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Humans just love a good tale of revenge. There is so much inherent drama, wrongs being righted, betrayal and catharsis. So it stands to reason that throughout human history, there have been many cases of people taking matters into their own hands to resolve their differences.

Someone asked “What was the biggest "[s***w] you" in history?” and netizens shared their best examples. So get comfortable as you read through, if you happen to have a nemesis, perhaps take some notes, upvote the best ones and be sure to add your own thoughts and favorites in the comments below.

#1

“Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Mother Nature's big FU to the Chinese in response to the Great Sparrow Campaign. The campaign encouraged the Chinese to k**l sparrows by the truckload because supposedly they were eating seeds from planted crops. Well, the campaign was such a success that plant eating insects that the sparrows also ate were able to thrive and totally ruin crops which lead to famine.

famous_unicorn , Pixabay Report

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Green Tree
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1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The law of Unintended Consequences and why it's a bad idea to mess with ecosystems in general

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    #2

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Olga of Kiev. Some jerks called the Drevlians killed her husband and tried to have her marry their Prince. She fooled them into sending their most important men to prepare for the wedding and trapped them in a building and burned them alive. When they tried to apologize she requested pigeons from the citizens and *rigged the birds with sulfur bags*. The birds flew back to their original homes and when they roosted it burned down all of their houses. The official bad b***h of the year 890. She's also a saint.

    Earlyecho , Mikhail Nesterov Report

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    Jrog
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    1 week ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sooo... a few things to set straight, I'll split in multiple comments. First: Igor of Kiev was the son of Rurik, the semi-mythical guy who founded the Kievan Rus, a loose aggregate of warrior tribes -formerly Viking- from northern Europe that congregated under the strong arm of a warlord. The state survived by collecting tributes from subjugated tribes. At some point Igor -we don't know why, Varangians kept very few historical records- decided to turn tyrannical against a specific tribe, the Drevlians, taxing them to death and subjecting them to raids. Possibly it was related to the fact that they were a cultural minority, being Slavic instead of Baltic. This just to say they were probably not 100% in the wrong and the guy was kind of an assh*le.

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    #3

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Ferruccio Lamborghini was a rich man owning his company that built tractors, he talked to Ferrari about the imperfections of his car and how to improve them and they basically laughed at a young tractor mechanic trying to tell them about sport cars, so he decided to start making luxury sport cars to compete with Ferrari and thus, the rivalry was born. So i'd say the middle finger of this guy to Ferrari was pretty noticeable.

    ES_Legman , Unknown author Report

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    Forrest Hobbs
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Supposedly, it was over the price of the replacement clutch. The story goes: Lamborghini wasn't a great driver and kept burning out the clutch on his Ferrari, so he had to keep buying replacements. Then - the story goes - he found out that Ferrari charged 1000 lira for each replacement clutch, the same clutch Lamborghini's tractor factory bought for 10 lira. And there was an argument with Ferrari, and... https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a25169632/lamborghini-supercars-exist-because-of-a-tractor/

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    #4

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History The Rats of Tobruk.

    An Australian garrison in Tobruk during WWII that became infamous during an 8 month siege against an armored German/Italian Afrika corps.

    The tactics of the soldiers surprised the Germans in that usually when the lines are pieced by armored forces the enemy retreats. Not so the Tobruk Garrison, who instead advanced and attacked the infantry running behind the tanks while letting the armored division over-extend itself without support.

    >" I cannot understand you Australians. In Poland , France and Belgium once the tanks got through the soldiers took it for granted they were beaten. But you are like demons. The tanks break through and your infantry keeps fighting."

    Eventually they got a N**i war propaganda specialist to broadcast radio messages in Radio Berlin in an attempt to lower morale and deride the defenders, calling the soldiers in Tobruk 'cornered rats' because of their tactics in using tunnel networks to flank and steal supplies, and their supply ships 'floating scrap iron'.

    But rather than be demoralized the Australian's started calling themselves Rats and their supply ships 'the scrap iron flotilla'. Because in typical Australian dry humor they figured it is more insulting to the Germans to be beaten back by a bunch of rats. They gave themselves unofficial rat medals with metal from a scrapped German bomber shot down with stolen German guns.

    I like to think it was a long 8 months of Australians and their allies holding a giant middle finger to the Axis.

    Thagyr , Smith, N Report

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    #5

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History George Bernard Shaw: I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend—if you have one.

    Winston Churchill: Cannot possibly attend first night; will attend second—if there is one.

    bullettbailey , Unknown author , Yousuf Karsh Report

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    Forrest Hobbs
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yeah, but they were both just massively taking the p**s out of each other. I don't think there was any actual malice involved.

