People Share The Saddest Historical Facts They Know

They say history is written by the victors, but who would ever want to write about some of these tales?

The hardest truths to read about are the saddest ones, where terrible tragedies and awful atrocities happened to real-life people.

Maybe reading about them in hindsight will make things easier? Or maybe it’ll just make you happy you live in the era you do now.

Reddit user, moseich, wanted to feel the feels when they asked:

“What historical fact makes you cry?”

Good Dogs, Sad Dogs

“WW1- Mercy dogs, they would go out into no mans land and find wounded soldiers. They would bring medical supplies for the soldiers to patch themselves up.”

“Or if the soldier was to mortally wounded, stay and comfort them in their final moments.” ~ Lucky-daydreamer

Soldiers Wanting To Share In The Haunting Tunes

“I learned about this in a Dan Carlin podcast. During the German-Soviet war, there was a Red Army soldier who sang each night with a hauntingly-beautiful voice. His comrades would give him their tea rations and scarves to protect his larynx.”

“One night, he couldn’t sing because he had gotten sick.”

“A German soldier crawled across no-man’s-land and tossed something into the Soviet trench; the Soviet soldiers thought it was a grenade.”

“However, it was a package containing a letter asking if the singer was okay and if he needed medicine. A truly heart-warming moment in an otherwise horrific front.” ~ Scruffy_Nerf_Hoarder

A Good Pet Until The Very End

“The story of Alex (1977-2007), an African grey parrot who learned to speak, recognize objects and play with his owner. It was one of the smartest parrots ever reported.”

“He loved his owner and his owner adored him as well.”

“In the end, he suffered arteriosclerosis, so his owner went to see him one last time, to which Alex told his owner: ‘You are good; I love you.’ She replied, ‘I love you too’.”

“Alex said ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’ and the owner replied ‘yes, I’ll see you tomorrow’.” ~ metal_gearmen

One Minute Gone

“Henry Gunther was an American soldier killed during WWI at 10:59am on November 11th, 1918; one minute before the Armistice took effect at 11:00am.”

“Gunther charged a German roadblock outfitted with machine guns. German soldiers tried waving him off knowing the war would come to an end in mere moments.”

“Apparently he got too close, fired a couple rounds, and was promptly shot and killed instantly.” ~ _DMYZ

Oh, America, You Disappoint Us…

“The Sand Creek massacre is particularly bad. They had so much faith in the peace treaties that had been signed, the signs of good faith from American settlers.”

“Only to be massacred. The leader of the camp, Black Kettle, desperately holding up the American flag he’d been given with a white flag underneath it, encouraging his people to gather around it—thinking that the [United States Army] would realize they were allies and stop the killings. Only to be shot down.”

“The descriptions of the massacre are brutal—children tortured and slaughtered, pregnant women with their children torn out of their stomachs. Genitals torn from corpses and taken for trophies.”

“It really made me realize you can never underestimate the cruelty of mankind. Especially considering most of the murdered in this massacre were defenseless women, children, and elderly.” ~ Lia_Is_Lying

Survived By Being Out For The Day

“There were approximately 300 infants and children that were murdered in Jonestown, being forcibly fed or injected with cyanide. I feel so much pain for all the victims but the kids in particular make me ache with despair.” ~ Lastofherkind

“There were some teens that weren’t among the number, because they were gone playing a basketball tournament.” ~ qualitygravedigger

Couldn’t Fit This Into The Play

“When Alexander Hamilton’s eldest son died, his second child Angelica Hamilton had a mental breakdown and she never recovered. Sometimes, her family would walk into a room with only her in it, and she would be speaking to her dead brother.” ~ meenakshi96

“The Light Has Gone…”

“Teddy Roosevelt’s mother Mittie and his wife Alice, who had just given birth days before, both died in the same house on the same day, hours apart from each other. In his diary entry that day, he drew a large black X and scribbled ‘The light has gone out of my life’.”

“That’s some heavy sh*t right there, man.” ~ fracking_toasters_

Sharing Each Other’s Humanity

“Christmas Day, 1914. German and British soldiers got up from their trenches and called a 48 hour truce to just chill and even play soccer.”

“This makes me cry because it shows that the soldiers of both sides really found it pointless to fight other people just cause their country said so. This is probably the strongest story of unity I’ve heard about in history class.” ~ Electoriad

Keeping Your Honor Even In War

“In WWII an American pilot named Charles Brown was flying a B-17 in a bomb raid over Germany where his aircraft was severely shot up and entered a free fall when Brown passed out. When Brown awoke, he was only a few thousand feet above the ground and barely was able to recover the aircraft.”

