25 HISTORY FACTS YOU DID NOT KNOW

[THE FUGITIVE]

25
At its peak the Roman Empire stretched for 2.51 million square miles. It was only the 19th largest empire in history.

24
It has been calculated that in the last 3,000 years there have only been 240 years of peace in the world

23
The current US flag was designed by high schooler Robert Heft as part of a school project for which he recieved a B-. When his design was chosen to represent the nation his teacher changed the grade to an A.

22
Of the ten deadliest wars every fought, seven were fought in China

21
More people died in each of the two largest than in WWI

20
The US Constitution contains many spelling and grammatical errors

19
In spite of the larger-than-life legends, the Pony Express only lasted 19 months (April 1860 to October 1861)

18
At its height in 480BC the first Persian Empire covered 44% of the world's population.

17
This is the largest percentage of any empire in history. By comparison the British only had 20%

16
Mexican General Santa Anna had a huge state funeral in honor of his amputated leg

15
Up until the 1800s dentures were often made from the teeth of dead soldiers.

14
During the ice age, people in the British Isles used humans skulls as cups

13
In ancient Egypt the servants were covered in honey so as to attract flies away from pharaoh

12
In ancient Rome, urine was used as mouthwash

11
During the An Lushan rebellion in China in the mid 700s nearly 40 million people died. This was 1/6 of the world's population.

10
Peter the Great had his wife's lover beheaded and then forced his wife to keep the head preserved in her room.

9
When in danger of being captured, Japanese samurai would cut out their intestines with their own sword

8
During medieval times animals were put on trial and sometimes sentenced to death

7
Throughout the 1800s people were buried alive so often that coffins included mechanisms to allow those people to ring a bell in the graveyard.

6
The Mongols would light the fat of their enemies on fire and proceed to shoot it at their other enemies.

5
In ancient Egypt, when a ruler would die all of his servants and animals were buried alive with him

4
The last time a cavalry charge was used on the battlefield was during WWII when a Mongolian cavalry division charged a German infantry division. 2,000 Mongolian units were killed and not a single German died.

3
Gorgias of Epirus, a Greek teacher was born in his dead mother's coffin. The pallbearers heard him crying during the burial.

2
Alexander the Great is famous for a spying technique still used today. He had all his soldiers write home to their families and then intercepted the letters. Whoever didn't have something nice to say was executed.

1
King Goujian of Yue placed a row of convicted criminals at the front of his army. Before the battle they would all cut off their own heads to show the other army how crazy King Goujian's army was