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Given the long history of the world, it’s natural that some stories, facts, and figures are better known than others. At the same time, certain parts of history end up swept under the rug, forgotten, and ignored when they really shouldn’t be. 

A Netizen decided to ask the internet for examples of events and facts from history that don’t really get the attention they deserve. People responded with interesting tales, obscure factoids, and bits of the past that some would prefer to forget. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorite examples, and be sure to comment your thoughts below. 

#1

“Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About I’m American, in my early 60’s, but I hadn’t heard of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre until last year. I mean, we bombed black people in our own city! Just horrible. To people who want to whitewash American history, I ask you this - how is it that we are to form a more perfect union if we don’t admit, analyze and correct our mistakes?

lanky_planky , Tulsa world - [1], Public Domain Report

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    #2

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About The Vatican directly profited off its prior knowledge of the Holocaust by purchasing life insurance companies which served European Jews. After the war, the few people who tried to claim the life insurance were denied unless they could provide full proof of the death. Unsurprisingly, the Nazis did not issue death certificates for the people they murdered so the Vatican kept almost all the money.

    This is thoroughly documented in "Gods Bankers".

    That and the Vatican was (and likely still is) a major player in money laundering.

    mingy , Bjorn Pierre Report

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    #3

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About The residential schools for Native Americans and all of the horrific atrocities. Literally no one with conscience likes talking about it.

    ARatherOddOne , Kavya Kodiya Report

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    Miss Frankfurter
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    🇨🇦It needs to be talked about. They need to be heard. We need to answer for it.

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    #4

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About One of the darker reasons the Western Slave trade gets talked about more than the Arab Slave Trade is due to the fact male African slaves were regularly castrated. They didn't breed slaves like the West did, as it was seen as a sign of opulence that you could just buy a new one. No descendants = No one around to speak of the atrocities. Horrifying.

    Edit: Also just to add more horror to it, it started 700 years before the Atlantic Slave Trade and the practice still survived up until 1960. Now imagine how many victims and potential generations were wiped out over that length of time.

    killingjoke96 , Bluesy Daye Report

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    Ian Webling
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A 2021 estimate claimed there were forty-six million slaves worldwide. Up five million from 2018 and more than at any time in history. While legal ownership of humans has been abolished in every country over the last two hundred years, ninety-four have no laws making it a criminal offence. In these countries, one cannot be prosecuted in a criminal court for enslaving someone. That number stood at ninety-five until 2010 when it became illegal to own a slave in the United Kingdom.

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    #5

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About How the Slave Trade was driven by black africans enslaving and selling other black africans. People are just people, and in large groups people are often utterly horrible to each other.

    driftwooddreams , Tasha Jolley Report

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    Pete jamail
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Other countries complicity doesn’t excuse what our nation did, which was by many metrics the worst in the world. We also continue to cause active harm to them up to the modern day.

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    #6

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About While known about here in Ireland, a lot of British people don't seem to be aware of the atrocities that were carried out under Oliver Cromwell. Church burning, kids and women being locked up in a burning church and just genocide of Irish people. It's insane that some British people will put him up on a pedestal, regardless of the amount of evilness he had.

    Groundbreaking_Web91 , Teo Ruiz Report

    #7

    We treated German prisoners of war better than we treated interned Japanese Americans.

    awfulachia Report

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

    Hard to pretend the USA is an enlightened democracy when you know about the real history.

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    #8

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About The Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire.

    Wolfman1961 , Imad Alassiry Report

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    Miss Frankfurter
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Never happened. Regardless of the vast amount of documentation. Are you 🤬kidding me?The photographic documentation. The personal accounts. The fact that that many human beings just “disappeared” from the face of the earth. WE KNOW THIS HORROR HAPPENED!

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    #9

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About Gandhi, Mother Theresa, and Coco Chanel were actually awful people yet them (or their brands) are still praised to this day.

    neonjewel , Mevlüde Bildirici Report

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    Hamad§
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Coco Chanel was a nazi?! How come we aren't thought this is school when we learn about her

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    #10

    I feel like not a ton of people talk about Operation Paperclip, where nazi scientists were snuck into America with fake identities and employed by the US government. Every time I've brought it up, people havent known what it was.

    Additionally, the long history of medical experimentation and exploitation of BIPOC in America, and just how deep that s**t goes - ex: the torture of enslaved Black women being at the foundation of the field of gynecology.