“When the Luftwaffe spotted a limping B-17 far below the formation, they dispatched a pilot named Franz Stigler, a soon to be ace just 1 kill away, with 2 Downed B-17s earlier that day. As he approached from the rear, Stigler noticed that the B-17s tail gunner didn’t move and after further inspection, realized he and several other gunners were dead. Stigler saw this and remembered what his flight instructor had said years ago, ‘if you shoot a man in a parachute, ill shoot you myself’.”

“Stigler saw this limping B-17 as no different from a downed pilot in a parachute. To prevent German flak cannons from taking it out, Stigler flew in formation with the B-17 all the way until the English Channel where it landed safely. Stigler never mentioned the incident, and could’ve been court martialed for it.”

“Decades later, Charles went looking for the enemy pilot that saved his life that fateful day, and eventually met him face to face, becoming close friends and dying just a few months apart from each other in 2008.” ~ OleRockTheGoodAg

History can be a harsh critic, leaving you feeling like all of time is a cruel place.

May we all make the best choices we can to make sure history looks back on us with kind eyes.

People Explain Which Things They Think They’re Doing Wrong But Are Too Afraid To Ask

Parents and teachers mean well when they attempt to instruct us on the ways of the world.

But it doesn’t mean they’ll teach us everything we need to know, does it? Most of what they teach us is the basics: bathroom etiquette, tying our shoes, reading, writing and the like.

However, what about the more irregular stuff? The things you wish you knew about before entering adulthood?

Reddit user, Wijting, asked:

“What do you think you are doing wrong, but are too scared to ask somebody?”

Ride The Lunch Train Straight To Hell

“I have no idea if my lunch break is an hour or 30 minutes.”

“Where my office is located in my building, my boss and co-workers can’t see me leave for lunch. When I started, I just began taking hour lunches like I did at my last job.”

“Recently I heard a co-worker mention taking her 30 minute lunch.”

“I’ve been taking hour long lunches for 6 years and it’s way past the point of asking….” ~ spydervenom

Feel The Fury

“How to handle anger? I’m too embarrassed to ask” ~ Ok-Plastic-62

“Theres an excersise that i use sometimes when i get too angry:”

“First take deep, slow breaths. This evens out your breathing and calms you down (sometimes youll unconsiously start brething at a quicker pace when angry).”

“Make sure your in a comfortable position, one that you can be in for a minite of two, and imagine that your body is slowly being filled up with ‘liquid sunshine’ from the bottom up, like an hourglass.”

“Sounds odd, but give it a try! It has helped me out more than once.” ~ TroospooK

You Just Pucker Up

“Kissing. I’ve had no complaints but it’s not really something your parents taught you to do properly (unless you’re into that)” ~ BenignFrustration

“You and your SO will learn from one another what they like/you like and what they don’t like/you don’t like.” ~ Gianca16

It’s The Hardest, Simplest Decision You Can Make

“My finances – no idea how to properly manage my money.” ~ FinnbarMcBride

“Figure out exactly how much money you bring in during an average month.”

“Take your last x months of expenses (I did 3 but if you had a full year of normal expenses that’d be best)and break it down into categories of what you spent money on [i.e. loans, food, gas, fun stuff]”

“If you have more expenses than income take a honest look at your expenses and make some cuts, id mostly focus on stuff like gaming, going out, drinking.”

“Try to put as much money as you can into your 401k, usually 10-15% of your monthly income is advised (but also doesn’t have to happen if that would put you into the res)”

“If you have cc debt pay that off first, then car loans then long term loans like student loans and mortgages” ~ pspspsprjrjejdjdjdj

Tongue-Tied Argument

“I feel like I’m really articulate when I’m going about my day especially over text, but as soon as I get into a verbal disagreement it’s like my f’king brain shuts off and I forget how to think. Like a deer in the headlights.”

“I don’t remember it always being this way but it’s like I’ve got this huge amount of social anxiety in those situations now and I struggle to accurately express myself.” ~ The_Splenda_Man

“That’s totally normal. You don’t have the same amount of time to think about your response in person.”

“I think that it is really more important to listen to what the person is saying rather than trying to come up with a response. Remember, it is always valid to say ‘I need more time to think about this’.” ~ kitskill

Are They Still Breathing? Probably A Good Start.

“Babysitting. I babysat a few times when I was 13 or 14 and I wasn’t sure if I was just supposed to check in on the kid or play with them or just like, make sure they don’t die.”

