Comical Historical Events

[Nitrana]

Idk if it’s funny, but it’s at least interesting for me:
Jack Churchill(nothing to do with Winston) was a British… general I think? Who fought with a sword and a bow. One time he just heckin’ arrested around 50 Germans. With a sword and a bow.

[Ethel mermania]

Caesar literally did Brutus' mom no wonder Brutus stabbed him

Indeed. So, kids, lesson of the day: Don't get yourself a mistress, who's married and has children, while becoming ruler-for-life of a very, very complicated state, where it is the norm to wear long, flowing robes, in which one can easily hide knives.

[...]
Certainly there are appalling reasonably contemporary historical events, or specific moments within a broader set of appalling events, that have a comical side - the coronation of Bokassa I of the Central African Empire comes to mind - but 'the Cambodian genocide was really bizarre, wasn't it?' isn't really what we're looking for here. While I can't control the direction the thread takes, it was my hope that it would focus on comical historical events as a deliberate attempt to lighten both the NSG mood and my personal mood.

Speaking of which, and hoping to indeed lighten the mood, I would like to mention Joshua Abraham Norton, a.k.a. Norton I., Emperor of the United States, Protector of Mexico. Not a moment, but a broke man, who... that's actually the thing, was he insane or just eccentric or a bloody convincing person? Regardless of that, while he could have easily been written off as just another nutter, the City of San Francisco, including its residents, treated him with utmost respect.
Granted, they profited from him a lot as well, but that is just par for the course with royalty, be they actual crowned heads or not.
When he collapsed and died in 1880, ten thousand people lined the streets to pay him homage.

Knives don't kill, people kill.

And I was thinking of posting about emperor Norton. Good choice

[The Selkie]

Knives don't kill, people kill.

And I was thinking of posting about emperor Norton. Good choice

People might kill using knives, but one shouldn't make it easy for one's opponents to bring one close to you, I think.

Thank you. I must admit, that I first stumbled across him while writing a seminar paper on Emperor Maximilian I. of Mexico (a sad story, if you ask me). Of course, I had to mention him. ; )

[Old Tyrannia]

Idk if it’s funny, but it’s at least interesting for me:
Jack Churchill(nothing to do with Winston) was a British… general I think? Who fought with a sword and a bow. One time he just heckin’ arrested around 50 Germans. With a sword and a bow.

He was a lieutenant colonel. Generals did not generally (no pun intended) serve on the front lines during the Second World War; Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., son of President Theodore Roosevelt, was the only general officer to participate personally in the D-Day landings despite his senior officers' reservations, as mentioned on the first page of the thread.

"Mad Jack" Churchill was indeed a character. He's the only person to have a confirmed kill with a longbow in the Second World War, and is reported to have said that an officer who went into combat without his sword is improperly dressed. He also played the bagpipes and often piped his men into battle playing traditional Scottish airs such as "The March of the Cameron Men" and "Will Ye No Come Back Again?" When the war ended, he unhappily complained that "if it weren't for those damned Yanks, we could have kept the war going for another 10 years!"

[Heloin]

Certainly there are appalling reasonably contemporary historical events, or specific moments within a broader set of appalling events, that have a comical side - the coronation of Bokassa I of the Central African Empire

I’m on my phone so I can’t snag a photo into imgur and show it right now but anyone who doesn’t know please look up Bokassa‘s coronation throne. It is one of the most gaudy, ugly things you’ll every see. It looks so cheap despite costing like 2 million dollars and I adore it.

[Ethel mermania]

Certainly there are appalling reasonably contemporary historical events, or specific moments within a broader set of appalling events, that have a comical side - the coronation of Bokassa I of the Central African Empire

I’m on my phone so I can’t snag a photo into imgur and show it right now but anyone who doesn’t know please look up Bokassa‘s coronation throne. It is one of the most gaudy, ugly things you’ll every see. It looks so cheap despite costing like 2 million dollars and I adore it.