    Jerfhaus Report

    #11

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About That Noah’s Ark story predates Christianity by a thousand years, possible more. And that Dec 25th was a pagan holiday.

    Relative_Cold_4756 , Tyler Jornov Report

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    TheBlueBitterfly
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Most Christian holidays were some kind of pagan holiday. And most stories in the Bible existed elsewhere long before they showed up in the bible.

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    #12

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About EVERY SINGLE royal family in Europe practiced incest at some point. There was so much interconnection between noble families that at a certain point every nobleman in Europe was closely related to all others. Kings and Queens were basically marrying their cousins since the gene pool was so small. No wonder in the end most nobles were deformed, mentally ill/challenged hemophiliacs. They were inbred all the way.

    Exit-Content , Markus Spiske Report

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    the sixthgirl
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Lordy, I watched a documentary about the Hapsburgs--worst inbreeding since ancient Egypt!

    CanadianaKa
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And yet people still think Cleopatra only succeeded in seducing Caesar and Mark Anthony because she was "beautiful." She was the product of 11 generations of inbreeding. One look at her coins and it's evident.

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    KnightOwl
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Most European royal families are still very closely related, mainly through Queen Victoria. Queen victoria married her first cousin Albert, their kids married distant relatives from other European royal families. Even Queen Elizabeth and Prince phillip were distant cousins (I think they were 3rd cousins) The most inbred royal family were the Habsburgs, they suffered a lot of horrible health issues and deformities because of it.

    Freya the Wanderer
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    King Charles II of Spain was the last Habsburg to sit on the Spanish throne, and he had a laundry list of problems. He may also have been infertile. As the descendent of many generations of inbreeding, and the product of an uncle-niece marriage, he was more inbred than if his parents had been siblings.

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    Moo
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I thought this was something everyone talked about lol...

    Easily Excitable Panda
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle are the first people without royal lineage of some kind to marry into the British Royal Family in several hundred years.

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    Kira Okah
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The War of the Roses was a squabble between two branches of the descendants of Edward III. Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, the descendant of Edmund, Duke of York, upon his victory. Thing is, Edmund was the brother of Henry's ancestor, John of Gaunt. Nice circle going on there.

    C.S. E.
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This page mentions this is uncomfortable facts that people don't like to talk about. I dunno - European monarchist inbreeding is widely known, widely talked about any time one of them is in the news, and ROUNDLY mocked on a constant basis.

    norabest321
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    While this whole concept is icky, incest just has such a more horrifying ring to it ex: childhood sexual abuse/assault by a family member. I think inbreeding is a better choice of words since a lot of these people actually chose each other but didn't grow up in the same households.

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    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It was thought that intermarriages among different countries' royals would prevent wars. We saw how well that worked in1914.

    Allen Packard
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And yet for some reason people actually care about these terrible, terrible people.

    Megan
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This gets talked about all the time... Is there anyone denying it? Also really not that dark in terms of all the bad things royals have done, nor all that extraordinary in history beyond the extent of it.

    The Original Bruno
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Consanguination (marrying cousins) is not incest. Cleopatra, on the other hand, was born of seven straight generations of incest. Some people in her line had only two great-great-grandparents! Consanguination is actually legal in most of Europe, the East Coast (except tiny Delaware and New Hampshire), and California.

    Chris Landrum
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    During WWI the British, German and Russian royalty were all related

    TMoxraaaar
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    When the monarchy was the actual government a lot of the declarations of war written from one monarch to the other often started with greetings like "Dear Cousin Nikki..." and signed "Love Charlie"

    Aisling Raye
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Dr Suzie Edge has a great series on royal family loops on TikTok if you want to kill some time on your Saturday by going down a fun rabbit hole. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT86fHc3o/

    Joe Kerr
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    most werent deformed nor mentally ill nor diseased anymore than the general population... even the famous hapsburgs... its jsut sour grapes attacking the wealthy

    John Dilligaf
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    because it was a way to insure that power and wealth remained in the extended family.

    Carole G.
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Some even sent to asylum. It is well documented. What said you Queen Elizabeth?

    El Cucuy
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you believe in the Bible, all of humanity was created by incest. Adam and Eve were the first two humans and began the human race. That means their children mated with each other, parents mated with their children, etc. etc.

    holly smethurst
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not nearly all of them as many are still closely related today! Queen Elizabeth and Phillip were cousins. Albeit not 1st. The only family in Europe to suffer consequences such as deformities was the Hapsburgs, and Queen Victoria being a haemophiliac was caused by a spontaneous mutation and as she had 3 children had the disease One married a Spanish prince (not related to her and gave her son the gene but he was a carrier) one married a Russian again not related to her and gave her son the disease. So all in all 5 people mother, 3 children and 1 grandchildren had the disease.