“I’m really good at kid sitting but babysitting (or for me watching a kid under 7 years old) is just hard.” ~ Teabeany

“If it’s new parents they’ll inundate you with instructions.”

“If it’s not new parents they’ll be happy as long as the kids are alive and the house hasn’t burnt down.” ~ IAmJohnny5ive

I Thought I Was Being Friendly?

“Flirting. Let’s face it.”

“I don’t even know what the heck that is, how it works and what the difference between talking and flirting is.”

“Funny enough apparently that leads to me being constantly flirty without wanting to be. At least I often get told that I flirt with almost every single person I met.” ~ OverlyShyEnby

We’re All Envious Of You

“Showering. I have very very long thick hair and I just kind of blast shampoo and conditioner at it.”

“People ask me what I do to keep my hair so nice and I have no idea what to say. People seem to have such complex hair rituals and I’m here just aping it up.” ~ SkylordZoey

Who’s Supposed To Teach You This? Honestly?

“I’m a girl. Not sure if I’m supposed to shave the thin blonde hairs in my thighs or not.”

“Sometimes they look darker, but sometimes they look blonde.”

“I shave the rest of my legs ( below the knee), but I’m in my 30s. Feels like I should know this already….” ~ busycleaning

“Out of all the women I’ve slept with, I genuinely can’t remember if there were hair on their thighs.”

“It never even occurred to me until I saw your comment, and I can’t imagine other people would care unless they were particularly squeamish about that specific thing.”

“But would that still matter to them in the heat of the moment? Idk. I don’t think so” ~ DandyBubbles

Not As Complicated As You Think

“Life.”

“Like what am I supposed to be doing? I have about 80 years total.”

“So far, I’ve learned stuff, got married, and got a good job. Am I just grinding out the rest of my years?” ~ OPmeansopeningposter

“Help others, improve the world.”

“You’ve listed a bunch of stuff you’ve gotten out of life. Now it’s time to think about what you can give.” ~ orange_avalanche

When in doubt?

Just ask.

Someone.

Anyone.

Or JFGI.

Better to know than not know, right?

People Explain What You Should Never Do On A First Date

First dates can feel trickier than they actually are.

What starts out as a memorable first encounter can quickly turn south if you put too much thought into it. At most, a first date should attempt to establish a line of connection and if there’s the chance for something more serious to occur.

Turns out, not everyone gets this and that’s where terrible first dates come from.

You’ve heard of them.

You’ve had them.

Now, hear what you can avoid to skip that first date awkwardness.

Reddit user, Couch_Licker, wanted to know what to skip when they asked:

What should you NEVER do on a first date?

Put Them Away

“Be on your phone the whole time” ~ beforesunset1010

“Put it on vibrate and don’t look at it except when you go to the bathroom. I walked out on a date because she was constantly replying to messages. They did not take it well.” ~ [usernamedeleted]

“But what if it is a “let’s play Pokemon GO together” sort of date?” ~ zetta_baron

Keep It On The Present

“Only talk about your previous relationships” ~ Nevlu

“She talked about him so much I started to miss the guy” ~ 2x4x93

“Discuss any particular ex for a length of time. In my experience it’s a big red flag that they’re not over someone or carrying that baggage. And I mean everyone has baggage – it’s normal. I have some and expect the people I’ve dated in the past to have some.”

“But a first date should be about exploring each other and whether you like the person, are attracted to them, want to continue getting to know them. You can mention previous relationships but unless both parties have known each other during previous relationships – do not vent or over explain your exes.” ~ meowowomeow

Don’t Be Egg Hands

“Once had a dude grab some of my food off of my plate with his bare hands. He was trying to do a cutesy sharing food thing but it was a poached egg. He grabbed a poached egg with his bare hands right off of my plate. Please do not be like that guy.” ~ bubblebubbeleh

“I was picturing fries or something. I was not ready for the mental image of a guy trying to grab poached egg with his bare hands. Attempting to be cute or not, what part of that seemed like a good idea?” ~ themightybearorrist

Be Up Front About It, At Least

“invite your spouse. It’s just so awkward” ~ ickysam

“You think Im kidding but at least 10% of Tinder is two people looking to add someone else.” ~ Stories_for_days

Watch Your Strength, Bro

“Break her nose. My now husband hugged me the way Lenny petted rabbits.”

“He was happy to finally meet me in person after online relationship, was a virgin, and thought harder hugs mean more love. They do not.”

