History teaches us about ourselves. It tells us what man has done, how his follies have hurt him, and how his virtues and risen him up, and it shows us the path to follow.

Usually, anyway. We can’t really learn anything from history if we don’t get the stories right. Some of the most famous historical stories have little details that are usually left out. Sometimes, these little details change the whole story—and ruin the whole point.

10 The Titanic Had More Lifeboats Than Required

The sinking of the Titanic is a classic fable of the hubris of man. Confident that they’d built an unsinkable ship, the developers only included 20 lifeboats. Their bravado sent hundreds to their deaths.

The thing is, by 1911 standards, the Titanic didn’t skimp on the lifeboats at all. Legally, they were only required to have 16. Those extra four were actually the company being abnormally cautious. Lifeboats were only meant to ferry people to another ship, so they weren’t expected to have enough for everyone.

Obviously, there was a problem with that standard, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any logic behind it. After the Titanic sank, the law was changed, and ships were so overloaded with lifeboats and safety gear that they could barely move. One, the Eastland, was so weighed down that it capsized, killing 844 people.

9 Johnny Appleseed’s Apples Were Inedible

Every American child learns the story of Johnny Appleseed, the US hero who journeyed through the western frontier, planting apple trees so that children could enjoy the sweet flavor of a delicious Granny Smith. Johnny Appleseed was a real person—but he wasn’t planting apples for kids. In fact, the apples he planted were almost entirely inedible.

The real Johnny Appleseed planted sour apples that could only be used for hard, alcoholic apple cider. Early settlers were hard drinkers. Johnny was just trying to help those people get drunk. He didn’t do it for free, either. Johnny ran ahead of settlers planting apple orchards on the land in order to sell the land for profit.

The US government wasn’t as fond of him as its people were. Johnny was promoting cheap and easy alcoholism. When prohibition came into effect, the FBI went out and chopped down every tree Johnny Appleseed planted.

8 Solomon Northup Was Sold Back Into Slavery

Since 12 Years A Slave hit theaters, Solomon Northup has been a household name. His story of being forced into slavery and his long, hard fight for his freedom are known around the world. More happened after the credits rolled, though. A couple of years after being reunited with his family, Northup went to Boston to deliver a few speeches—and never came back.

No one knows for sure what happened to him, but the popular belief is that a mob of people who didn’t care for the idea of a freed black man giving lectures gathered. They lured him into a trap, grabbed him, and sent right back into slavery. “It is said that Solomon Northup,” the newspapers of the time reported, “has been again decoyed South, and is again a slave.”

7 The Battle of the Alamo Was A Huge Mistake

The brave US soldiers who fought and fell to an onslaught of Mexican soldiers is a major moment in US history. It’s a story of heroism, of patriotism, and of men who bravely stood up against a larger army for a greater cause.

Except that it was pretty much pointless. The Alamo wasn’t a key strategic location. US Army commander Sam Houston tried everything he could to convince the people to focus on more important places, telling them that they didn’t have the munitions to win there, but they didn’t listen.

The Alamo helped as a piece of propaganda. Houston spread the words “Remember the Alamo!” as a battle cry that rallied the people to avenge the fallen who’d heroically died behind its walls—but if they’d just listened to Houston in the first place, they never would have died.

6 John Nash Went Off His Meds

A Beautiful Mind told the heart-wrenching tale of mathematical genius John Nash’s struggle to overcome the symptoms of schizophrenia. In the end, he credits his recovery to two things: the love of his wife and newer medications.

The real John Nash wasn’t happy about that “newer medications” line. He’d handled his schizophrenia in the exact opposite way—by ceasing to take meds entirely. Antipsychotic medication, he felt, blunted his mind. He threw them out in 1970 and never went back on them again.

Nash isn’t the first schizophrenic to convince himself he’d do better off his meds. He’s just a rare case where it actually worked, which is exactly why the screenwriter of A Beautiful Mind fudged that little detail. He didn’t want anyone in the audience following Nash’s bad example and trying to go without their meds.

5 Stephen Hawking May Have Been Beaten By His Wife

It used to be that people would think about Stephen Hawking without thinking about his sex life—until The Theory of Everything changed all that. That story, though, left out what happened after Hawking’s marriage with Jane Wilde ended—which is a bit less touching.