    Caramello
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    As Galahad said in, Kingsman, “There’s a reason aristocrats developed weak chins.”

    Kira Okah
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Depends on country laws. Some countries certainly consider first cousin relationships as incest, and children from such relationships can still result in medical problems related to inbreeding.

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    RW
    Community Member
    1 year ago

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    #13

    American support in politically destabilising countries across Latin America.

    remarkable_poetry191 Report

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    Sand Ers
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not just Latin America. Anywhere that the establishment of democratic governments threatened to interfere with the theft of natural resources from underdeveloped countries. Anybody who objects to the islamic dictatorship in Iran needs to know that it is the direct result of the US overthrowing a democratically elected government, and installing a repressive puppet monarchy.

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    #14

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About The US eugenics and forced sterilization program that happened until the 70s. It is also trying to make a comeback if the neo-conservative fascists in the US get power again.

    cyrixlord , Christopher Burns Report

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    Undercover
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We don't speak about the torture that presumed or real mentaly ill people underwent in the past. Rosemary Kennedy for example was subjected to a lobotomy (as countless other people) because her father deemed her behaviour as shameful for his family. Nobody wants to talk about psychology's gruesome past. Especially nobody in the medical field.

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    #15

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About Native American tribes like the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole Nations owned black slaves and were some of the last slave owners in North America. As they were sovereign nations, the emancipation proclamation didn't affect them, and new treaties needed to be made to stop the enslavement.

    TRedRandom , Social History Archive Report

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    Miss Frankfurter
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    When Chief Norma Mankiller was asked about this, the answer was anything but satisfactory.

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    #16

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About The Aztecs were utterly horrific people who did stuff like flay people alive and wear their skins as a form of worship in their religion. When Cortez invaded the reason he was so successful was because the local tribes wanted the Aztec gone THAT BADLY!

    Snowtwo , Justin Ennis Report

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    Libstak
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They raided entire villages and sacrificed them by splitting open their sternum and ripping out their beating hearts, in the hundreds at a time, sometimes every day for weeks depending on the festival or worship they were honouring.

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    #17

    Churchill and India are often not seen together in the best of lights and thats putting it lightly.

    But when the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre happened, Churchill was the one of the only politicians who stood in defense of the victims.

    General Reginald Dyer had ordered his men to fire on an unarmed protest which killed 400 Indians and injured 1000 more. There was a debate in The House of Commons as to what to do with Dyer, as British army personnel were often afforded protections from actions like this and he very nearly got off with it.

    Until Churchill, who was Minster of War at the time, stood to give a speech that condemned Dyer. Stating he should have his employment and benefits of it stripped from him and he heavily implied if it was within his power to do so, his punishment would be more severe.

    Basically implying he would have been happy to see Dyer hanged.

    The Conservative Party was outraged at Churchill for breaking ranks and many of their number said he was a traitor and implied Churchill should be charged with treason. A penalty which carried the sentence of death.

    Churchill's speech did work however and while Dyer unfortunately couldn't be charged more severly due to Army regulations blocking such actions. He was stripped of his employment and benefits that came with it. This was one of the first times an event like this had ended up with a higher up receiving accountability in The British Empire.

    killingjoke96 Report

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    El Dee
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Unusual that Churchill made this speech. He had actively encouraged shooting striking Welsh miners prior to this. The British Govt had a history of this at home and abroad, sending tanks into George Square in Glasgow and killing peaceful protestors and the Croke Road massacre. See also Bloody Sunday and how, despite an admission of guilt over shooting an unarmed protestor in the back who was running away and THEN standing over him and finishing the job, the soldier in question was allowed to walk free with no further trial being allowed. That happened within the last two years. Nothing changes..

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    #18

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About That historians are just as catty and petty as any other profession.. I'd have to dig to find it, but one of my Masters college classes was about the historian perspective over the eras and how they write history or whatever: and the text book really made historical fact become visible as this "thing" that people really have argued about for all time... fact is broken down to perspective... and personal philosophy plays more a part in history writing than you'd like to think.