“He still apologizes when it’s brought up, lol.” ~ Fact_Even

“So you’re saying it worked?” ~ DunderBearForceOne

“WARNING: THIS IS THE WRONG TAKEAWAY FROM THIS STORY!” ~ a-horse-has-no-name

Believe In Science

“Revealing that you’re a flat earther. This serious happened to me.”

“This guy I met online seems okay. We went on a date and he started asking ‘those type of questions that make people fall in love with you’.”

“Idk if you know what I’m talking about. If that didn’t weird me out enough, he went on and claimed that we worked for NASA and they lied to everyone.”

“The earth is flat and those images we saw of earth are CGI renders. The US never landed on the moon and conspiracy sh*t like that.”

“Needless to say there was no second date.” ~ pink0205

Monitoring Your Breath

“Well, don’t do what I did: order the French onion soup.”

“This was a lunch date and I’m not sure what the hell I was thinking ordering something that both makes a mess (all that melted, stringy cheese) and gives you bad breath.”

“My wife still gives me crap about that boneheaded decision to this day.”Southern_Snowshoe

A Quiet Opening

“Go to the movies. I think going to the movies should be reserved for people in relationships.”

“Why? Because if you go to the movies on the first date you’ll practically have wasted two hours watching something, not being able to talk and get to know each other.”YogurtSocks

“Going to see a film then going for a meal after isn’t the worst option. At least then you have one thing to talk about.”

“However, the theater on its own seems silly. You can’t get to know much about a person that way.” ~ [usernamedeleted]

Keep Your Head On Straight

“Show up wasted.”

“This guy was obviously drunk or on some sort of drugs. His date was being so polite but was clearly uncomfortable.”

“Her server managed to pick up her signals and when she got up to ‘go to the bathroom’ he ushered her to our service elevator to make her getaway.”

“After about 15 minutes he let him know his date had left, he seemed surprised, then a bit upset, finally confessing that it was the second time this had happened to him this week.”

“I kind of felt sad for him in the end, dealing with addiction is tough.” ~ omgbbqpork

Have A Little Bit Of Confidence

“Don’t dump out every single unappealing thing about your life on a first date. There is plenty of time to get to know someone, and plenty of time to be honest about those things – but a first date isn’t the time for it.”

“I feel like sometimes people do this as a defense mechanism, to ‘rip off the bandaid’ and test if someone will accept them completely – but it is far too much all at once and creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of rejection.”

“As an example: on a first date, a guy disclosed to me he’s living with his parents who are homeless and refuse to move out of his apartment so almost all his income goes to them, he has zero sex drive, and he struggles with severe body image issues.”

“He also had plenty of great qualities, and if I’d had a chance to slowly get to know him we may have been able to navigate around some of that stuff… but honestly it was way too much to process all at once.”

“I also have my own family/medical/mental health sh*t to deal with too – I just didn’t dump it all on him in one day – so all I could think about was how much of his sh*t he was asking me to take on, and I didn’t even know him.”

“I ended up not accepting a second date, then watched him post about how women won’t give him a chance on social media… I felt bad because he’s a really nice guy and he’s absolutely sabotaging himself with that first date etiquette.” ~ cebogs

Know Where The Boundaries Are

“Speaking as a woman who dates men: getting offended if she doesn’t want you to pick her up/drive her home.”

“Basic safety there and you look like a creep even if you were just trying to be nice. Offering is fine– but don’t push.” ~ catmos

Something To Be Proud Of?

“Reveal your collection of used panties you’ve bought online.” ~ RedShaun21

You don’t have to do much to have a good first date.

Just don’t show up drunk and skip sharing your panty collecting hobby.

It can be that easy.

People Divulge The Coolest Facts About The Human Body They Know

It’s easy to dismiss everything going on inside of us as unimportant and anyone who didn’t pay attention in high school biology class might agree with that statement, but the human body is a wonder of science and nature.

 

By all accounts, we all appear mundane on the outside.

We are all of us just a walking, talking bag of bones, electrical impulses and chemical reactions in a meat suit with an appetite for excellent television and an addiction to overpowered, miniature super computers we carry with us everywhere.

But there’s more to us than that.

For example, did you know your liver is capable of regenerating itself like Wolverine or that you can produce enough spit in a lifetime to fill up two entire swimming pools?

WARNING: some of it is kind of gross to those with weak stomachs.

Just when we think we know everything about the human body, the internet goes and surprises us with a bit of blood and gore.

Redditor Actionkat63 asked:

“What’s a strange, but true fact about the human body?”