Hawking married a woman named Elaine Mason in 1995. After five years of matrimony wore their toll, reports started to come out that Hawking was covered in “mysterious injuries,” which he refused to explain. Then he was found with a broken arm and a split lip. He even missed his 60th birthday, which he explained by claiming that he’d “crashed into a wall.”

Eventually, people became worried enough that the police tried to investigate Mason for spousal abuse. Hawking, however, wouldn’t let them do it and refused to press any charges against her, so they never got the chance to find out for sure.

4 Darwin Tried To Ride The Galapagos Tortoises

Darwin’s trip to the Galapagos Islands changed the way we see the world. Because of his work there, he’s become a symbol of the scientific method—a fastidious, dedicated man who tested his theories through rigorous and systematic scrutiny. It helps that we usually leave out the part where Darwin tried to ride a tortoise.

When Darwin saw the massive Galapagos tortoises, some weighing as much as 270 kilograms (600 lb) and stretching 1.4 meters (4.5 ft) across, he knew what he had to do: see if he could ride them. The father of evolution hopped onto a tortoise’s back and tried to make it giddyup, rapping on the back of the shell to make it go.

The tortoise kept throwing him off, though, so Darwin just ate them instead, until they were an endangered species. Thus, the father of evolution provided a great example of his own principle: If the Galapagos tortoises had just let him ride them like ponies, they wouldn’t be on the brink of extinction today.

3 The French Revolutionaries Slaughtered Thousands Of Peasants

When the French revolutionaries rose up against the aristocracy in the name of liberty, fraternity, and equality, it got bloody. The mass slaughter of royalty under the blade of the guillotine is pretty well-known, but we usually envision the revolutionaries picking on the ruling class. As it turns out, they actually killed more peasants than aristocrats.

A huge chuck of those deaths came from Vendee, where the people weren’t particularly thrilled about the revolution. They revolted against the new French government—and were beaten back by the French army. Before marching on Vendee, a French general asked the government to “pronounce in advance on the fate of the women and children” and was told to slaughter every one. The response read, “Exterminate the brigands to the last man.”

They did just that. Afterward, another general boasted that he “trampled children under horses’ feet and massacred women.” He told Paris, “I have no prisoners to worry about. I have exterminated everything.”

2 The Pyramid Builders Were Treated Pretty Well

Every film we see about Egypt shows slaves building the pyramids, struggling through whippings and pain, moving the great blocks of the tombs of selfish kings into place. These images are reminders of how the Jews suffered in slavery and symbols of how one powerful man can put his vanity above the lives of countless others.

Except it turns out that the pyramids weren’t built by Jewish slaves. They weren’t built by slaves at all; they were built by paid laborers working in three-month shifts, who even had health care plans. Archaeologists have even found Egyptian construction workers buried inside the pyramids with jars of beer and bread, so they can still get drunk and chow down on carbs in the afterlife.

1 The Catholic Church Strongly Supported Astronomy

The Catholic Church gets a bad rap. We usually picture them as people who insisted the world was flat and fought against all scientific progress. They are, after all, the people who locked Galileo up in house arrest. According to Berkeley University, though, from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, the Roman Catholic Church actually gave more financial aid to astronomy than any other institution.

Their cathedrals were often built to work as solar observatories and were the best at the time. With that little painful exception of Galileo, most of the important figures in science were Catholic. Isaac Newton was devout, and Nicholas Copernicus, who first placed the Sun at the center of the universe, was a cleric.

It doesn’t stop there. Gregor Mendel, the founder of genetics, was an abbot. Georges Lemaitre, who proposed the expansion of the Universe, was an ordained priest. The list goes on.

While the smallest organisms capable of killing a human fall on the bacteria and virus branches of the tree of life, they aren’t what many would call a “creature.” There are plenty of proper animals that have been killing folks for hundreds of thousands of years.

Granted, most of the deadliest animals in the world are relatively large. While they are certainly interesting, the smallest killer critters can be far more fascinating. These ten animals are two fundamental things: they’re small and horrifically deadly.

Since they could all kill a person, they are arranged from the largest to the smallest deadly critter. Also, no vectors here, so don’t expect to see mosquitoes or fleas — only animals that can kill a person through direct contact.

10 Australian Animals That Aren’t As Deadly As You Think

10 Australian Box Jellyfish

Most jellyfish are more of an annoying nuisance than anything else. They tend to swarm and get in the way when you’re diving, and outside the occasional painful sting, they aren’t much of a bother.

