) had his leg amputated after his ankle was destroyed by canon-fire. He ordered a full military burial for it.

19.

Contrary to popular belief and legend, Daniel Boone not only did not wear a coonskin cap, he detested them. Instead, Boone wore a felt cap.

20.

At the start of World War I, the US Airforce (then a component of the US army) had only 18 pilots and 5 – 12 airplanes.

21.

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

22.

Arabic numerals (the ones used in English) were not invented by the Arabs at all – they were actually invented by Indian mathematicians.

23.

The Parliament of Iceland is the oldest still acting parliament in the world. It was established in 930.

24.

Despite the terrible nature of and damage caused by the 1666 Great Fire of London, only 8 people were killed. This is despite the fire destroying at least 13,500 houses.

25.

Ancient Egyptians used slabs of stones as pillows.