We’re All Queens

“The acid in your stomach could burn your skin! I always thought that was pretty interesting, and reminds me of the scene in Alien, where the alien blood burns everything.” ~ RebaRocket

Get Your Running Shoes On

“Humans can outrun almost every animal on long distance.” ~ WantedJOCZ

“Long distances only. Humans have been known to jog for days at a time without sleeping, and we seem to have evolved as endurance predators (ie, jog after an animal until it’s literally too tired to fight back).”

“In cold weather the only animal that beats us is huskies, and in hot weather we can be outdistanced by camels and IIRC kangaroos, but otherwise we tend to win in the end.” ~ Pseudonymico

They Can’t Wiggle Out Of This

“Your intestines are in near constant motion, wiggling like a worm.” ~ EasilyForgotten1

But Are We Still Allowed To Lick Things?

“We know what everything would feel like on our tongues without even licking it.” ~ meh2557

“I’ve read this before and it blew my mind looking around at everything and realizing how weirdly, fascinatingly true it is. I’m assuming it’s a combination of you know textures from your fingers and that stage of infancy when babies put everything in their mouths.” ~ ablondedude

Care Package: Incoming!

“When pregnant, if a mother suffers a heart attack or other large physiological issue, the fetus will release a swarm of stem cells that move to the affected area, greatly helping in survival and healing.” ~ SugaBear9001

Flip The Switch

“that the brain operates on the same amount of power as a 10-watt lightbulb” ~ boringg-moon

Shut It All Down!

“Our immune system is so strong it can kill our own bodies’ cells: so techinically we do have a self destruct sequence” ~ SheepSh-t2525

“Our cells have a self destruct sequence also. If things start getting weird, your mitochondria send a signal to the brain which sends a signal to the cells lysosomes which then burst open and destroy the cell.”

“It’s called apoptosis or programmed cell death.” ~ callisstaa

Every Adults’ Kneecaps Feel This One

“Until the age of like 2 ish babies don’t have real kneecaps, they are made of a squishy cartilage type thing” ~ Bunchnivski

Lots of their bones are squishy cartilage stuff, and only grow into bone as they age. Compare this baby hand with this adult hand x-ray.”

“We can actually use this development of cartilage into bone in the wrist to figure out roughly how old somebody is.” ~ elcarath

We Just Need To Keep Believing And Soon We Can Also See Over Tall Walls

“We have the same number of bones in our neck as a giraffe.” ~ Team_Captain_America

“Giraffes’ neck vertibrae are just really big.” ~ KaityKat117

It Truly Is Liquid Gold

“Human breast milk adapts it’s nutritious content to fit the need of the offspring. Baby lacks iron?”

“Next dose of milk will contain more iron. It’s amazing.” ~ Grimms_tale

“how does that work?”

“like.. how does the body of the mother know what the baby needs?”

“or is it more a ‘the ingredients of milk change over time, as the baby goes through different stages of grow’?” ~ Chepi_ChepChep

“Breastmilk is SO cool!! There’s a reason why it’s called liquid gold!”

“More fun facts:”

“1- breastmilk can be dripped into babies eye/ear/nose to treat infections (as mentioned by someone below, it works best as an anti-inflammatory, which can help! Also, it’s more of a preventative than a cure.)”

“2- breastmilk does change depending on babies needs and as they grow”

“3- breastmilk contents differ depending on babies gender”

“4- breastmilk can help with cradle cap”

“5- it works on mild eczema!”

“6- the components of breastmilk could lead to treatment for cancers! possibilities still under trial”

“7- it’s “made” out of the mother’s blood”.

“Milk is made inside glands from the blood stream. Breast milk is NOT made from the mother’s stomach contents”

“The foods mom eats are broken down in the digestive system. Blood reaches the milk glands where it delivers carbohydrates, nutrients, white blood cells, enzymes, pro- and pre-biotics water, fat, and proteins into the gland. link!”

“8- mothers can detect issues with the baby through all of that kissing, which tells her body what to produce (like more antibodies ect) whoa!“~ Exotic-BlueBird

And That’s Enough For Today…

“It’s possible for your bowel movements to go backwards, causing you to poop from your mouth” ~ ipakookapi

“Just a way your body adapts to changes. If, for some reason you can’t poop, your body will attempt to expel it like its other waste products. You’ll find your breath will go rank, you’ll throw up poop and you urine will smell strong.”

“This will happen shortly before you die of sepsis, since all of these methods collectively aren’t good enough to dispose of everything you need.” ~ Gh3rkins

Never forget the human body is a fascinating and marvelous wonder of biology, chemistry and physics.

Just never be surprised when it does something surprising and/or upsetting to learn about.

We’re only human, after all.