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    #6

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Queen Gorgo of Sparta when asked why only Spartan women were equal to their men:

    "Because only Spartan women give birth to Spartan men.".

    iMakeItSeemWeird , vocal Report

    #7

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History The invasion of Belgium during WW1 comes to mind.


    Basically, the Germans were on a strict timeline and needed to move their massive army through Belgium in order to flank the French defenses along their own border. In order for this to be successful, they were counting on the Belgians kind of just stepping aside and letting them use their roads and rails and bridges and such. After all, the Germans could destroy Belgium in a war with relative ease, but they didn't have time for that. The Germans asked the Belgians not to sabotage any of the infrastructure so they could pass through and leave them alone.
    In response, the Belgians gave a resounding "f**k you". They blew up the bridges and the tunnels and the rails, and they gave a fantastic resistance against the Germans at a series of forts along their border with Germany. They really f****d s**t up.

    Amedais , Unknown author Report

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    Jrog
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    1 week ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Eh, kind of misrepresented. Germany proposed a treaty (i.e. a full surrender) to Belgium to keep them under relatively light occupation if they did not oppose resistance to the army passing through. They needed to rush to Paris, and the German plans -that were outdated and incredibly optimistic- called to cross Belgium while they could have just made a short detour. Belgium had already standing agreements with France and the UK, and did not want to give up their independence, so acted reasonably like any invaded country. Also their agreed role in the defensive alliance was to slow down the enemy to allow French forces buildup.

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    #8

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Not the biggest, but:
    Molotov said he wasn't bombing Finland, he was bringing them food. In actuality, he was bombing them. Finns got cheeky and called the bombs "Molotov Bread Baskets." Finns made the Molotov Cocktail as "a drink to go with the bread."

    A Molotov Cocktail is p much flammable "poor man's grenade" meant to set someone on fire rather than just flat out k**l them.

    It might not be a huge f**k you, but it's one of my favorite historical facts.

    yenetruok , Unknown author , abt137 Report

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    GenuineJen
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    1 week ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Umm... The designers of THAT "bomb" knew exactly what they were doing.

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    #9

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Singapore getting kicked out of Malaysia in 1965, making it the only state in the world ever to gain its independence involuntarily.
    There is a video of Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew crying on TV right afterwards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj6iKXMIiOg

    The reason Singapore got kicked out, was that then governor, and ethnic Chinese, Lee Kuan Yew did not agree with the racially discriminating policies put in place by the mostly Malay government. These policies grant Malays significantly more rights than any other of the many ethnicities that live in Malaysia, in an apartheid like manner.

    Of course, we know that it went very well for Singapore from then onwards, but back in the day virtually everyone thought that this decision would be the country's death penalty. I mean, it really wasn't much more than a Malaria infested swamp in 1965...

    The even bigger "f**k you" is that history in Malaysian school books has been rewritten to say that a mutual understanding had been reached and that Singapore left voluntarily. What's more, historical facts have been "amended" gradually, in order to justify the special rights that ethnic Malays get.

    While I am not a Malaysian myself, I have lived in the area for several years now and it griefs me to still see ethnic Chinese and Indians in Malaysia who are forced to keep quiet over political and personal issues, in order to avoid serious consequences.

    RhinoVanHorn , Mike Enerio Report

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    Nils Skirnir
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It’s a rare month too that some church or ashram isn’t firebombed. Xtians, for example, keep religious gatherings pretty quiet.

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    #10

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History When Julius Cesar was kidnapped by pirates and his men paid 50 talents as a ransom.
    He went back home , took his time to raise a fleet and go after his kidnappers. He crucified them and got his 50 talents back.

    anon , Henri De Montaut Report

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    Kelli Wilson
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He also said their original ransom was much too low, they should ask for more.

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    #11

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Republicans refusing to hold a hearing for President Obama's supreme court nominee with nearly a year left in his term.

    trench47 , Pete Souza Report

    #12

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History The Greeks saying a huge resounding "No" to Mussolini's ultimatum to allow the axis forces to enter the Greek territory in 1940.It forces admiration,it takes a special kind of badass to say the equivalent of "f**k you " to Hitler's minions at that time of history.