Some jellyfish stings are excruciating, but they don’t result in death. That’s not true of the Australian Box Jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri), which is often cited as the most venomous marine animal.

C. fleckeri is the largest of the 51 known species of box jellyfish. In terms of size, they average around 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter. Its tentacles can extend for 10 feet (3 meters), so it’s not the smallest thing in the ocean.

Regardless, it’s something that should be avoided at all costs, which can be difficult. They don’t float about with the current and can swim up to 20 ft/second (6 m/sec.) or four knots. Their tentacles can deliver microscopic darts carrying intensely painful venom.

If stung and left untreated, death can come within two to five minutes. A single C. fleckeri has enough venom to kill around 60 adult humans. Nearly 80 fatalities have been recorded in Australia since the 19th century.

9 Amazonian Giant Centipede

The Amazonian Giant Centipede (Scolopendra gigantea) is one of the largest centipedes on the planet, reaching 12 inches (30 cm) in length. They can be found throughout South America and the Caribbean, where it enjoys eating other large arthropods, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals.

These centipedes are true carnivores. It has no problem overpowering other relatively large insects, spiders, scorpions, lizards, frogs, bats, mice, and birds. While they may look interesting, they should never be handled. They possess a particularly nasty venom they don’t mind sharing with the world.

The venom of S. gigantea contains a potent neurotoxin, making it possible for them to take down animals significantly larger than themselves. The venom targets the cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular, and nervous systems, incapacitating their victims.

Envenomation in humans is incredibly painful and can cause severe issues if not treated. There is only one documented case of death from a bite. In 2014, a four-year-old child in Venezuela found one in an open soda can. The subsequent bite resulted in the child’s death despite a great deal of effort medical professionals made trying to save his life.

8 Geography Cone

Cone snails are common worldwide, and because of their brightly colored shells, they are highly prized by shell collectors. It’s always best to collect the shells long after the snail has died because many of the 600+ species are extremely venomous.

The most dangerous of them all is the Geography Cone (Conus geographus), found in the coral reefs of the tropical Indo-Pacific. Despite being a small snail that grows to between 4 and 6 inches (10—15 cm), C. geographus actively hunts fish. It does this by firing off a harpoon-like tooth that delivers a powerful venom.

These little guys’ venom packs a wallop, and there is no antivenom to treat people once they are hit with it. The only thing medical professionals can do is try to keep a person alive long enough for the toxins to wear off.

If an adult is struck with the venom of the Geography cone, they will die within one to five hours without medical treatment. They are often called “cigarette snails” due to an old bit of gallows humor. It’s said that after a sting, a person has enough time to smoke a single cigarette before they die.

7 Deathstalker Scorpion

Scorpions are always somewhat dangerous to humans, as their sting tends to come with a lot of pain. Still, they aren’t ordinarily deadly, but that’s not to say there aren’t a few capable of killing a person. The deadliest known is the Deathstalker scorpion (Leiurus quinquestriatus), which measures around 3 to 4 inches (80 to 110 mm).

They are found throughout North Africa and the Middle East, where they are well known for the danger they present. Their venom is a nasty mix of neurotoxins that carry a low lethal dose. It includes chlorotoxin, charybdotoxin, scyllatoxin, and three types of agitoxins, all of which block specific channels of the nervous system.

While the envenomation of an adult doesn’t typically result in death, the young, infirmed, and elderly are all at risk. Most stings result in anaphylaxis, which can be followed by pancreatitis. An antivenom exists, but it is often needed in large doses to counter the deathstalker’s venom’s effects.

When death does occur, it’s most often the result of respiratory failure. Interestingly, while their venom can be fatal, it contains components that may help treat brain tumors and diabetes.

6 Blue-Ringed Octopus

Most people don’t think of an octopus as a venomous creature since the main focus is usually on its eight legs. There are several venomous octopi, and the deadliest is, by far, the Blue-ringed octopus. There are four species, and every one of them can be deadly to humans.

Blue-ringed octopi are small compared to other species, as most measure between 2.5 and 4 inches (6 to 10 cm). They get their name thanks to the brilliant blue rings found all over their bodies, and they can be found in tide pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

A Blue-ringed octopus is typically docile around humans, which can be a problem. This leads unsuspecting people to pick them up to admire their unique coloration, but this is a mistake. The little octopi are some of the world’s most venomous marine animals, and their venom is no joke.

