Interesting Historical Factoids

[jmotivator]

A place for random historical facts that you either just learned, or have always found very interesting.


I'll start with 2 interesting facts about English accents...


1) "Rhotic" accents are English accents that always pronounce the "R" in words, while "Non-Rhotic" accents only pronounce the "R" when it precedes a vowel (like "ram").

Until fairly recently, in a historical sense, the majority of Great Britain spoke with Rhotic accents, with the Non-Rhotic accents taking over starting in the late 1800s.

The American Rhotic Accent is actually closer to historical English accents, the American accent just didn't change with Great Britain.


2) The "Pirate Accent" was invented entirely by actor John Newton for his role as Long John Silver in the 1950s version of Treasure Island as a combination of a few accents he grew up with in the early 1900s back when Great Britain still was predominantly Rhotic accents, hence the Pirate "R".

 

[The Stars Tremble]

Molotov/Ribbentrop Pact. It wasn't just Nazi Germany who invaded Poland. Soviet Russia did too.

 

[Allan]

The Halifax explosion has always fascinated me and I became more familiar with it when I lived in that city.

At least 1,782 people were killed, largely in Halifax and Dartmouth, by the blast, debris, fires, or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The blast was the largest human-made explosion at the time.[1] It released the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT (12 TJ).[2]

Halifax Explosion - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Boston sent a rescue train up and every year in appreciation Nova Scotia sends a Christmas Tree to the people of Boston which is displayed in Boston Common.

About the 2024 tree...

Boston's official 2024 Christmas Tree selected in Nova Scotia

The annual gift is a show of gratitude for Boston's help after a disaster over a century ago.

www.wcvb.com

 

[The Stars Tremble]

The Halifax explosion has always fascinated me and I became more familiar with it when I lived in that city.

Halifax Explosion - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

You'd think it would be obvious to blame the smaller vessel (the Imo) but stranger things happen at sea I guess.

 

[NatMorton]

At least one home of the rhotic accent is Cornwall and Devon (and to an American ear that's the classic "pirate accent.")

FWIW, the decidedly non-rhotic Boston accent (from my neck of the woods) has its roots in, I believe, East Anglia.

 

[nota bene]

The Rebel wagon trains of wounded after the Battle of Gettysburg stretched for 26 miles.

The Union's stretched 23 miles.

 

[nota bene]

The desperate effort to save President Lincoln's life included mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which had been abandoned previously by the "conventional wisdom" of the medical times. https://huntington.org/frontiers/lincolns-last-breath

 

[hecatmoggie]

9-11 19 men affiliated with jihadist organization al-Qaeda. They hailed from four countries; 15 of them were citizens of Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt, and one from Lebanon ......... none of them were from Iraq

few people know what a chinquapin tree is

The largest earthquake recorded in the continental United States was a series of three earthquakes that occurred in the New Madrid, Missouri area between December 16, 1811 and February 1812

 

[ataraxia]

Mary Washington, the mother of George Washington, was an ethnic Albanian.

Her real name was Marie Balaj, and her family immigrated to the UK from Junik village, which is now in Kosovo.

Wow, so these immigrants have been “poisoning the blood of our country” since before this country was even a country.

 

[ataraxia]

Steve Jobs’ dad was a Syrian: Abdulfattah "John" Jandali.

More poisoning of the blood of our country!

 

[mrjurrs]

The Trail of Tears was not about just removing Native Tribes. Many Cherokee had assimilated into 'white' culture in Florida. They were removed as well.

We didn't learn then (the Japanese Internment followed) and we haven't learned yet (how many American citizens will be deported in the coming 4 years?).

 

[GIJane]

The Rebel wagon trains of wounded after the Battle of Gettysburg stretched for 26 miles.

The Union's stretched 23 miles.

I did not know that detail, but I'm not surprised by it.

 

[GIJane]

9-11 19 men affiliated with jihadist organization al-Qaeda. They hailed from four countries; 15 of them were citizens of Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt, and one from Lebanon ......... none of them were from Iraq

few people know what a chinquapin tree is

The largest earthquake recorded in the continental United States was a series of three earthquakes that occurred in the New Madrid, Missouri area between December 16, 1811 and February 1812

No fair not telling us what that tree is.

That's the quake that made the Mississippi run backwards.

 

[GIJane]

Pope Gregory IV declared a war on cats:

Pope Gregory IV declared war on cats in the 13th Century. He said that black cats were instruments of Satan. Because of this belief, he ordered the extermination of these felines throughout Europe. However, this plan backfired, as it resulted in an increase in the population of plague-carrying rats.

Effectively leading to the Great Plague in Europe.

