As a history lover, I know that no matter who you are or what period of history might be your favorite, there will always be more historical facts out there to learn. So, here are 10 fun history facts I’ve learned recently that I thought were cool enough to share. Enjoy!
1.
In 1781, the Royal Academy of Brussels put out a call for proposals for scientific studies from “distinguished scientists and philosophers worldwide.” Benjamin Franklin was one of those distinguished few, and he did not pass up the opportunity to write a hilarious proposal. Its title? “A Letter to a Royal Academy, about Farting,” or, alternatively, “Fart Proudly.”
2.
Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Jane Cochran, was an 1890s American journalist. She got her start by writing a scathing letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch in response to an article criticizing the presence of women in the workforce. In response, the paper’s editor offered her a job as a journalist.
Pulitzer wanted Bly to write an investigative piece on Blackwell’s Island, “one of New York’s most notorious mental asylums.” Bly decided to “feign mental illness to gain admission and expose firsthand how patients were treated.” Her exposé, titled “Ten Days in a Madhouse,” rocketed her to national fame. According to the Museum, “her reporting on life in the asylum shocked the public.” Her piece revolutionized investigative journalism.
4.
Plastic surgery was invented because of WWI. WWI was the first war that broadly used new, heavier weapons like machine guns, heavy artillery, and poison gas, and these new weapons led to new, gorier injuries.
Harold Gillies (pictured below at age 75), a New Zealander who had joined the British Army’s Royal Army Medical Corps and been posted to France in 1915, was evidently struck by “the rise in horrific facial wounds.” In 1917, he “established The Queen’s Hospital at Frognal House in Sidcup,” a hospital designated for the treatment of facial injuries. A pioneer in facial reconstruction, Gillies further developed the already-used practice of skin grafting. Today, he is known as the “father of plastic surgery.”
5.
Ohio once went to war with Michigan over Toledo. Well, it wasn’t an official war, and no one died, but it’s still called the Toledo War. In 1835, Ohio was already a state, and Michigan was just a lowly territory. Ohio sent out a group of surveyors to the land that more or less bordered Ohio and Michigan, where they were “captured and imprisoned” without a trial (which Michiganians defended via Michigan’s Pains and Penalties Act), though some escaped. In July, the Toledo War’s sole injury took place when an Ohioan stabbed a Michigan sheriff, Joseph Wood, who was trying to arrest him. Eventually, Ohio got the Toledo Strip in exchange for Michigan getting statehood, as well as the entire Upper Peninsula. Not a bad deal!
6.
In 1969, Honduras and El Salvador fought a war called La Guerra Del Fútbol, or the Football War. In just four days, the conflict left over 3,000 people dead — and the match that lit the flame was a football match, which had been played between the two countries in Mexico City just three weeks before.
8.
Just over 40 years passed between Charles Lindbergh’s first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean and Apollo 11’s landing on the moon. Lindbergh flew his transatlantic flight between May 20-21, 1927; Apollo 11 launched on July 16, 1969.
9.
Elsie MacGill, a Canadian, was the first woman in the world to earn a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. She designed an airplane, the Maple Leaf Trainer II, and personally oversaw the production of the Hawker Hurricane, “one of the principal combat aircraft that defended the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain.” She’s known as the “Queen of the Hurricanes.”
10.
And finally: In November 1970, the carcass of a sperm whale washed up on the beach of Florence, Oregon. The body weighed over eight tons, and the engineers of the Oregon Highway Division did not know the best way to remove and dispose of it. So, they decided to blow it up with 20 cases of dynamite.
If there are any dramatic, interesting, or just plain cool facts from history that you love, please, please, please drop them in the comments! I always like learning more historical info, and I’m sure other people do, too. Or, if you’d rather share anonymously, fill out the form below!