They carry a powerful neurotoxin tetrodotoxin. A single octopus has enough to kill 25 adult humans in a matter of minutes. Their bite is often painless because of their small size, so most people who are bitten only realize it when they stop breathing and become paralyzed.

5 Golden Poison Dart Frog

The Golden Poison Dart frog (Phyllobates terribilis) is the most poisonous animal in the world. The key word here is “poisonous,” as it has no venom of its own. Still, a single frog has enough poison secreted from its skin to kill 22,000 mice. Their name is derived from the Choco Emberá, who used the frogs to poison their darts used for hunting.

These tiny frogs grow to a maximum of 2 inches (55 mm), making them particularly small. They are prized for their coloration, which is arguably quite beautiful. Still, handling one is a terrible idea should you find them in their native habitat of Colombia’s Pacific coast forests.

Their skin is densely coated in an alkaloid toxin, which causes a victim’s nerves to stop transmitting impulses. This leads to heart failure, and a single frog contains enough toxins to kill between 10 to 20 people.

Fortunately, lethal poisoning is rare, but it can happen. If the frogs are removed from their native habitat, they stop producing toxins, rendering them harmless. Their toxin builds from their consumption of ants that result in the buildup of batrachotoxins, so without the ants, they become innocuous.

4 Giant Silkworm Moth Caterpillar

The Giant Silkworm Moth Caterpillar (Lonomia obliqua) is a saturniid moth species found in South America. They are relatively small, measuring only about 2 inches (5.5 cm) long. According to the Guinness World Records, they make up for their size by being the most venomous caterpillar in the world.

Most people don’t see caterpillars as a threat, but if you should ever find yourself standing on a path with one of these, don’t go anywhere near it! They have a toxic venom capable of causing disseminated intravascular coagulation and consumptive coagulopathy. That’s a fancy way of saying it causes your blood to clot throughout your body.

When that happens, hemorrhagic syndrome and death aren’t far behind. These little guys don’t bite their victims to inject venom. Instead, their hollow bristles, which are found all over its body, contain and inject the venom into the poor fool who touches them.

Their spines may look like hairs, but they can easily penetrate the skin to deliver their venom. Fatalities are common with these caterpillars, but death isn’t certain. It can take several painful and miserable days to kick in, so immediate medical treatment is required.

3 Sydney Funnel-Web Spider

Several species of spiders are capable of killing folks, which is one reason arachnophobia is so prevalent. Still, the vast majority could only hurt a fly — after all, a spider’s venom is wasted on a human since we aren’t their usual prey.

Still, some spiders can kill, and the Sydney Funnel-Web Spider is one of the deadliest. They can only be found within a 63 mile (100 km) radius of Sydney, Australia, and they are the “most venomous” spiders in the world, regarding their toxicity to humans.

They aren’t the largest spiders in the world, with most examples’ body length ranging from 0.4 to 2 inches (1 to 5 cm). They have large, nasty-looking fangs, which they use to inject their entire venom reserve into their victims.

The venom contains a compound called atracotoxin, which inhibits the nervous system in primates. This can lead to death in as little as 15 minutes if untreated with antivenom. A full envenomated bite can kill an adult human, but they are more dangerous to the young and elderly.

2 Blue Sea Dragon

Blue Sea Dragons (Glaucus atlanticus) are a species of sea slug known for their beautiful and unique shape, which resembles a dragon. They measure only about 1.2 inches (3 cm) and can be found throughout the world’s oceans, but if you ever see one, avoid it at all costs!

These critters may be beautiful to look at, but they are incredibly dangerous and more than willing to sting someone who picks them up. Their diet consists of other venomous animals, specifically the parts of animals that contain venom. One of their favorite meals is the nematocysts from the Portuguese man o’ war.

When an animal eats nothing but venom, they tend to incorporate what they eat into their own nasty sting. When they do sting someone, it can be excruciating. It will cause all kinds of problems, including pain, vomiting, and acute allergic contact dermatitis.

Typically, handling one of these animals won’t kill a person. That said, there is a risk of a severe allergic reaction, resulting in death if left untreated. It’s always best to operate under a ‘look but don’t touch’ policy where the Blue Sea Dragon is concerned.

