Comical Historical Events

[Chan Island]

Viking king Harold Hardrada owned, as befits a king, a chainmail jacket to protect him in battle. A very long chainmail jacket, so long that contemporaries thought it looked like a skirt. So they nicknamed it 'Emma', and sometimes would call him that while he was wearing it.

Now there's something to recast the 1066 Battle of Stanford Bridge for you. He was leading his armies while being nicknamed "Emma".

[Farnhamia]

Viking king Harold Hardrada owned, as befits a king, a chainmail jacket to protect him in battle. A very long chainmail jacket, so long that contemporaries thought it looked like a skirt. So they nicknamed it 'Emma', and sometimes would call him that while he was wearing it.

Now there's something to recast the 1066 Battle of Stanford Bridge for you. He was leading his armies while being nicknamed "Emma".

'Emma' was what he called his very long suit of chain armor, which he acquired in Byzantium.

https://www.medievalists.net/2018/09/wh ... rd-bridge/

[NEON Cactus Kid]

When the Australian Army fought an actual war against the emu bird and lost

[Kowani]

more senate shenanigans!

in 1908, Senator Robert La Follette set a then-record for the longest filibuster by going for 18 hours straight against a currency bill. The stand took a dramatic turn when he claimed he had been poisoned after someone deliberately left out his glass of eggnog.


A few hours later, he would lose the filibuster by accidentally yielding the floor to a Senator who had just stepped out.

[Eahland]

When the Australian Army fought an actual war against the emu bird and lost

This is like the tenth time it's been brought up in this thread, and it's not even as ridiculous as the precis makes out. It was more like "the Australian Army sent one machine gun team to get rid of some emus, but they didn't have nearly enough ammo".

[Elejamie]

When the Australian Army fought an actual war against the emu bird and lost

This is like the tenth time it's been brought up in this thread, and it's not even as ridiculous as the precis makes out. It was more like "the Australian Army sent one machine gun team to get rid of some emus, but they didn't have nearly enough ammo".

Not to mention that I brought up an even more embarrassing story along the same lines on the very first page. At this rate we might as well have a rule in the OP that says "No bringing up the Emu War".

[Hispida]

at the end of the yalta conference, stalin began making toasts to each individual interpreter. a bit miffed and probably wanting to go home, churchill stood up and said "interpreters of the world, unite! you have nothing to lose but your audience!"

when the joke was relayed to stalin, stalin reportedly broke down in laughter and wouldn't stop for minutes.

[Senkaku]

Caesar apparently fell flat on his face when disembarking in Africa to suppress Scipio, which freaked everyone out as a bad omen, but he supposedly then stood up with a handful of sand and said “Africa, I hold you now!”

[Heloin]

When the Australian Army fought an actual war against the emu bird and lost

This is like the tenth time it's been brought up in this thread, and it's not even as ridiculous as the precis makes out. It was more like "the Australian Army sent one machine gun team to get rid of some emus, but they didn't have nearly enough ammo".

The gun jammed after firing a burst and they gave up. That the Australian government hyped up their activities at the time to make it look like they were doing something and then failing at that something can and should be considered losing. And Emus winning by default is still winning.

[Reploid Productions]

Caesar apparently fell flat on his face when disembarking in Africa to suppress Scipio, which freaked everyone out as a bad omen, but he supposedly then stood up with a handful of sand and said “Africa, I hold you now!”

When the party's bard rolls a nat 1 immediately followed by a nat 20.

[Perikuresu]

The Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond in the world was transported to the United Kingdom on a steamship with detectives on it, and was ceremoniously locked in the captain's safe which was heavily guard. It turns out, that the safe was a rouse to attract potential thieves, the actual Cullinan Diamond was placed in a box and mailed to London.

[Neon Lunar Eclipse]

When a speech made by a drunk East German government official inadvertedly led to the Berlin Wall being torn down.

[The Selkie]

When a speech made by a drunk East German government official inadvertedly led to the Berlin Wall being torn down.

The name you're looking for is Günter Schabowski and I'd really like to see your source for him being drunk during the press conference on the 9th of November 1989.

[Rusticus I Damianus]

Emu War

[Neon Lunar Eclipse]

When a speech made by a drunk East German government official inadvertedly led to the Berlin Wall being torn down.

The name you're looking for is Günter Schabowski and I'd really like to see your source for him being drunk during the press conference on the 9th of November 1989.

Idk. It is what my high school history teacher said.

[San Lumen]

Omaha had been the capital of the Nebraska territory since 1854. After much of the territory south of the Platte River consisted annexation to Kansas plans where made to move the capital locate the capital city south of the river and as far west as possible.

Prior to the vote to remove the capital city from Omaha, a last ditch effort by Omaha Senator J. N. H. Patrick attempted to derail the move by having the future capital city named after recently assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Many of the people south of the Platte River had been sympathetic to the Confederate cause in the recently concluded Civil War. It was assumed that senators south of the river would not vote in favor due to confederate sympathies.

The Removal Act ultimately passed in early 1867. Later that year the village of Lancaster was chosen as the new capital and renamed Lincoln.

[The Selkie]

The name you're looking for is Günter Schabowski and I'd really like to see your source for him being drunk during the press conference on the 9th of November 1989.

Idk. It is what my high school history teacher said.

I'm sorry, but there is no indication, that Schabowski was drunk during that press conference (by the way, only a press conference, not a speech). If you want to see the important part: Here you go, with subtitles. And while we are at it, does that man look drunk to you?
What he did afterwards, when the 9th turned to the 10th, is anyone's guess, though. ; )

[The Archregimancy]

Emu War

Ahem.