    Glacienda , The Archaeological Society at Athens Report

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    TotallyNOTAFox
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Mussolini also screwed over Germany with invading Greece, since he didn't tell his allies of his plan the Wehrmacht had to delay their invasion of the USSR to assist him

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    #13

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Henry VIII created his own church when the Catholics told him no for divorce.

    jamesmichael34 , After Hans Holbein the Younger Report

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    Tucker Cahooter
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Hence why the Church of England allows married couples to divorce, although it is discouraged. They do however draw the line at beheading your spouse

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    #14

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Not the biggest but still a great "F**k you" was delivered by Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin. His invention was copied all over the South and 20 years of lawsuits all failed in the Southern courts. He wound up broke. The new south became incredibly wealthy from his invention. That new "empire" felt itself put-upon by the North and decided to become an independent "empire". Eli Whitney then went and invented inter-changable parts for weapons with assembly lines and allowed the North to quickly arm hundreds of thousands of men with which to crush that would-be empire. He created and crushed an empire.

    Ambruster , Samuel Finley Breese Morse Report

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    Forrest Hobbs
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Don't forget the Lancashire cotton mill workers who embargoed US cotton. It hurt them badly, but they did so to end slavery, on the urging of Abraham Lincoln. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/06/06/role-british-workers-abolishing-slavery-winning-american-civil-war/. The mill workers drove the embargo - against the wishes of the bosses, who just wanted profit at any cost.

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    #15

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. Famous German general from World War I.

    From his Wikipedia article:
    Later, when Hitler offered him the ambassadorship to the Court of St James's in 1935, he "declined with frigid hauteur."; the suggestion for the nomination as ambassador to the Court of St James had come from retired Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen during a visit to Berlin. During the 1960s, Charles Miller asked the nephew of a Schutztruppe officer, "I understand that von Lettow told Hitler to go f**k himself." The nephew responded, "That's right, except that I don't think he put it that politely."

    Very few people lived through telling Hitler that. But he was a decorated, historic officer. He survived, taking no part in the 2nd World War.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_von_Lettow-Vorbeck.

    x31b , Photoatelier Hermann Noack Report

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    Forrest Hobbs
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And they say Germans don't have a sense of humour? "I understand that von Lettow told Hitler to go f**k himself." "That's right, except that I don't think he put it that politely." 🤣

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    #16

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Arlington National Cemetery sits on what used to be Robert E Lee's estate.

    anon , wikipedia.org Report

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    Mary Kelly
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    even more of an FU, the lincoln memorial was built so that lincoln's back is turned to lee's former estate house...it's like saying, "we will bury the soldiers on boths sides from battles you lead in your back yard, and erect a monument to our hero with his backside facing your home so you can look down at it for all eternity"...pretty petty, but a solid FU all things considered

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    #17

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Winston Churchill, in the face of what appeared to be utter and inescapable defeat only briefly delayed through the largest evacuation in military history.

    *Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.*

    *We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.*

    edit: [Here is the audio of his parliamentary address](http://audio.theguardian.tv/sys-audio/Guardian/audio/2007/04/20/Churchill.mp3) Above quote starts at 10:30.

    EDIT: TLDR; "F**k you Nazis, we'll sacrifice EVERYTHING to beat you -- our lives, our country, our empire, and even if we fail our valour will inspire future civilizations to rise up and defeat your descendants.".

    dbcanuck , U.S. Signal Corps Report

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    Forrest Hobbs
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    1 week ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The audio is from the BBC broadcast, actually voiced by an actor (ETA: not - see my follow-up post below). Parliamentary proceedings weren't recorded by audio until, if I recall correctly, the 1980s. One thing about Winston Churchill: people believed what he said in part because he'd actually fought in war himself, having taken part (e.g.) in the British Army's last serious cavalry charge. There's much to criticise about Churchill, but he was intensely loyal to his wife, king, and country; and personally highly courageous - rather unlike one recent Churchill-aping British PM I can think of. Yes I do mean that *&%! Boris.

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    #18

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Anthony McAuliffe was the United States Army general who was the acting division commander of the 101st Airborne Division troops defending Bastogne, Belgium, during World War II's Battle of the Bulge, famous for his single-word reply of "Nuts!" in response to a German surrender ultimatum.

    manifesto88 , U.S. Army Report

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    Forrest Hobbs
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    ""General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language. 'Nuts' was part of his normal vocabulary."" The German ultimatum was quite wordy... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_McAuliffe#%22NUTS!%22

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    #19

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Hannibal crossing the Alps. Rome was not expecting a Carthaginian army to come from that direction especially with elephants. So I guess it's also the biggest "SURPRISE M**********R" of history as well. Bringing elephants didn't help much in terms of military might, but it did show Rome that Carthage could deploy it's most intimidating weapons wherever they damn well pleased.