1 Common Kingslayer

The Common Kingslayer (Malo Kingi) is a species of Irukandji jellyfish that is minuscule compared to larger animals such as the Australian Box Jellyfish. M. Kingi measures a comparatively tiny 1 inch (3 cm) and is entirely transparent, making them difficult to spot.

They make up for their small size by carrying a particularly nasty venom, which can lead to Irukandji syndrome. If afflicted with the syndrome, most adults can expect to experience severe pain, rapid blood pressure, and vomiting. While death is rare, it can occur.

The name “Common Kingslayer” was given to the jellyfish following Robert King’s death, an American tourist who died after being stung. King is the only person who is known to have been killed by their sting, but he’s not the only person who’s been hit by them.

Stings are relatively common due to the difficulty swimmers have in seeing and avoiding them. It’s believed that their venom becomes more potent as they mature. Since King’s death in 2002, more attention has been given to M. Kingi, which was first described only five years following King’s death.

Major historical events are always analyzed under a magnifying glass. People ponder why they ended as they did and if anything should have been done differently. If you look close enough, you will see that even the most impactful moments in history were changed or, at least, influenced by tiny, seemingly insignificant events. 

Of course, we cannot know for certain that the outcomes would have been different if these small incidents did not occur, but their effect seems substantial enough to make us wonder, “What if?”

10. A Booty Call Ends Scotland’s Golden Age

King Alexander III is regarded as one of the greatest Scottish rulers in history. In 1266, he regained the Isle of Man and the Western Isles from Norway following the Treaty of Perth and Scotland experienced a prosperous golden age. He had one big flaw, though, as Alexander was a massive horndog. As the contemporary Lanercost Chronicle said, the king “used never to forbear on account of season nor storm, nor for perils of flood or rocky cliffs, but would visit none too creditably nuns or matrons, virgins or widows as the fancy seized him, sometimes in disguise.” In other words, nothing would stop Alexander when he was looking for a booty call.

On March 19, 1286, the king’s libido proved fatal. He had spent the entire day with his advisers in Edinburgh and had decided that he would visit his young, new wife that night, Queen Yolande de Dreux, who lived in the town of Kinghorn, just across the water. However, there was a massive storm outside, so his councilors all pleaded with Alexander to wait until morning. 

Nothing doing, though. The king braved the elements in order to meet with his bride. He made it across the water on a ferry and set off on horseback into the dark night, accompanied by only a few servants. Unsurprisingly, the riders got lost in the blackness and then got separated. The king’s lifeless body was found the next day, having been thrown by his horse off a cliff after riding too close to the edge. 

All of Alexander’s children already died before him and his heir was his three-year-old granddaughter, Margaret. However, a lot of the nobles weren’t keen on the idea of a girl infant becoming the new monarch of Scotland, so this triggered a succession crisis which brought an end to Scotland’s short-lived golden age.

9. A Vague Prophecy Ends One Empire and Creates Another

Croesus was an ancient king who ruled over the Kingdom of Lydia and was renowned for his unfathomable wealth. He was also a firm believer in the prophecies of oracles, and after making numerous offerings at several locations, Croesus had concluded that the most trustworthy and accurate diviner was the famed Oracle at Delphi.

During the mid-6th century BC, Croesus couldn’t help but notice the rise of Cyrus the Great, the king of a relatively small city named Anshan who, nevertheless, managed to conquer the much more powerful Kingdom of Media. Wanting to know how he should handle this upstart, Croesus asked the oracle what would happen if he went to war against Cyrus. The oracle replied that “if Croesus goes to war he will destroy a great empire.”

Now, we all know that prophecies are generally vague so people can interpret them as they want. But in the mind of the king, this could only mean one thing – a triumphant victory for Lydia. So Croesus went to war against Cyrus but, as it turned out, the “great empire” he destroyed was his own. Cyrus won the war, conquered Lydia, and went on to conquer Babylon, as well as other nations, thus founding the Achaemenid Empire.

8. An Ill-Fated Voyage Dooms the Metric System in America

America has a contentious relationship with the metric system, despite the best efforts of Thomas Jefferson. Unsurprisingly, when the United States had emerged as an independent country, many officials were eager to get rid of the old British units of measurement. Jefferson, Secretary of State at the time, was a big fan of the metric system; it was new, efficient, and innovative. But not everyone was sold on it, so Jefferson sought assistance from France and, in turn, they agreed to send scientist Joseph Dombey to the United States to help implement the metric system in the country.