When the Australian Army fought an actual war against the emu bird and lost

This is like the tenth time it's been brought up in this thread, and it's not even as ridiculous as the precis makes out. It was more like "the Australian Army sent one machine gun team to get rid of some emus, but they didn't have nearly enough ammo".

[Kowani]

In 2013, a pair of Canadians built a robot, named hitchbot.
It became internationally famous after it managed to hitchhike successfully all the way across Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Next stop? The US, from Boston to San Francisco.


It was immediately brutally beaten to death and decapitated in Philadelphia.

[Sordhau]

In 2013, a pair of Canadians built a robot, named hitchbot.
It became internationally famous after it managed to hitchhike successfully all the way across Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Next stop? The US, from Boston to San Francisco.


It was immediately brutally beaten to death and decapitated in Philadelphia.

I thought I read somewhere that the U.S. one wasn't made by the same people.

Also never heard of it going to Germany or the Netherlands.

[Azania-]

The postwar history of the Austrian village of Fucking (now Fugging) has been rather amusing. For context, the town derives its name from a Bavarian nobleman named Focko, who is believed to have founded the town sometime in the 6th century AD. Here's a few nuggets from the Wikipedia page:

British and US soldiers based in nearby Salzburg noticed the name after World War II and began to travel to the village to have their photos taken beside the signs. The local residents, the Fuckingers, were bemused, as they had not previously been aware of the meaning of their village's name in English.[7]

"The Germans all want to see Mozart's house in Salzburg; the Americans want to see where The Sound of Music was filmed; the Japanese want Hitler's birthplace in Braunau; but for the British, it's all about Fucking."[10]

The road signs were commonly stolen as souvenirs,[5][9] and cost some 300 euros to replace.[7] In 2005 theft-resistant welded signs were installed, secured in concrete.[7] The Mayor of Tarsdorf said that tourists were still welcome,[14][15] though the local police chief emphasised that "we will not stand for the Fucking signs being removed. It may be very amusing for you British, but Fucking is simply Fucking to us. What is this big Fucking joke? It is puerile."[5][16]

In 2021, the town was renamed Fugging, which is pronounced the same as Fucking in the dialect spoken in the region. All jokes aside, I think it's a bit sad that because of a quirk of language and the actions of a few idiots that the village had to change its centuries-old name.

[The Selkie]

The postwar history of the Austrian village of Fucking (now Fugging) has been rather amusing. For context, the town derives its name from a Bavarian nobleman named Focko, who is believed to have founded the town sometime in the 6th century AD. Here's a few nuggets from the Wikipedia page:

British and US soldiers based in nearby Salzburg noticed the name after World War II and began to travel to the village to have their photos taken beside the signs. The local residents, the Fuckingers, were bemused, as they had not previously been aware of the meaning of their village's name in English.[7]

"The Germans all want to see Mozart's house in Salzburg; the Americans want to see where The Sound of Music was filmed; the Japanese want Hitler's birthplace in Braunau; but for the British, it's all about Fucking."[10]

The road signs were commonly stolen as souvenirs,[5][9] and cost some 300 euros to replace.[7] In 2005 theft-resistant welded signs were installed, secured in concrete.[7] The Mayor of Tarsdorf said that tourists were still welcome,[14][15] though the local police chief emphasised that "we will not stand for the Fucking signs being removed. It may be very amusing for you British, but Fucking is simply Fucking to us. What is this big Fucking joke? It is puerile."[5][16]

In 2021, the town was renamed Fugging, which is pronounced the same as Fucking in the dialect spoken in the region. All jokes aside, I think it's a bit sad that because of a quirk of language and the actions of a few idiots that the village had to change its centuries-old name.

You can now see one of the few remaining signs in the Haus der Geschichte Österreich, the great museum of contemporary history of Austria at the Heldenplatz in Vienna.

The Rosetta Stone, instrumental in deciphering Egyptian Hieroglyphs is a document reaffirming the royal cult of Ptolemy V. and granting it several privileges, among them a tax exemption - tax stonework always survives.
The Stone can now be viewed in the British Museum.

[The Selkie]

My apologies for the double-post, but this one has been burning under my fingernails for a few days now: Early 50s in the US, we're right in the time of the Red Scare, the hunts for communists and all that not-really-fun-time for anyone in the US, but the fun part comes with censorship.
What is to censor, according to the Indiana School Textbook Commission's Mrs. Thomas J. White? A vile and communist text, a text so red, that the Manifesto seems like child's play against it, a text, which must never ever get into the hands of children, least of all through the grade school curriculum.
What is that vile text, you might ask yourself now? A text about a man, who steals from the rich and gives to the poor and if you don't know, who's story I mean by now, then you should make yourself familiar with Robin Hood (OSP is a good starting point).
In 1953, there was a proposal to ban Robin Hood in the US. It didn't get far, and it soon created a counter-movement of student protests known as the Green Feather Movement, but the fact, that someone seriously proposed to ban Robin Hood for communist ideals is something I found hilarious when I read it.

[Adamede]

When the Australian Army fought an actual war against the emu bird and lost

This is like the tenth time it's been brought up in this thread, and it's not even as ridiculous as the precis makes out. It was more like "the Australian Army sent one machine gun team to get rid of some emus, but they didn't have nearly enough ammo".

Trns out just giving out bounties to a bunch of farmers with rifles was the better solutuion.

[Heloin]

In 2013, a pair of Canadians built a robot, named hitchbot.
It became internationally famous after it managed to hitchhike successfully all the way across Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Next stop? The US, from Boston to San Francisco.


It was immediately brutally beaten to death and decapitated in Philadelphia.

The people of Philly made out a single cry together, “Begin the Butlerian Jihad.”