21 Fascinating Historical Facts You Absolutely Need To Know

The nursery rhyme "Ring Around The Rosy" is actually about the Black Plague, where 1/3 of all Europeans died.

Joseph Stalin was actually born Ioseb Jugashvili, but changed his name when he became involved in politics. Stalin is translated as "Man Of Steel."

In 1775, just a year before the Declaration Of Independence, American patriots sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III, affirming loyalty and begging him to prevent further conflict.

Adolf Hitler was an admirer of Henry Ford, to the point that he even kept a picture of him on his desk in Munich.

In Ancient Egypt, servants of the Pharaoh would put honey all over their faces in order to draw bugs away from their God-King.

In the 18th century, Roman Catholics in Bavaria created a sect called the Order of the Pug, where initiates had to wear a collar and scratch at the door for entry.

Henry VIII had men in his employ called "Grooms of Stool" which did exactly what you think they did. Wipe his bottom. These men were knighted.

Abraham Lincoln was actually a champion wrestler with only one loss in his entire career.

During the Renaissance in France, a woman had a right to take her husband to court, even divorce him, if he was found to be impotent.

One of the most successful pirates of all time was a Chinese former prostitute who commanded a fleet of 1,500 ships.

When the famous Voltaire was on the verge of death, a priest asked him to disavow Satan to save his soul. The philosophe replied, "This is no time to be making new enemies."

Jeanette Rankin, the first-ever female member of congress was elected in 1916. Four years before the 19th amendment was passed.

When Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492, no educated person actually believed the world was flat. In fact, its circumference was fairly accurately calculated in Ancient Greece.

Charlie Chaplin entered a look alike competition for Charlie Chaplin and only came 20th place.

The shortest war in history was fought between Zanzibar and the UK. It lasted just 38 minutes.

Thomas Edison once filmed the fatal electrocution of an elephant in front of a crowd of over 1000 people.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two famous founding fathers of the U.S. died each died on July 4th, 1826

During World War II, the U.S. Army experimented with a "bat bomb" by adhering explosives to bats. The project was abandoned after the bats destroyed the testing facility.

Researchers at Princeton University successfully turned a live cat into a telephone in 1929.

The Civil War began on Wilmer McLean's farmhouse, who then moved over a hundred miles away to escape the fighting. The war ended in his house in Appomattox.

Ancient Romans used their own urine as mouth wash. It contains ammonia, making it an excellent natural cleaning agent.