History

Battles decided by a detail, badly drafted treaties, figures posterity remembered wrong: what never made it into the textbooks.

863 anecdotes, most recent first.
Highlights

The first person to circumnavigate the globe was a slave

Enrique is a Malay slave bought in 1511 during a previous voyage by the navigator Ferdinand Magellan. Taken to Europe and then embarked on the great expedition to the West, he traveled half the globe with his master before finishing the journey. He thus became the first man to complete the circumnavigation of the world, ahead of the European captains of the crew.

2026-06-12

A simple plate of spaghetti removed the judge from the Dutroux case

Judge Connerotte attended a support evening organized on Saturday, September 21, 1996, by the Marc and Corine association to fund Laëtitia's defense costs. The lawyer for Marc Dutroux used this presence and shared meal to file a motion for removal on the grounds of legitimate suspicion of bias. This decision was granted by Advocate General Éliane Liekendael, sparking violent protests throughout Belgium against this episode dubbed the spaghetti ruling.

2026-04-10

A three-year-old child was hidden in the Buchenwald camp

In February 1945, a Polish prisoner brought a three-year-old child into the Buchenwald concentration camp. Warehouse inmates decided to hide him first in an infirmary cupboard and then in the pigsty, despite the danger incurred by the entire resistance. Tortured afterwards for weeks, Höfel and Kropinski refused to reveal the presence of the little boy before the inmates liberated themselves.

2026-03-26

A black bread diet to buy books

At the age of 16, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky went to study in Moscow for three years while diligently frequenting libraries. His father being able to send him only small sums of money, he devoted the bulk of his budget to the purchase of books and equipment for his experiments. This asceticism led him to feed exclusively on black bread to meet his needs.

2026-10-16

The decriminalization of abortion in 1920 in the USSR

The decree authorizing abortion was adopted on October 18, 1920 after discussions within the Jenotdel and the Soviet party. The stated motivation invoked the health and the interest of the race rather than the rights of women. This decision followed the principle decided as early as 1918 by the Council of People's Commissars.

2026-10-16

An attempt at union between the Churches in 1142

John II is a Byzantine emperor who sought to restore religious unity with Rome. In April 1142, he sent a letter to Pope Innocent II to express this wish for conciliation. Byzantine theologians thus agreed to re-examine the theological controversy in a spirit of openness.

2026-10-16

He violates orders to save bells

In 1797, a decree threatens to requisition the bells of the Baudeloo Abbey to melt them into cannons. Charles Van Hulthem decides to exceed his official duties as president of the jury to preserve them. He writes in parallel to the Minister of the Interior Pierre Bénézech to defend the artistic heritage and wins his case.

2026-10-15

A sailor in the Imperial cavalry

The second regiment of the Imperial Guard scouts was originally supposed to recruit its men from postilions. In 1814, faced with the losses suffered, varied assignments led to the hiring of a sailor and marine gunners. This unit, initially 1000 horsemen strong on paper, eventually saw its numbers melt rapidly to count only 200 men two months after the start of the French campaign.

2026-10-15

Napoleon created his own Cossacks to counter the Russians

The Imperial Guard scouts are light cavalry regiments created by Napoleon I in December 1813. This decision follows the 1812 Russian campaign, during which the French cavalry had exhausted itself chasing the Cossacks who were constantly slipping away. These French units then participated in the 1814 French campaign, distinguishing themselves notably at Craonne under the orders of Colonel Testot-Ferry.

2026-10-14

Pakistan secretly developed the atomic bomb under Zia-ul-Haq

Zia-ul-Haq continues the military nuclear development initiated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto while claiming the opposite to Ronald Reagan. The enrichment threshold allowing for military quality is thus crossed in 1985. From the following year, the country has enough fissile material to create a bomb.

2026-10-14

An officer goes into debt to arm his troops

The Marquis de La Rouërie procured in 1781 the equipment necessary for his American legion by going into debt with his own funds. Fearing the slowness of the French government, he borrowed fifty thousand francs at five percent interest in his own name. This sum was used to acquire notably one hundred leather saddles, one hundred and fifty hussar sabers and three hundred and twenty copper helmets.

2026-10-13

The first known coat of arms was invented retroactively

The enamel plaque of Geoffrey Plantagenet depicts a coat of arms composed of six golden lioncels on an azure background. This object was long considered the oldest known coat of arms, supposedly offered during the knighting of the count in 1127 by his father-in-law Henry I, King of England. Recent studies have proven that this scene was in reality invented by a monk in the 1170s to project the fashion of his era.

2026-10-13

The eagle is the Roman military emblem

The eagle became a general military emblem for Roman armies starting from the reform led in 107 BC. This modification was introduced by the Roman general Marius to harmonize the troops' banners. Previously, Roman forces used various animals on their standards.