    Ovaryunderpass , Henri-Paul Motte Report

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    Jrog
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    1 week ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Historically, elephants did jack s**t in military terms, but were an amazing psy-op. It was like bringing a bazooka to a bank robbery... That said, Hannibal lost most of the elephants on the way, well before reaching Italy, and more so on the mountains. The trick effectively worked out only on the Trebbia river, where the few remaining elephants caused commotion. By the battle at Zama during the counterattack, the Romans already had spearmen and trap tactics in place to slay the Punic elephants as soon as they came close to the line.

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    #20

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History America taking over a huge chunk of Mexico and then naming one of that states New Mexico.

    delerpian , TUBS Report

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    talliloo
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    this is one part of american history that so many citizens don't know. the whole 'remember the alamo' is such a crock because of how things actually played out.

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    #21

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History The Mongols were essentially the Borg of the middle ages. They would show up at your city gates with a massive, stinking army of hardened killers and demand that you surrender, be integrated into the Mongol empire and pay tribute. If you didn't do this immediately, they would simply k**l every person in the city, relentlessly and brutally. The Mongols actually had quotas for how many people each member of the army was responsible for killing. It's believed that the Mongol Conquests were responsible for the death of over 5% of the world's population. If you did join the Mongol empire, they were actually pretty tolerant as far as the Middle Ages go.

    hiro11 , Karak-Kyzyl Report

    #22

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History During the Siege of Tobruk, the Australian soldiers would listen to German propaganda they would pick up on their radios, especially someone they named Lord Haw Haw.

    At the start of the siege, he called them to surrender because they were "caught like rats in a trap" and living in the ground, so the Aussies started calling themselves the Rats of Tobruk. As well, the ships that were supplying Tobruk were old at the time and were described as "piles of scrap iron" so were named the Scrap Iron Flotilla.

    The Aussies also pretty much said f**k you to the whole being in a siege thing. They would often have games of cricket going that would only stop during air raids, but keep going during shell fire. They would also go out of the perimeter and sneak into German and Italian camps and steal their artillery and other weapons and would use it against them, becoming known as the "bush artillery"

    The Aussies and Brits then went on to deal the Germans with their first defeat on land and by holding Tobruk, allowed Montgomery to stockpile the tanks and weaponry required for the Battle of El Alamein.

    MiguelHill , wikipedia.org Report

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    Eastendbird
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He was named Lord Haw-Haw by a Daily Express journalist in the UK.

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    #23

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History The reply of the Cossacks, though it is most likely legend. Below is the original response and reply.

    Sultan Mehmed IV to the Zaporozhian Cossacks:

    As the Sultan; son of Muhammad; brother of the sun and moon; grandson and viceroy of God; ruler of the kingdoms of Macedonia, Babylon, Jerusalem, Upper and Lower Egypt; emperor of emperors; sovereign of sovereigns; extraordinary knight, never defeated; steadfast guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ; trustee chosen by God Himself; the hope and comfort of Muslims; confounder and great defender of Christians - I command you, the Zaporogian Cossacks, to submit to me voluntarily and without any resistance, and to desist from troubling me with your attacks.

    --Turkish Sultan Mehmed IV

    Zaporozhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan:

    O sultan, Turkish devil and damned devil's kith and kin, secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight are thou, that canst not slay a hedgehog with your naked a**e? The devil shits, and your army eats. Thou shallt not, thou son of a whore, make subjects of Christian sons; we have no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, f**k thy mother.

    Thou Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-f****r of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, pig of Armenia, Podolian thief, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, an idiot before God, grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our d**k. Pig's snout, mare's a**e, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw thine own mother!

    So the Zaporozhians declare, you lowlife. You won't even be herding pigs for the Christians. Now we'll conclude, for we don't know the date and don't own a calendar; the moon's in the sky, the year with the Lord, the day's the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our a**e!

    - Koshovyi otaman Ivan Sirko, with the whole Zaporozhian Host.

    joellhitt , Konstantin Makovsky Report

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    Janissary35680
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There's a great painting (done 200 years later) depicting this event at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reply_of_the_Zaporozhian_Cossacks

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    #24

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History After years of his fathers torment, Joseph Stalin's son tried to k**l himself in Stalin's house. When Stalin's wife informed him of his son's attempted s*****e by gun, Stalin's comment, loud enough for his son to hear, was "He can't even shoot straight!!"

