“A bizarre incident in 1704 might have seen G.F. Handel's composing career cut tragically short after a set-to with fellow composer Johann Mattheson. For reasons apparently unknown, the two had a fierce quarrel in which Mattheson almost killed Handel with his sword, which fortunately struck a brass button on Handel's chest rather than the chest itself.

Had the metal button not saved Handel's life, his famous oratorio Messiah (with its "Hallelujah Chorus") would never have been composed.” - Back2Bach

“The odyssey of Helmut von Mücke during ww1. Dude got stranded with a boarding crew on an island in Indonesia, sailed across the Indian Ocean on a stolen Dutch boat, traveled through Arabia and turkey while trying to not get involved in the Arab revolt, and finally got home via Istanbul. Dude wrote a book about his adventures and became a pacifist because every one of his man he guided in this journey later died in the war.” - R3v1cu7

“Mansa musa who btw was the richest man who ever lived. He was born in Mali which is in Africa and African history is very underrated.” - t-oseni

“I'm originally from Fiji! There's a phrase I love from a British General's journal which I will find as much opportunity to quote. Indians were brought to Fiji to work the fields by the British because "...these Fijians have no concept of the industry!

Once they have met their needs for the day, they simply leave and outrageously spend the rest of their time in leisure!" Certain kinds of bosses haven't changed much I reckon :P” - ValBravora048

“Belgian king Albert the first. During World War One he actively took command of the Belgian military and at times was in the trenches with his men. As far as I’m aware he’s the only king to do that during the First World War. He’s a war hero. Sadly he’s overshadowed by his predecessor Leopold II (known for the atrocities in Congo) and his successor Leopold III (who caused a major political divide after the Second World War that is still a problem to this day).” - Petrus_Rock

“This is a short version of the story, but.. The "White House," presidential building of the USA, got its name following the war of 1812. America failed to cross the Niagara river and invade Canada. The Canadian forces then crossed over the river, pushed the Americans back, and kept pushing deeper and deeper, all the way to the presidential building. They set it on fire. Afterward, the building was repainted entirely white and thus became known as "The White House." - Castle_of_Aaaaaaargh

“This isn't talked about much because of how heartbreaking it is. That started WW2 when pearl harbor was bombed in Hawaii, on one of the vessels that were bombed and sunk to the ocean floor actually had people alive in it locked in an air-tight room. So for like two weeks, there were these 2-4 people trapped in the air-tight room. The military couldn't get them out because if they tried to open the room the pressure would kill the people inside instantly or something along those lines.

Their screams could be heard when they yelled for help, and people were stationed to listen for when they stopped so they knew when the people had... Yk passed.. it was such a mental toll on the people stationed there that people literally couldn't do it. Their friends are right there yet so far… After about two weeks, the screams stopped and they opened the room. They found the bodies and they had scratched tallies into the wall on how long they were there. It was hard to tell if they had died from lack of water, food or ran out of oxygen… They were cremated and their ashes lie with the boat. War sucks.” - UserNotFound44

“It's more a fun history fact. I've recently read about Joseph Menck, the last knight of Bohemia. He was a history buff from inter-war Czechoslovakia. He lived in a ruined castle near German borders, was teaching local children history, and lived to the medieval code of honor. In 1938 when Wehrmacht attacked his village, he took his armor on and mounted his horse.

Then he rode out and blocked the road. Nazis thought he was crazy and let him live. He didn't achieve any victory, but the man definitely had balls of steel. These are the stories that are largely forgotten but should be taught about. Single acts of bravery from people who decided to not give up. People like Mencik or the Tiananmen square man show us that even a single human can resist evil.” - Jirik333

“The Battle of Myeongryang: Thirteen Korean Ships vs 330 Japanese ships.” - Matt872000

“The Nazis gave their soldiers drugs. Especially meth. Why did they not teach this in school?! An anti-Nazi lesson combined with the “drugs are bad narrative”. Schools should be all over this shit!” - FuntionalityOfReddit

“The Blalok-Taussig shunt. The story of how this surgical procedure was developed and perfected by Dr. Blalok, but mostly Vivian Tomas his assistant. Tomas was a black man, who at the time was not allowed to perform surgeries on other human beings; when developing this procedure he worked mostly on dogs.

When it came time to perform it on a human being (what started them developing this procedure was Dr. Taussig, a female pediatric cardiologist asking for help since she as a woman also couldn't operate on people) Tomas had to basically stand behind Blalok explaining what to do. There's a movie about all of this and their story called Something the Lord Made that goes into better detail. Also, the podcast Sawbones does a two-part episode about all this. It's a really beautiful story” - calamity_machine

“Bluetooth is named after a Viking. Who had the same nickname. The symbol for Bluetooth is the combination of his name's first letters in runic. You can learn some pretty neat things on this site.” - DatSameGuyDur

“This is actually a really cool story about a ragtag British paramilitary unit in WWII that socked it to the Nazis in Portuguese India: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SA0WwxBw1Q It's an hour-and-a-half, though, so set some time aside. But if you love a good story told well, check it out.” - Emu_on_the_Loose

“The story of the guy who invented the car. He just had kept tinkering with it, and wouldn’t show it to the world, so his wife stole it and did it herself.” - BiscottiExtension315

“Vasili Arkhipov: The man who saved the world. Vasili Arkhipov was an Officer in the Soviet Navy who was on board a submarine on a secret mission during the Cuban Missile Crisis. US ships in a blockade fired non-lethal depth charges at the submarine in an attempt to get it to the surface, but the people on the sub thought it was an attack.

The sub was loaded with a nuclear torpedo. To fire the torpedo, usually, you'd need the approval of the 2 commanding officers on the sub, and they did, but because Arkhipov was on board they needed his approval too, as he was the commander of the flotilla. He was the only one to disapprove of the strike. He could have been on any other submarine at the time, but he was on that one. If he had fallen to peer pressure or had decided to go onto another submarine, the nuclear torpedo would have likely been fired, which would have probably triggered a nuclear war.” - BLaDEProXima101