Your favorite small piece of History.

[Seaxeland]

The fact that in the First Opium War the Chinese amassed an army of 200,000 to fight a small British force of 19,000, only for the British to suffer a measly 69 casualties as opposed to the 20,000 Chinese casualties.

"Century of Humiliation" indeed.

[The Archregimancy]

In 897 AD, Pope Stephen VI put his predecessor Pope Formosus on trial for changing his see in violation of canon law, perjury, and of serving as a bishop while actually a layman.

The only problem was that Formosus was dead.

So Stephen had his predecessor's corpse exhumed, propped up on a throne, and put on trial. After Formosus was found guilty, his remains ritually tortured, and all of his Papal acts declared invalid - the latter rather curiously including Stephen's own ordination as a bishop, which would seem to make Stephen retrospectively guilty of some of the charges levelled at Formosus.

Stephen was strangled later that same year, and the results of what's gone down in history as the Cadaver Synod were nullified by both of Stephen's successors (Theodore II and John IX).

[The Archregimancy]

Another piece of history I am fascinated with is Operation Barbarossa, which occurred during World War 2 when Nazi Germany launched its massive invasion of the Soviet Union. The Germans invaded with an army of 4,000,000 soldiers, 4,300 tanks, 4,389 aircraft, and 7,200 artillery pieces, making it the largest invasion force ever assembled in Human history.

Which sort of flies in the spirit of the thread's request to focus on "small pieces" of history; I think the OP is looking for small, obscure, but entertaining historical nuggets - not the largest single military invasion in human history, fascinating though it might be.

[Empire of Vlissingen]

World war 2.

[Soled]

The Soviet invasion of eastern Finnmark.
I guess almost none here have heard about it?

[Empire of Vlissingen]

The Soviet invasion of eastern Finnmark.
I guess almost none here have heard about it?

Where is Finnmark?

[L Ron Cupboard]

The Soviet invasion of eastern Finnmark.
I guess almost none here have heard about it?

Where is Finnmark?

To the north and east of Swedway.

[Igoria]

The "Attack of the Dead", when in 1915 a small company of 60 Russian soldiers, who were weak and dying from gas, broke a German force of 7000 attacking Osovets Fortress.

[Oceans Haven]

Since it says small ill pick something that didn't have a big impact but should have. In ancient Greece a machine known as an aeolipile which essentially, was a 2000 year old steam engine. At the time it had little known use but the fact remains a primitive steam engine, a machine whose (much) later reinvented counterparts changed and created the modern world through trains, factories and ships, was made 2000 years ago. Kind of cool to think what would have happened had it been put to good use then.

[The Huskar Social Union]

The "Attack of the Dead", when in 1915 a small company of 60 Russian soldiers, who were weak and dying from gas, broke a German force of 7000 attacking Osovets Fortress.

Okay just googled this and holy hell, that is some route, very interesting stuff.

[Rio Cana]

The fact that in the First Opium War the Chinese amassed an army of 200,000 to fight a small British force of 19,000, only for the British to suffer a measly 69 casualties as opposed to the 20,000 Chinese casualties.

"Century of Humiliation" indeed.

You left out the British navy which had an important role. They could sail up stream and with there cannon power decimate the Chinese. Chinese junks while good were no match for them. They were also better armed. Then we have the fact that the Qing Empire (which was not Han Chinese but Manchu controlled) had no centralized military unlike today. They relied on troops that were under the control of provincial governors and or elites. They were the ones who tended to provide the Qing government the troops.

[Perine]

The 1870 Battle of Sedan during the Franco-prussian war. Bloody House-to-house battles in the Town of Bazeilles, where only 19 of the 1000 men in the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment of France survived and 2655 total frenchies were lost in the Blue Division, and yet it was a french victory.

The French didn't win at Sedan.

EDIT: Neither did they at Bazeilles, Wikipedia says, though I suppose you could say that it was a morale victory for the troupes de marine in the same way that the Battle of Camaron was a morale victory/defining moment for the FFL.

It originally said that Prussia won at Bazeilles but i tend to read things wrongly and after some more research i rewrote it to the french winning.
At least It started Joseph Gallieni on his way to being a national french hero, who later on saved Paris with a taxi cab charge during ww1

[Perine]

The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War! No casualties but it is disputed if it even exist

If its not acceptable then maybe the Pig War which is triggered by the shooting of a pig

What about the Bucket War?

Top ten FTW!

[Ethel mermania]

well it is hitler

the only leader in the second world war who
did not smoke
did not drink
did not eat meat
did not cheat on his significant other.

[United Marxist Nations]

Napoleonic uniforms.

[Transoxthraxia]

Liechtenstein's army marched off to war with 80 men and came back with 81.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

When Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Chatelet, translated Newton's Principia Mathematica from Latin to French, during the Illustration. A woman who contributed like that to such an important period. Small, perhaps, but still one of my favorite accounts.

[MERIZoC]

Liechtenstein's army marched off to war with 80 men and came back with 81.

I must read about this.

[Furry Alairia and Algeria]

The Battle of Karánsebes

When Furries came into existence :3

[Wisconsin9]

The scientists at Los Alamos had a pool running on the yield of the Trinity detonation. The actual yield was the only choice left to the winner.

[Perine]

(are we allowed to multi-post?)

On August 22nd, 1943, one of the first V-1 flying bombs crash-landed on the Danish island of Bornholm. After being sketched by a Danish Naval officer, the sketch managed to be relayed to British Intelligence where it became the first sign of Germany's V rocket program.

[Lyrasona]

That from 1701 to 1772, the Prince-elector of Brandenburg/ Duke of Prussia was also King in Prussia, done this way so as not to anger nearby Poland who also considered themselves to be Kings of Prussia. After 1772, they became Kings of Prussia and lost the Prince-elector title when the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806.

[Summerset Plains]

The Colonization of Australia and the subsequent Maori Wars. And a bonus Mullah Abdullah the guy who got so angry he's on the wiki for it

[Ikania]

In 1864 during the American Civil War, General John Sedgwick of the Union, on the front lines at Spotsylvania, took a good look at the Confederate artillery encampment almost a kilometre away, and stated:

"They couldn't hit an elephant from this dis-"

*ptnk*

[Reploid Productions]

Watching the Space Shuttle Endeavour being trekked through the streets of Los Angeles on its way from LAX to the Science Center. As an article in the LA Times quoted about the event, it wasn't even a "once in a lifetime" event, it was a "once" event, moving a friggin' SPACESHIP through city streets is not something anybody is liable to attempt a second time. Plus the sheer level of the undertaking; there were many instances along the route where there were just inches of clearance between the edge of the wings and obstacles like trees.

Perhaps smaller than most of the other "small pieces of history" folks are sharing, but it's still my favorite.