    Afterwards his son, who was lieutenant in the red army, got captured by the German army in 1941 and when they tried to trade his release for a field marshall of their own. Stalin responded "I won't trade a marshall for a lieutenant.".

    illegallad , Wolfram von Richthofen Report

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    iseefractals
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    When i was in 5th grade, it was the first leg of learning about WWII, which encompassed an entire semester of class. For our big report at the end, we had to pick a prominent figure of the war, write a 5 page report, and also had to dress up as whomever we picked as part of an event for the parents. Parents would then come around and ask the kids questions about who we were supposed to be, what they did during the war and what interesting tidbits we found that weren't common knowledge. I chose Stalin. That was among the tidbits i recounted, dressed as Stalin, complete with russian accent and fake moustache. Stalin....was kind of a d**k, and he hated his kids almost as much as they hated him.

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    #25

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History In 1347 the port city of Kaffa in the Crimea was under siege by the Mongols. The Mongols were forced to end the siege when their forces were depleted by the Bubonic plague. Before withdrawing the commander, Jani Beg, ordered the corpses catapulted over the city walls. The plague spread westward across Europe eventually killing 30 to 60 percent of the population.

    toastie2313 , I. Columbina Report

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    OrangeStripey Hat
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They more likely than not thought the disease was spread through the miasma. The bad smell emanating from the dead bodies.

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    #26

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Roman Emperor Caligula, reportedly had a favorite saying (Oderint dum metuant), which roughly translates to:

    "Let them hate me, so long as they fear me.".

    Electric_Evil , Sergey Sosnovskiy Report

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    Kiki Likes Sweets
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    But we are talking about someone who once declared war against the sea and made his horse a senator. His biggest FU was against sanity.

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    #27

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History So - France basically won the American Revolution against Britain. The best selling APUSH book puts it this way:

    To say that America, with some French aid, defeated Britain is like saying, "Daddy and I killed the bear."

    So - we had promised France that we would not betray their friendship by making a separate peace with England. BUT! England was so eager to undermine the territorial ambitions of France in North America after France had so deviously denied them 13 of their own North American colonies that England offered the new US all the land from the sea to the Mississippi. We took it, and in doing so, helped our enemy (England) screw over our most important ally (France).

    You'd think the Philippines would have seen it coming when we did it to them later.

    iamkuato , V. Zveg Report

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    C Hendrix
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    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Then there's the famous anecdote about when Philip II of Macedonia (Alexander the Great's father) called on the Spartans to surrender by sending the message: if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city”. The Spartans sent back a reply of one word: "If".

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    #28

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History After 100 years of fighting the Carthaginians for dominance of the Mediterranean, the Romans finally conquered Carthage and then evacuated and enslaved the entire population, burned the city to the ground, and plowed over the fields with salt to ensure that no civilization would ever arise there ever again.

    munderwood27 , Christian Manhart Report

    #29

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History When Australians declared war on rampaging emus and slaughtered thousands of them in trench warfare style.

    anon , Guy Kavanagh Report

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    Srinivasan S
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Still the result of the war is declared as Australia lost. So the FU was delivered by emus

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    #30

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History When Arminius led Varus into the trap at Teutoberg forest in 9 A.D. and defeated three roman legions.

    Ptolemy_I , Nikater Report

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    Jesse
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's Teutoburg forest, or Teutoburger Wald in German. His German name was Hermann der Cherusker and he's got a big monument in the middle of said forest. hermannsde...n-oben.jpg hermannsdenkmal-detmold-von-oben.jpg

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    #31

    During the French Revolution, Camille Desmoulins was a journalist who would write news about the revolution. He was also a political activist. He was best friends with Maximilien Robespierre during their. childhood and they continued to be friends in the revolution.

    Until! Robespierre and the CPS were orchestrating the terror, killing anyone who opposed the revolution, even if it was a minor doubt in it. Desmoulins, a journalist does, wrote a humorous news comic series criticising the terror. Robespierre didn't like this. He let the first two issues slide, but upon the third issue he was tired of the series and tried to censor it. He told Desmoulins to burn the issue before it was published. Desmoulins refused and quoted a line back at Robespierre about anti-censorship, a line which came from Robespierre's idol. Robespierre immediately sent his former best friend to the guillotine.

    That's not all, though. He also sent Desmoulins' wife Lucille to the guillotine too for absolutely no reason. Upon discovering this, Camille had a mental and physical breakdown just before being put into the cart to the guillotine. He fought his hardest to escape his fate and save his wife and also probably slaughter Robespierre. Regardless, he failed and was executed. Eight days later, his wife followed him.

    Lucille's mother even wrote a letter to Robespierre pleading him to save his daughter. It went unanswered.

    Thankfully for the people of France, Robespierre was overthrown and killed a little less than four months later.