Happy to help

[Heloin]

I’m on my phone so I can’t snag a photo into imgur and show it right now but anyone who doesn’t know please look up Bokassa‘s coronation throne. It is one of the most gaudy, ugly things you’ll every see. It looks so cheap despite costing like 2 million dollars and I adore it.

Happy to help

Baie dankie

Look at it! This stupid throne brought down a country!

[The Blaatschapen]

Happy to help

Baie dankie

Look at it! This stupid throne brought down a country!

so the country was dethroned?

[Ethel mermania]

Happy to help

Baie dankie

Look at it! This stupid throne brought down a country!

It is a cool throne

[Andsed]

Ten Cent Beer Night June 4th, 1974 the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians the city of Cleveland decided to do a promotional event by selling beer for ten cents(about 55 cents in todays money in comparison to the roughly 3.57 it was being sold out.) Only rule was that you could get six beers at a time but no limits on any total.

The Rangers and Indians had a gotten into a brawl in a previous game so there was a grudge present. 25,134 fans attended being twice the amount expected. What could go wrong? Well several incidents of streakers running onto the field, a father son duo mooning the fans, firecrackers being thrown on the field and into the rangers bullpen, players being pelted and just in general unruly fans made playing a game difficult.

But then in the bottom of ninth inning the game was tied a fan attempted to steal a hat from Jeff Burroughs who while confronting him tripped which made the rest of the Rangers think he had been attacked. They ran out (some with bats) to protect him as hundreds of drunk fans surged onto the field many also armed. The Indians then ran out to help the Rangers leading to the two teams brawling with their fans. The teams end up fleeing the field to their clubhouses as the fans tore up the place with the riot lasting for another 20 minutes before police arrived with fans stealing bases and whatever else they could find.

9 were arrested, the game was forfieted to Texas, and shockingly no one was killed but quite a few were injured. Cheap beer and sports, a truly winning combination.

[The Two Jerseys]

Ten Cent Beer Night June 4th, 1974 the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians the city of Cleveland decided to do a promotional event by selling beer for ten cents(about 55 cents in todays money in comparison to the roughly 3.57 it was being sold out.) Only rule was that you could get six beers at a time but no limits on any total.

The Rangers and Indians had a gotten into a brawl in a previous game so there was a grudge present. 25,134 fans attended being twice the amount expected. What could go wrong? Well several incidents of streakers running onto the field, a father son duo mooning the fans, firecrackers being thrown on the field and into the rangers bullpen, players being pelted and just in general unruly fans made playing a game difficult.

But then in the bottom of ninth inning the game was tied a fan attempted to steal a hat from Jeff Burroughs who while confronting him tripped which made the rest of the Rangers think he had been attacked. They ran out (some with bats) to protect him as hundreds of drunk fans surged onto the field many also armed. The Indians then ran out to help the Rangers leading to the two teams brawling with their fans. The teams end up fleeing the field to their clubhouses as the fans tore up the place with the riot lasting for another 20 minutes before police arrived with fans stealing bases and whatever else they could find.

9 were arrested, the game was forfieted to Texas, and shockingly no one was killed but quite a few were injured. Cheap beer and sports, a truly winning combination.

Don't forget Disco Demolition Night.

[Valentine Z]

When Nintendo ditched SONY for Panasonic to create a CD console, created a really bad one, and also one of their biggest rivals in the gaming industry

AHA, that one! The one that created the CD-i! The sad thing is, that wasn't the only time it happened.

Wayyyy back when Nintendo was trying to get into the US Video Game Market in 1983, they got Atari to help them out because you would probably want someone to guide you about, for example, the difference between the US and JP market, and more importantly - distribution. Then this happened:

Though the two companies reached a tentative agreement, with final contract papers to be signed at the 1983 Summer Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Atari refused to sign at the last minute, after seeing Coleco, one of its main competitors in the market at that time, demonstrating a prototype of Donkey Kong for its forthcoming Coleco Adam home computer system. Coleco had licensed Donkey Kong for the ColecoVision home console, but Atari had the exclusive computer license for the game. Although the game had been originally produced for the ColecoVision and could thus automatically be played on the backward compatible Adam computer, Atari took the demonstration as a sign that Nintendo was also dealing with Coleco.