Unfortunately, he never arrived. In 1794, Thomas Jefferson received word that Dombey’s ship had been blown off-course by a storm and was then captured by British privateers. The scientist tried to disguise himself as a Spanish sailor, but the fact that he had a French accent and barely spoke any Spanish gave him away. The pirates took Dombey hostage and imprisoned him on the island of Montserrat. They intended to ransom him, but the scientist died in captivity before the French government had a chance to pay, and America ultimately stuck with the old measurement system.

7. An Art School Rejection Creates the 20th Century’s Greatest Villain

In 1907, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna denied admission to an applicant, criticizing his works for having precision, but lacking any feeling or imagination. He applied again the following year, but with the same result. This rejection placed this 18-year-old student on a completely different path, one which had dire consequences for the entire world, as the applicant was none other than Adolf Hitler.

Later, while writing Mein Kampf, Hitler admitted that his initial goal in life was to become an artist. When the art school rejected him, he was left living in squalor on the streets of Vienna, reduced to making kitsch paintings that he sold to tourists and frame sellers to make ends meet. Historians are pretty certain that it was during this time that Hitler was exposed to heavy anti-semitic rhetoric, as the poor classes were being repeatedly told to blame their woes on the Jewish elite who were hoarding all the wealth. 

With his art career dead and buried, Hitler enlisted in the German military, and later entered politics. And the rest is a very bloody and tragic history.

6. A Shoddy Press Conference Brings Down the Berlin Wall

November 9, 1989, was supposed to be just another day for East German communist official Günther Schabowski. Little did he know that a few words he would say without a second thought would bring down the Berlin Wall and change the course of history.

Schabowski was a spokesman for the Communist Party, whose job was to deliver a daily press conference with news from the party. But on that particular day, Schabowski was tired and ill-prepared, maybe a little hungover, and just skimmed through the memo he was supposed to present. Later, he announced on live radio and television that East Germans were now allowed to leave the country through any border crossings, causing the journalists in the room to collectively raise their eyebrows. 

What Schabowski actually meant was that starting with the following day, East Germans would be able to apply for visas in an orderly manner and, after a few weeks of red tape, one or two of them might be allowed to leave. It was intended as a meaningless platitude designed to make the party look good, but when one of the reporters asked Schabowski when the changes would take effect, the unprepared spokesman mumbled for a bit, looked at his papers confused, shrugged, and said “Ab sofort” – from now on.

Within hours, tens of thousands of citizens gathered at the Berlin Wall, looking to enter West Germany. The guards tried in vain to stem the tide of humanity but eventually relented and opened the border. Germans on both sides began chipping away at the wall and it was officially demolished in June 1990.

5. A Mistranslated Word Leads to War

Language can be a tricky thing, especially when you have to convey the exact same message in two or more different languages. Just one mistranslated word could change the meaning of the text entirely which, in turn, could lead to disagreements, misunderstandings, or, in this case, even war.

On May 2, 1889, Italy and Ethiopia signed the Treaty of Wuchale. It was meant to signify a peaceful and prosperous relationship between the two nations, but it did the exact opposite. The pact was written in two languages: Italian and Amharic, an Ethiopian Semitic language. In the Amharic version, one of the twenty articles said the Ethiopian emperor could enlist the help of the Italian government to discuss matters with other European powers. The word “could” here is very important because the Italian version said that the emperor “must” use their government, in essence, recognizing Italy’s authority over Ethiopia.

Some say this was a simple translation mistake because the same word formed a permissive clause in Amharic and a mandatory clause in Italian. Others claimed it was a planned deception. Either way, Italy decided to make the most of it and declared Ethiopia a protectorate. Of course, Ethiopia rejected the treaty, which led to war in 1895. Surprisingly, Ethiopia won the war in 1896, following the Battle of Adowa (also spelled Adwa), and its independence was recognized by all world powers, marking a landmark moment for the Pan-Africanism movement that fought to resist the new imperialism of the Western nations.

4. A Lost Dispatch Helps the Union Win the War

In 1862, the American Civil War was going pretty well for the Confederacy. Not only did it garner several important military victories, but both France and Britain were on the verge of recognizing it as a separate nation. One more big win could have decided the war in favor of the Confederacy so, with that in mind, General Robert E. Lee launched the Maryland Campaign in September, invading the North for the first time.