    PanoramicDantonist Report

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    Orysha
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They didn't kill only people who were against the Revolution, they killed the most radical ones (people who wanted a direct democracy) as well as those who were not radical enough.

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    #32

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Sultan of the Khwarezmia empire was sent a letter from Genghis Khan . The sultan said s***w that, killed all of the members of the envoy crew, around 400.

    Genghis Khan flew off the handle. Rallied the troops, stormed the mid-east with 100,000 troops, and raped the Sultan's entire empire.

    jwil191 , Sayf al-Vâhidî. Hérât. Afghanistan Report

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    Forrest Hobbs
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's not flying off the handle. If you send an embassy, that embassy has to trust that it's got your backing - in those days, that basically meant "I trust you won't kill me because of what'll happen to you if you do". Anyone with any sense knew that if you killed one of Ghenghis Khan's ambassadors, the response would be all-out warfare.

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    #33

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History Andrew Jackson

    He spent his presidency (1829-1837) getting rid of the previous private central bank, The Second Bank of the United States, which he deemed "A den of vipers", only to have another reappear in 1913 and put his face on its $20 Federal Reserve Note as a poetic "f**k you".

    I read this yesterday. Courtesy of /u/leeseer.

    Twiggy199 , Thomas Sully Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Jackson should be removed from the $20. Not necessarily for this but because he was a racist POS.

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    #34

    By 1853 Japan had been extremely isolated for almost 200 years. US President Millard Fillmore wants to trade with Japan, so he tell's his favorite seaman, Commodore Matthew C. Perry, to sail to Japan and act like a giant dbag in the harbor until Japan wants to establish relations. (The diplomatic equivalent of a 1 am "Heyyy r u up?" text)

    Japan opens up and starts getting involved on the world stage, blah blah blah, WWII happens.

    Almost 100 years later, at the signing of the peace treaty between the US and Japan, guess what particular American flag we decided to have on the USS Missouri? The one Commodore Matthew Perry flew on his ship when he sailed into Japan's harbors.

    bromophobic272 Report

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    Janissary35680
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    Premium
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There's even more irony in this story. Half a century (roughly two generations) after being "opened" by the US, the Japanese had industrialized and militarized themselves to the point where they could take on and defeat the Russian Empire in eastern Asia in less than two years (Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905). The war began with *Japan's surprise attack on the Russian Pacific Fleet* at Port Arthur on 9 February 1904.

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    #35

    Alexander Hamilton constantly argued and said s**t without considering the consequences. Eventually, he wrote such scathing pieces about Aaron Burr that he cost Burr the Presidency.

    Burr. Was. PISSED.

    He challenged Hamilton to a duel, and they agreed to meet, but Alexander said he'd waste his shot, as a good Christian.

    One thing you need to understand is how Aaron Burr did everything *perfectly*, and most of all **by the book**. He was a methodical and model citizen, as well as Vice-President (though that was pretty much a nothing job, essentially ceremonial.)

    Alexander was the opposite. Whereas Burr was a rich kid whose father was the Dean of Princeton College (named something else at the time, I believe Queens College), Hamilton was a poor immigrant that argued with established names like Jefferson vehemently. Hamilton didn't give a fuuuck.


    So when they were set to duel, Burr goes for the kill, shooting Hamilton in the belly, which killed him within a day (Alexander had wasted his shot).


    BUT, Alexander had another trick. He had previously written, in secret, about the duel he had to attend with Burr, and how he was going to shoot straight up in the air, (stealing from Drunk History here), "He damned Burr for life, essentially saying how he was a good Christian... and if he's killed then Burr is the a*****e. And so, in the end, Hamilton wins, and he's the one we sing songs about 200 years later."

    EDIT: Burr was more of a d******d previously than I thought. Huh.

    anon Report

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    Dr Jimmy 03
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yep. Haven't seen Broadway musicals about A Burr yet...though this line of conversation might spur somebody to write one.

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    #36

    Not the biggest, but by far my favorite as an American: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_murder_incident

    TL;DR In the Joint Security Area of the DMZ of the Korean Peninsula, U.S. Army officers had been tasked with cutting down a poplar tree in the JSA that partially blocked the view of United Nations (U.N.) observers. Two officers were assaulted and killed by the North Koreans. Three days later, American and South Korean forces launched Operation Paul Bunyan, an operation that cut down the tree with a show of force to intimidate North Korea into backing down, which it did. This show of force included hundreds of security forces, armed bridge charges, armed missiles, helicopters, B-52s, F-4s, F-5s, F-86s, F-111s, an aircraft carrier, and nuclear-capable bombers. Several South Koreans on guard also strapped claymores to their chests. Years later, a US general in charge of the area carved a swagger stick out of wood from the felled tree.