 

[hecatmoggie]

No fair not telling us what that tree is.

it was our beloved American chestnut that was a staple food source for humans/wildlife in the central southern/eastern US states ... chinese blight was brought into the USA in the 1900's and that blight ..... The chestnut blight killed an estimated 3.5–4 billion American chestnut trees in the United States, or 99% of the population, within 30 years:

That's the quake that made the Mississippi run backwards.

1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

a fascinating event - today such an event would be catastrophic to St Louis, Memphis, Little Rock, Kansas City, Nashville and the USA in general .....

 

[Chagos]

Gun accidents killed more people on the Oregon trail than did attacks by Indians. Probably a hundred times more.

death on the trail

 

[Chagos]

Thomas Edison didn’t invent most of the stuff he patented. It’s fair to say that Edison was one of the world’s most notorious intellectual property thieves.

 

[Chagos]

Pope Gregory IV declared a war on cats:

Pope Gregory IV declared war on cats in the 13th Century. He said that black cats were instruments of Satan. Because of this belief, he ordered the extermination of these felines throughout Europe. However, this plan backfired, as it resulted in an increase in the population of plague-carrying rats.

Effectively leading to the Great Plague in Europe.

Mao reportedly did that to sparrows on account of believing that they ate up all crops' seeds.

He started a campaign by which people had to kill sparrows or keep chasing them until they died of exhaustion.

Millions obeyed and the result was an insect plague.

 

[GIJane]

Mao reportedly did that to sparrows on account of believing that they ate up all crops' seeds.

He started a campaign by which people had to kill sparrows or keep chasing them until they died of exhaustion.

Millions obeyed and the result was an insect plague.

You don't **** with Mother Nature.

 

[GIJane]

it was our beloved American chestnut that was a staple food source for humans/wildlife in the central southern/eastern US states ... chinese blight was brought into the USA in the 1900's and that blight ..... The chestnut blight killed an estimated 3.5–4 billion American chestnut trees in the United States, or 99% of the population, within 30 years:

1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

a fascinating event - today such an event would be catastrophic to St Louis, Memphis, Little Rock, Kansas City, Nashville and the USA in general .....

Agreed.

 

[nota bene]

I did not know that detail, but I'm not surprised by it.

I was astonished when I learned this in my history class. Such a tragedy.

Haskell Monroe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Frank E. Vandiver - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Mighty Stonewall

Confederate General Thomas Jonathan Jackson was undoubtedly one of the most influential military commanders of the Civil War. Had he not met his death early ...

www.tamupress.com

https://www.amazon.com/Texas-Civil-War-Resum%C3%A9-History/dp/172050444X

 

[hecatmoggie]

Gun accidents killed more people on the Oregon trail than did attacks by Indians. Probably a hundred times more.

death on the trail

I'd challenge that theory - its not easy to kill yourself with an rifle by accidents

that link was a good read though - people back in day were tough tough tough

 

[Chagos]

I'd challenge that theory - its not easy to kill yourself with an rifle by accidents

If you're well trained in its use and upkeep, I agree.

that link was a good read though - people back in day were tough tough tough

Looks more like the gun toters among them were pretty stupid.

 

[hecatmoggie]

If you're well trained in its use and upkeep, I agree.

well even if you're not .... you'd have to have the end of the barrel pointed towards your body which means the trigger (that you have to pull_ is what, 50" ? that's what old flintlock "Kentucky" muzzleloaders were

that's not an easy thing to do - and remember, these were flintlocks, right? the hammer had a to fall, the flashpan powder ignite and then the gun go boom ..... and quite a few probably had double (set) triggers.

not easy to shoot yourself IMO


The most common gun used on the Oregon Trail was the "Kentucky rifle"; a long-barreled, accurate rifle that was favored by pioneers for its reliability and ability to hunt game at long distances.

 

[Chagos]

well even if you're not .... you'd have to have the end of the barrel pointed towards your body which means the trigger (that you have to pull_ is what, 50" ? that's what old flintlock "Kentucky" muzzleloaders were

that's not an easy thing to do - and remember, these were flintlocks, right? the hammer had a to fall, the flashpan powder ignite and then the gun go boom ..... and quite a few probably had double (set) triggers.

not easy to shoot yourself IMO


The most common gun used on the Oregon Trail was the "Kentucky rifle"; a long-barreled, accurate rifle that was favored by pioneers for its reliability and ability to hunt game at long distances.

I'm no expert on the Oregon trail but from all I've heard (read) those engaged upon it were a motley crew which in majority comprised neither gun-savvy huntsmen nor carriers of reliable shooting hardware, but rather farmers more accustomed to ploughs.

Not necessarily capable of proper fire arm maintenance and training.

But to return to my original point, overall more people died from gun accidents than from Indian attacks.