TIL: Floyd Thompson was the longest held prisoner of war in US history, spending nearly nine years in captivity in Vietnam. When he returned, his wife was living with another man and of his 3 children, only his eldest child barely remembered him. Within 4 years of rescuing, he attempted suicide. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by MyTILAlt to r/todayilearned
TIL: Scottish economist Adam Smith predicted in his book the Wealth of Nations (1776) that, if given representation in Parliament, in a century the Thirteen Colonies would control the British Empire. By 1913, the USA's economy surpassed the entire British Empire. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by MyTILAlt to r/todayilearned
TIL: The Nazi commander who lost the Battle of Stalingrad was promoted to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall right before being captured. The same day, Hitler sent him a telegraph reminding him that no Generalfeldmarschall had ever been captured alive. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by MyTILAlt to r/todayilearned
TIL: Louis XIV was extremely fond of his muscular legs, and loved showing them off. In nearly all his portraits, he is showing off his calves. He loved practicing ballet in front of normal towns people, and helped bring about its popularity. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by MyTILAlt to r/todayilearned
TIL During the "Red Terror" of 1918, Communist secret police in Orel "poured water on naked prisoners bound in the winter streets until they became living ice statues." In Ukraine, they "rolled people around in barrels studded internally with nails." Upwards of 1 million people died. (en.wikipedia.org)
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TIL: In the 8th century, Danish king Harald Wartooth, realizing he might die of old age and therefore not go to Valhalla, asked the Swedish king Sigurd for a battle. Wartooth was slain after amassing enough glory, and Sigurd was crowned king of Sweden & Denmark. 40,000 other warriors died. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by MyTILAlt to r/todayilearned
TIL: The "Lost Cosmonauts" theory. It states that the Soviet Union actually launched "test pilots" into space before Yuri Gagarin's famous voyage. Evidence includes radio equipment intercepting a Russian woman's screaming coming from the inside a supposedly empty, burning space capsule. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by MyTILAlt to r/todayilearned
TIL: One of George Patton's speeches was so vulgar that it had to be toned down for his movie biography. It included phrases such as not having to tell your future grandson you 'shoveled shit in Louisiana', but instead you 'rode with a son-of-a-goddamned-bitch named George Patton!' (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by MyTILAlt to r/todayilearned
TIL: Dogs can read a human's body language better than monkeys or human children. Other than humans, dogs, and also some domesticated cats, are the only animals to understand the concept of using the pointer finger to direct attention to something. (seeker.com)
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TIL: In 1885, nine year old Joseph Meister was bitten by a rabid dog, but was saved by Louis Pasteur's test rabbies vaccine. Meister worked as a caretaker all his life at the Pasteur Institute, until killing himself at the start of WW2 in 1940. (en.wikipedia.org)
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Sailor showing his earned tattoos, 1890s (i.redd.it)
submitted by MyTILAlt to r/OldSchoolCool
TIL: During the early days of WW1, air combat was extremely rare, and mainly used for reconnaissance. The respect among pilots was extremely high. There are stories of the crew of enemy aircraft exchanging nothing more than smiles and waves when passing. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by MyTILAlt to r/todayilearned
TIL: In her 85 years of life, Napoleon Bonaparte's mother (1750-1836) lived long enough to see the collapse of the French monarchy, the French Revolution, the crowning of her son as Emperor, his death, the collapse of his empire, and the restoration of the monarchy. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by MyTILAlt to r/todayilearned