    Resvrgam2 Report

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    #37

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History I recently listened to a podcast about the Franco Prussian War. The French declared war on Prussia and lost. The Prussians then made their way to Paris and occupied the city for however long. They were underestimated and in victory, took Alsace-Lorraine.

    oSHlT , Unknown author Report

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    Jrog
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Again, a bit more complicated than that. The Prussian spent a few decades building up military strength without showing off, and Bismarck even allied with Italy to have an excuse to challenge the Austrian empire in a short war so they could test their army and improve, along with annexing a few German territories. Napoleon III did not expect a worthy enemy, and was living in the ancient myth of the French Armèe being the best in the world, while in reality his infantry, his cannons and even his Old Guard were lagging behind the modern armaments and tactics employed by the Prussians.

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    #38

    At some point in history during the rivalry of France and Britain, the French wanted a faster route to Asia through water so they agreed to make a canal with Egypt. Egypt owning 51% and they 49%. Well the British caught wind of this and sent their navy over to Egypt and poked fun at how the king was living. That his clothes were commoners wear and that his palace was a dump. So the king then bought all sorts of luxurious things in order to live like a king. That then caused Egypt to go bankrupt. Then the British said "You know, we can give you some money if you just sell us that canal of yours." The king agreed.

    TLDR: French build canal w/ Egypt. British want canal. British put Egypt in debt. British buy canal.

    Sandrabor Report

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    Forrest Hobbs
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yeah, only no. The real story is an awful lot more complicated than that and has to do with the canal enterprise itself not making enough money. The Khedive sold his shares to the British government 1875 yes, but that was only 44% of the stock. The British grabbed control by military invasion in 1882. I mean, that's not good or anything, but it's not what the OP said.

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    #39

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History President Reagan firing every air traffic controller in the country when they went on strike.

    Scrappy_Larue , Michael Evans Report

    #40

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History I am too young to see this live, but when Reagan was inaugurated, they did a split screen with the hostages in Iran being freed almost immediately after. It was the biggest f**k you to Carter ever. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Surprise_conspiracy_theory

    "One of the leading national issues during that year was the release of 52 Americans being held hostage in Iran since November 4, 1979.[1] Reagan won the election. On the day of his inauguration—in fact, 20 minutes after he concluded his inaugural address—the Islamic Republic of Iran announced the release of the hostages".

    thatsnogood , Series: Reagan White House Photographs Report

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    talliloo
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    if you dig a bit deeper into this event you will find it was later discovered that reagan had been in contact with iran and had a deal that they would not release the hostages until he was office. carter had been willing to work with iran to their benefit but they still refused. kind of reminds me of the incoming administration the last time they were in power - they would create a crisis, talk about it for a couple of days in order to build some kind of anxiety in the nation and then basically announce they had fixed the mythical crisis.

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    #41

    The Battle of Angincourt - How is this not here already? During the 100 years war, captured English longbowmen would have the first two fingers of their draw hand maimed or cut off by the French to ensure that they wouldn't be a threat again. So it goes, that before the battle, in a statement of solidarity and defiance, the English longbowmen raised their hands in salute to display the first two fingers of their draw hand.

    The size of the battle, the number of soldiers, even the salute isn't the important part. What is, is that this gave us the finger salute, so it has to be, should be, the biggest "f**k you" in history that continues to live on today.

    Maganus Report

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    Cyril Sneer
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Well, it could be this was left off because it is a myth. There is no historical evidence that this was the origin of the reversed V sign. There's also no evidence that the French actually maimed English archers in that way, but merely threatened it.

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    #42

    Well after oliver cromwell died, as he was a lord protector and not a king his title could not just pass to his son when he died. So his title was passed to his son when he died. Luckily richard cromwell was not half the man his little sister was and was told where to go and where he could shove what fairly quickly. Then Charlie 2 comes back from the mainland, and oliver cromwells remains are dug up, put on trial, found guilty of treason was hanged by the neck until he was dead again.

    MuttonChopViking Report

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    Forrest Hobbs
    Community Member
    1 week ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland got his head chopped off for being a twerp. Much warfare made Oliver Cromwell boss of the whole lot. He died. His son Richard ended up taking over, chucked in the towel after 9 months, and Charles I's son got the king job as Charles II. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00002832S

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    #43

    Sometime during the second anglo war (basically Spain and britain vs the dutch)
    The brits decided to block the Dutch's trade routes to Scandinavia.


