History is full of secrets and strange events that don’t always make it into textbooks. Here are 25 facts from history that will surprise you!
Napoleon was once attacked by a horde of wild rabbits.
Hitler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1939 (it was a joke).
The Eiffel Tower can grow more than 6 inches in the summer.
Cleopatra lived closer to the moon landing than to the building of the pyramids.
Vikings never wore horned helmets.
The Great Fire of London in 1666 only killed six people.
The shortest war in history lasted 38 minutes (Anglo-Zanzibar War).
In Ancient Egypt, servants were smeared with honey to attract flies away from pharaohs.
The Romans used urine as mouthwash.
George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.
The pyramids were as old to the Romans as the Romans are to us.
Paul Revere didn’t actually shout “The British are coming!”
The guillotine was last used in 1977 in France.
Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel (he declined).
Ketchup was once sold as medicine.
Pirates wore eyepatches to improve night vision.
Ancient Greeks used rocks as toilet paper.
In the 1800s, people ate mummies as medicine.
The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi survived both Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
The Cold War almost ended in nuclear disaster—multiple times.
Women were once banned from Olympic marathons.
Before erasers, people used bread to remove pencil marks.
The CIA tried to create spy cats in the 1960s.
The first computer bug was an actual bug (a moth inside a computer).
History isn’t just about kings and battles—it’s full of bizarre, funny, and amazing stories that make the past come alive!