In short, had Atari calmed the hell down, we could be seeing a Nintendo-Atari collab. For better or for worse.

-----

On the topic of comical, Nicaragua invaded Costa Rica by mistake because of Google Maps in 2010.

An embarrassing error on Google Maps has been blamed for Nicaragua’s accidental invasion of Costa Rica. Last week, Nicaraguan troops crossed the border, took down a Costa Rican flag and defiantly raised their own flag on Costa Rican turf.

But the troops’ commander, Eden Pastora, told a Costa Rican newspaper, La Nacion, that his invasion was not his fault, because Google Maps mistakenly said the territory belonged to Nicaragua. Government officials in Nicaragua have also blamed a “bug in Google” for the error.

...

Perhaps the most embarrassing thing for Google, though, is that competitor Microsoft has the border definition right on its maps. If Nicaraguan commander Pastora had used Bing Maps, the entire red-faced incident might never have happened.

[Archinstinct]

A war over a bucket.

the great emu war.

[The Archregimancy]

One of the senior British officers on D-Day - and indeed an officer that one of my grandfathers served alongside during the Pegasus Bridge action on D-Day - was Richard Pine-Coffin.

That's right, the leader of one of the British parachute battalions was Lieutenant Colonel Pine-Coffin.

His soldiers called him 'wooden box'.

[Ethel mermania]

Happy to help

Baie dankie

Look at it! This stupid throne brought down a country!

I am digging his train, do the bridesmaids carry that?

[Kowani]

a really fun bit of court packing comes when LBJ got a Supreme Court justice to quit by appointing him UN ambassador (Arthur Goldberg) and another (Thomas Clark) to quit by making his son Attorney General and creating a conflict of interest

[Window Land]

The battle of the Chosin Resevoir comes to mind. During the Korean War, American troops who were outnumbered 8:1, stuck in weather well below zero Fahrenheit, and in desperate need of supplies called in asking for "Tootsie Rolls", the code name for mortar shells. The military then proceeded to airdrop actual Tootsie Rolls on the soldiers. It wound up being a huge morale booster for the troops, who were able to use them as both sustenance and as a makeshift bullet hole repair kit. The troops, now known as the Chosin Few, were able to punch through enemy lines and retreat to safety, and credit their survival to the tootsie rolls.

[Meadowfields]

When a truck driver in 1973 knocked down the Tree of Ténéré, an acacia that was considered the most isolated tree in the world.

[Old Tyrannia]

When a truck driver in 1973 knocked down the Tree of Ténéré, an acacia that was considered the most isolated tree in the world.

I find that more depressing than comical.

[Meadowfields]

When a truck driver in 1973 knocked down the Tree of Ténéré, an acacia that was considered the most isolated tree in the world.

I find that more depressing than comical.

I guess it seems a little ironic that the most isolated tree in the world would be knocked down by a vehicle, but I can see where you're getting that from.

[Perikuresu]

On the topic of comical, Nicaragua invaded Costa Rica by mistake because of Google Maps in 2010.

[/quote]
I forgot about that, that was hilarious (to an extent)

[Partybus]

I found this story entertaining...

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/wacko-the-us-navy-destroyer-that-sank-a-japanese-submarine-with-the-aid-of-potatoes.html?chrome=1

[Christian Confederation]

That time the USS William D Porter accidentally shot a live Torpedo at the Battleship carrying President FDR to a conference in North Africa during WWII.

[Kowani]

That time the USS William D Porter accidentally shot a live Torpedo at the Battleship carrying President FDR to a conference in North Africa during WWII.

for context

[Reploid Productions]

I found this story entertaining...

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/wacko-the-us-navy-destroyer-that-sank-a-japanese-submarine-with-the-aid-of-potatoes.html?chrome=1

Beat you to that one.