    The dutch responded by letting Willem de ruijter command a fleet to sail upriver towards London to f**k everything up. Which was easy due to all the brits being at sea. They also stole the head of the royal navy's flagship.


    When the queen of England visits the Netherlands, she still demands the head is taken out of the museum it resides in, because she deems it disrespectful.

    DatAexile Report

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    Corwin 02
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That would be Michiel de Ruyter not Willem, and it was a raid upon Chatham where the English war fleet was docked They also captured the Royal Charles but the ship was deemed to cumbersome for the Dutch Navy (it drew to much water) so they put it up for display and as a museum piece until the English King protested in 1673 that it was "insulting his honour" , so they then scrapped it but keeping the ship's transom showing the royal arms which is now a museum piece. The queen of England visit and subsequent removal is not true at all.

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    #44

    The Bay of Pigs invasion. Shortly after Fidel Castro and his gang took over Cuba they started being buddy buddy with other communist countries. The US didn't like that so the CIA planned an invasion of Cuba to take over and impose their own leader (like they do to many countries unfortunately). There might have been some other bad blood from Cuba basically taking back all their businesses from rich Americans and making them state owned, not sure on that. Also, despite Cuba being friends with Russia and China, they had no intention of attacking the US or anything. They just wanted their country back from a dictator that basically sold all their s**t to rich white people (and rich Cubans too).

    So Fidel and his crew get wind of this invasion and make preparations. When the CIA lands it's a massacre, they lose big time and head home with their tail between their legs. The US was so butt-hurt by this they imposed the embargo that is just starting to be lifted. At least that's how I remember it from the Che Guevara biography.

    PeaTearGriphon Report

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    Corvus
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Che Guevara himself was quite the butcher of innocent people. I always cringe at clueless young people who admire the guy.

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    #46

    The USSR exploding the Tsar Bomba, which had a blast yield of 57 Megatons. It sent the message of "Screw you" to the West, during some of the most heated years of the Cold War.

    Bored_dipper97 Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It could have had a yield of around 110MT but they replaced the planned Uranium tamper with Lead. The Uranium tamper would have made a three stage bomb instead of the usual two stage thermonuclear bombs we all know and love. The Teller-Ulam, design is scalable past three stages. It's never been tested beyond three stages but each stage would likely increase the explosive yield by an order of magnitude. So sleep well knowing that 1000+MT bombs are entirely possible.

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    #47

    Edwin Armstrong, built a better mousetrap with FM radio, when AM radio was the best there was. He was driven to suicide by fights over patents, royalties, and lobbying disputes with the FCC. Despite decades of hard work, and inventing a useful (now widely used) technology: "He died believing he was a failure, and that FM radio would never become accepted." His widowed wife won a lawsuit after his death. The moral of the story: hard work, determination, and persistence, doesn't always pay off.
    https://www.damninteresting.com/the-tragic-birth-of-fm-radio/.

    f0oSh Report

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    #48

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History During the American Revolution, the French came to the aid of the Americans against the British. If that's not the biggest European "f**k you" after almost a thousand years of war, I don't know what else is. "Hey, we're losing a colony and we have to fight back. Wait, whose that sailing after us?".

    anon , V. Zveg (US Navy employee) Report

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    Ace
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    TBF the French and the British were already at war, so although they ended up helping the Americans that was not really the main motivation behind it.

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    #49

    “Created His Own Church”: 30 Of The Biggest “Go To Hell” Moves From History The Germans signing an armistice with France during World War Two. Not only did they single handily beat the French AND British armies, they forced the French to surrender in the same train car that the Germans surrendered World War One in.

    the-Hurtman , German armed forces Report

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    Owen
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They didn't beat the British. That's one of the most well documented things about WW2.

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    #50

    Attila the Hun (or was if Ghentis Khan?) sent a caravan to another empire, they killed them by pouring silver in their eyes. So he finished up his current campaign, and said, "remember when you killed that caravan guys? Now u gonna die." Then he directed the entire empire into killing those poor people and dirverted a river through the capital of the empire.

    OwnagePwnage123 Report

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    #51

    Growing up in America being told to go get a college degree to get a good job only to find out that most companies won't hire someone with just a college degree in there field, instead they hire foreign people with "advanced degrees" (you know, the guys with 3+ master degrees or the guys who just skipped their master and just went for a phd) for cheaper who have the same or less knowledge due to stronger coursework, higher price and more stringent entry requirements in the US.

    stephensplinter Report

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    Tuuli Siljamaki
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Or maybe most companies won't hire college graduates who don't know the difference between there and their.

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