Shortly after the start of the campaign, Lee drafted the marching orders for all of his generals – Special Order 191, it was called. Given the sensitive nature of the information, it was understood that the generals needed to take great care with their copies, ideally even destroying them after reading them. And yet, on September 13, a few Union soldiers with the 27th Indiana Volunteers were resting in a meadow outside Frederick, Maryland, when they found three cigars wrapped in a piece of paper lying on the ground. They examined the paper and, you guessed it, it was a copy of Special Order 191. 

It belonged to Confederate General DH Hill, who had accidentally been issued two copies – one by Lee and one by General Stonewall Jackson. Hill later claimed he only ever received one order, so we’re not sure who screwed up here, but the value of the information became immediately evident to the Union soldiers who took it to their commanding officer. Now, of course, we have no way of knowing how the war would have turned out if the North never got their hands on the special order, but it helped them win the Maryland Campaign which, in turn, gave Lincoln the perfect opportunity to announce the Emancipation Proclamation and deter Great Britain and France from recognizing the independence of the Confederacy.

3. Cloudy Weather Saves One City and Dooms Another

August 6, 1945, is a day that will forever live in infamy when the United States dropped the atomic bomb codenamed “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. As we all know, it was followed by the detonation of a second bomb known as “Fat Man” three days later over Nagasaki. But the devastating fate that befell Nagasaki was originally intended for another city – Kokura. 

On August 9, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress named Bockscar left the island of Tinian carrying its nuclear payload. Its destination was Kokura, which had been designated as a more desirable target than Nagasaki by the US military brass. But the orders were to only drop the bomb after visual confirmation of the target, something which Bockscar could not obtain because the weather in Kokura was cloudy. In recent years, some have said that the clouds may have been man-made by burning coal tar. 

The plane circled three times over the city with its bomb bay doors open, ready to drop the nuke on the 130,000 people waiting helplessly below. But the clouds did not let up so when fuel started to run low, Bockscar flew to Nagasaki and bombed that city instead. 

2. A Birthday Party Helps the Allies Win D-Day

Another major event from World War II where weather played a crucial role was D-Day – June 6, 1944 – when the Allied forces landed in Normandy. The Germans were uncharacteristically lackadaisical when it came to the impending invasion. The man in charge, Field Marshall Edwin Rommel, wasn’t even there on D-Day. He was back in Germany, attending a birthday party.

It all came down to each side’s ability to forecast the weather. The Germans expected non-stop bad weather, which is why they thought there was no way that the Allies would invade anytime soon. As far as Rommel was concerned, he had a few free days and, as it happened, his wife’s 50th birthday was coming up. He had bought her a nice pair of shoes in Paris, so this was the perfect opportunity for him to go home and surprise her. 

The Allies, however, had better forecasting technology and they knew that they had a 24-hour window when the weather would improve on June 6. They took advantage of the opportunity and caught the Germans unaware. Rommel was at his house in Germany when he was informed that the invasion had begun. By the time he reached Normandy, the Allies had already established their positions on all five landing positions.

1. A Missing Key Brings about the Sinking of the Titanic

Whenever a disaster happens, people naturally wonder if anything could have been done to prevent the tragedy. Undoubtedly, one of the most notorious disasters of all time is the sinking of the Titanic, so could anything have been done to save the doomed passenger ship? Perhaps, according to some scholars, who argue that one misplaced key could have sealed the Titanic’s fate.

That key belonged to the crow’s nest locker, where the binoculars were stored for the lookouts and was in the possession of a man named David Blair. Initially, Blair had been named Second Officer of the Titanic, responsible for all the navigation equipment. He was aboard the liner during its short voyage from Belfast, where it was built, to Southhampton, where it was due to depart on its maiden voyage. In Southhampton, however, he was replaced with a more experienced officer and, when he left the ship, he accidentally took the key with him. 

With the crow’s nest locker locked, the lookouts relied on their naked eyes which, as we know by now, proved insufficient. Of course, we don’t know if, ultimately, the binoculars would have made the crucial difference, but at least one of the lookouts thought so and testified during the inquiry that with binoculars they would have spotted the iceberg in time to move out of the way.