2026-10-12

A crucial oversight in the Omar Raddad case

Omar Raddad is a gardener whose shoes bore particles indicating his presence in a cellar, contradicting his initial statements. The accused had first claimed not to have gone down there for two months, before remembering on February 18 that he had stored flower pots there shortly before the murder. This change in behavior and this lie led Judge Renard to doubt the gardener's innocence, according to remarks reported by Ève Livet.

2026-10-12

The priest who climbed barefoot to exorcise demons

Tadig Kozh is a nineteenth-century priest renowned as a great miracle worker. In the middle of the century, he led spectacular exorcism sessions in the middle of the night in the Saint-Hervé chapel. He climbed the summit of Menez Bré barefoot during full moon nights in order to order the demons to parade before chasing them away with holy water.

2026-10-12

Muslim tombs display Hindu symbols

Fourteenth-century Muslim graves, discovered at the Javanese site of Trowulan, feature the Majapahit Sun. This symbol is nevertheless the emblem of the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit kingdom. This singularity suggests that high-ranking figures, and probably members of the royal family, had converted to Islam.

2026-10-11

The oldest cave paintings in the world are in Indonesia

Sulawesi and Borneo house the oldest known cave paintings in the world. These parietal artworks have survived the millennia and testify to the very ancient human occupation of the region. They have been dated by scientists between 40,000 and 60,000 years, well before the arrival of Austronesian migrations.

2026-10-11

A French gunboat forced the King of Cambodia to sign

In 1884, the French governor Charles Thomson forced King Norodom of Cambodia to sign a treaty of reinforced guardianship. Dissatisfied with the functioning of the protectorate, the governor went directly to the royal palace of Phnom Penh escorted by armed troops and a gunboat. Cornered to save his throne, the monarch gave in and agreed to entrust the control of customs duties to France.

2026-10-11

Stealing an incubus's conical cap ensures the discovery of treasure

Stealing the conical cap of an incubus ensures the discovery of a treasure according to the Latin writer Petronius. This headgear, named pileus, was sometimes depicted on ancient coins such as those minted in Bithynia and Galatia. This mythological creature was thus frequently adorned with this cap similar to that of freed Roman slaves.

2026-10-11

An American road crosses a sacred forest

The American army built roads in Wallis, including one crossing a forest considered sacred by the Wallisians. This wood, named vao tapu, surrounds Lake Lalolalo. This infrastructure is part of the numerous developments carried out by the troops during the Second World War.

2026-10-11

Cavour cedes Garibaldi's hometown to France

In 1860, Count Cavour cedes the city of Nice to France. This locality is however the hometown of the revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi. This transfer of territories constitutes the starting point of their first political disagreements.

2026-10-11

Gandhi turned to veganism due to his refusal of milk

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is the famous Indian political and spiritual activist. He completely abandoned the consumption of dairy products out of compassion for cows, after being haunted by the barbaric methods of the Calcutta govâls to milk their animals. He thus became a vegan, going so far as to state in his writings that milk could not constitute human food.

2026-10-11

French colonization as a bargaining chip

Léon Gambetta considered colonial expansion as the only way to strengthen France's power in the face of its European isolation. This policy aimed to build up territories that could serve as a bargaining chip with Germany. The ultimate goal of this strategy was to succeed in recovering Alsace-Lorraine.

2026-10-11

Louis Jamme prevented a bombardment of Liège

Louis Jamme is a citizen involved in public safety during the Belgian Revolution of 1830. He prevented a bombardment of the city of Liège by the Dutch by opposing the seizure of artillery pieces by the crowd at the Prince-Bishops' Palace. These weapons were finally evacuated without incident during the night to remove any danger.

2026-10-11

King Albert's first flight

King Albert performed his maiden flight in the company of Fernand Jacquet during a reconnaissance mission over the front line. The flight took place on 18 March 1917 with an escort of five Nieuports to ensure the sovereign's protection. This royal initiative led shortly after to the creation of the first fighter aircraft group of the Belgian army.

2026-10-11

A very advantageous marriage contract in the 17th century

In 1639, Françoise-Marie Jacquelin agrees to marry Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour by a contract signed in his absence. The future husband pays her 2,000 livres for her rings and guarantees 10,000 livres of inheritance to attract her to an inhospitable region. The text also provides for an indemnity of 8,000 livres in case of travel impediment, as well as servants and half of the assets after the wedding.

2026-10-11

Temple doors were automatic two thousand years ago

The automatic opening of temple doors is a mechanism described by Hero of Alexandria in his work Pneumatica. The fire lit on the altar heated the air in a hollow base, causing the expansion of this air which pushed water into a container connected to a system of ropes and pulleys. This weight of water triggered the opening of the doors, while the extinguishing of the fire allowed the counterweight to close the whole system.

2026-10-11