What is one thing in history that amazes you and makes you want to tell the world?

Sealbhach

What we call the Byzantine Empire was called the Roman Empire, Imperium Romanum, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn or Romania by the people who actually lived there.

It was the eastern part of the Roman Empire - the division happened around the time Emperor Constantine founded Constantinopolis in 330 AD. So, although the Roman Empire died out in the West, it lingered on in the East until 1453. It wasn't until 1557 that historians began to call it the Byzantine Empire.

mitravelus

Tesla, everything that man accomplished amazes me to this day.

FilthMontane

Check out Russia during WW2. I went through high school believing that America was the primary force that won the war. Russians were in Germany before Americans were. The entire history of Russia itself is also quite interesting.

quelar

Napolean is responsible for the beginings of Egyptology as a study.

Hannibal for some reason, had decimated the Romans but stopped short or attacking Rome.

The War of 1812 (US vs Canada/Britain) was a war of errors, between Fort Mackinac falling to the British before the Fort even knew they were at war. The Battle of New Orleans, which in the end was a slaughter of the British happened after the war had ended, but no one was able to get a message to the Brits.

The Rebellion of Upper Canada took place in Toronto took about 4 days and ended when the Rebels, who had made it 4 city blocks, found a house with meat and whiskey, this was as far as the rebellion got.

cdigioia

OK I'll give it a go:

The largest empire in history was the British Empire at it's peak. Somehow that interests me, as well as all the cultural leftovers of that which one can see all over much of the world.

Zman11588

The story of Rasputin and pretty much all of Russia's history.

j0hnsd

Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire.

jnana

Smedley Butler and the Business Plot.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Eisenhower's farewell/warning about the Military-industrial Complex.

..we have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world — no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.

-W. Wilson

there's plenty more where that came from...

Blackstaff

When King Sobieski of Poland pretty much saved western Europe from yelling "Allahu Akbar" for the foreseeable future.

acegibson

That there was some guy who was the first dude ever to ride a horse.

I imagine there were fermented fruits/juices involved, followed by a "Hey! Watch this!"

oneordinarylife

I learned recently that the beginnings of serfdom in the Middle Ages occurred in the Roman Empire. Towards the end of the Roman Empire, the army's size expanded drastically. This army needed to be fed, but there were far more lucrative jobs in the cities and in the army itself than that of the lowly farmer.

To counteract this, the emperor at the time introduced a decree forcing farmers to stay farmers for the rest of their lives, thereby ensuring the continued production of food for the army.

Also, Egyptian farmers were sharecroppers. The Pharaoh owned all the land in Egypt, and then farmers were allowed to work on that land as long as they gave a ridiculously high amount of the food grown back to their employer.

DENVER0501

Eleanor of Aquitane -- 12th century lady -- married the King of France, had the marriage annulled so she could marry her lover, King Henry II of England; she led a crusade; was the mother of Richard of Lion-Hearted and John, who was such a bad king, his subjects revolted and it resulted in the Magna Carta, the bedrock document of representative government. Something like a combination of Elizabeth Taylor, Hillary Clinton, and Condeleeza Rice.

Comrad_Pat

The climax of the Russo-Japanese war. The Russian's sent their BALTIC fleet to fight the japanese, pretty much upon arrival it was anihilated. It just blows my mind.

iobe

Naval warfare between Japan and Korea during Imjin War and the Korean General Yi Sun Shin.

Admiral George Alexander Ballard of the Royal Navy considered Yi a great naval commander, and compared him to Lord Nelson of England:

It is always difficult for Englishmen to admit that Nelson ever had an equal in his profession, but if any man is entitled to be so regarded, it should be this great naval commander of asiatic race who never knew defeat and died in the presence of the enemy; of whose movements a track-chart might be compiled from the wrecks of hundreds of Japanese ships lying with their valiant crews at the bottom of the sea, off the coasts of the Korean peninsula... and it seems, in truth, no exaggeration to assert that from first to last he never made a mistake, for his work was so complete under each variety of circumstances as to defy criticism... His whole career might be summarized by saying that, although he had no lessons from past history to serve as a guide, he waged war on the sea as it should be waged if it is to produce definite results, and ended by making the supreme sacrifice of a defender of his country. (The Influence of the Sea on The Political History of Japan, pp. 66–67.)

Chris1218218

Just random interesting facts that I love throwing out there.

Everyone knows about the revolutionary war, but it seems very few know about the War or 1812. Even fewer know how close we came to losing the war, and how an act of God probably saved our capitol.

That despite making France one of the most powerful empires in the world, Napoleon was exiled into Saint Helena after Louis XVIII regained power.

I've been recently studying up on the blood-filled history of the Ireland-England battles. Fascinating stuff.

roland19d

Ernest Shakleton's 1914 - 1917 Expedition to the South Pole and everything he and his men went through to be rescued. Wikipedia doesn't do it justice. I recommend this version for reading.

snuggleslut

I find the Taiping Rebellion fascinating.

totallynaked-thought

Amundsen-Scott race to the South Pole Story of the Erie Canal Watergate that I know Otto von Bismark & German Unification 1850-1903 Project Paperclip The Second Economy & the Soviet Union

anarchoal

The Spanish Revolution. Yes, workplace democracy is possible.

prof_hobart

Today I was amazed to find out that the fax machine is older than the telephone.

Neonblack

Tesla invented free energy and the world will never know.

carlsonj

The Mongol empire is the largest continuious empire

brickne3

That the fall of the wall (at least on the day it happened) was the result of what amounts to a lucky accident.

evanspw

An Shi Rebellion. Killed on in eight human beings. Unbelievably awful.

mestguy182

Hitler attacked Russia.. causing Germany to lose WWII.

sully84

WWI was started because of a sandwich

Granted the war would have started for some reason eventually regardless of this incident, but I find these random quirks of history to be very interesting. There are a few more here

chrisbraniac

Metaphors about the philosophy of time embedded in modern geology in the work of Burnet, Whiston, Werner, Hutton, Cuvier, and Lyell. This is my undergraduate thesis.

liberdade

The voyage of the James Caird.

thwackitechnica

Belgium's revolution and secession started with an Opera performance.

bennybenners

The story of Pope Joan is very interesting, whether it is real or not.

Veteran4Peace

48,000 BCE: The Protheans, a sentient race with hyper-advanced technology, were mysteriously wiped out leaving almost no trace of their existence.

Only their galaxy-spanning Mass Relay system is still intact.

Stu8912

My Birth!!!!!! ,oh and the roman empire was pretty cool I guess.

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