    EmoVampireDetective , Wendy van Zyl Report

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    Ian Webling
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    As an archaeologist, one of the first things I learned about the past is how much it changes over time according to changes in social beliefs.

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    #19

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About That there were human zoos created by the Europeans and the last one was closed in like the 80s or 90s.

    Apprehensive_Bee7344 , By Official Photographic Company - Missouri History Museum Report

    #20

    I'm a big fan of Franklin Roosevelt and a big World War Two history buff. I think the American accomplishments in logistics and manufacturing were the eighth wonder of the world in the 1940s, and I'm proud of what my country did in the war.

    ...and then someone brings up the Japanese-American internment camps and I'm like, "Oh, yeah...there was also that."

    PaulsRedditUsername Report

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    SkyBlueandBlack
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Because history, and the people, are complicated. People keep wanting the world to be easy to describe, and that is not and never will be how it works.

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    #21

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About When the allies liberated Nazi concentration camps, the homosexuals that were 'liberated' were sent right back to the same camps as it was logistically easier than transporting them to an allied prison. This was because homosexuality was still illegal.

    Tiny_Front , Craig Adderley Report

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    Colin Matthews
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That’s a significant oversimplification. Basically the ex prisoners were so unwell and the infrastructure so damaged that some, not all, prisoners were treated at camp facilities. They were not reincarceratedfor being gay

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    #22

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About Ustashe had torture camp for children operated by the Catholic Church.

    dexterthekilla , Evgeny Nelmin Report

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    H0rny Cl!t Eating Lesbian
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    1 year ago

    This comment has been deleted.

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    #23

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About The Dutch once cannibalized their Prime Minister.

    Space19723103 , Jonathan Kemper Report

    #24

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About Unit 731. At least I don't like talking about it since it's so vile and evil

    my_son_is_a_box:

    Not just that it existed, but that most everyone involved walked free, and the whole thing was kept secret by the US government until the 1980s.

    catonsteroids:

    Definitely not for the faint of heart if you want to know what went on. It’s pure evil, animalistic, barbaric, and absolutely sick, all in the name of “research”.

    nkg_games , Jon Butterworth Report

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    #25

    Canada had prison camps for German soldiers back in the WWII. They were treated so nicely and with so much trust that many of the POW were given jobs outside of the prison, and they always returned voluntary, even if it took more than one day. Some were even trusted weapons for hunting, in front of the guards. The worst punishment they could receive? When the war ended, they were obligated to return home. Imagine having such "nice life" for so long and then having to return to a home destroyed. Many years later, these former members of the German army decided to return to Canada as tourists or even buying land and starting families and businesses.

    TheNRG450 Report

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    Gustav Gallifrey
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Allied and Axis soldiers were interned in neutral Ireland during WW2, if they crash-landed, parachuted, washed up on the shore, or wandered into Ireland. They were all treated well, and friendships between Allied and Axis sprang up, with men from both sides joining in permitted expeditions to local pubs. At the war's end, more than a few from both sides decided to stay on in Ireland.

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    #26

    I tried really hard to think of something a lot of people might not know about, and I came up with the MOVE bombing.

    I live in Philadelphia; I moved here in 2007. And it wasn’t until a few years after that when I moved to west Philly that I’d ever heard of the MOVE bombing. I consider it something people don’t like to talk about, which is why many people have likely never heard of it.

    From Wikipedia “Philadelphia police dropped two explosive devices from a helicopter onto the roof of a house occupied by MOVE. The Philadelphia Fire Department allowed the resulting fire to burn out of control, destroying 61 previously evacuated neighboring homes over two city blocks and leaving 250 people homeless.[3] Six adults and five children were killed in the attack,[4] with one adult and one child surviving. “

    amoryblainev Report

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    Todd R
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And it was a black mayor who authorized the attack on the Move compound. Then they let the fire burn out an entire city neighborhood that was rebuilt at taxpayer expense and the builder did a terrible job.

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    #27

    Patrick B Kennedy - son of John F Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy. Born while JFK was in office and 5 weeks prematurely. He lived only 2 days and is probably one of the biggest reason modern neonatalogy really took off in the United States. Read up on him if you have a chance. It’s good to remember that everyone matters no matter the age.

    StarlightInDarkness Report

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    David A Paterson
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    On the topic of premature babies. It's only a week since I learnt that some 12,000 babies were blinded, most of them in the USA, by the excessive amounts of oxygen pumped into neonatal care units for premature babies.

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    #28

    The Americans don't like when I bring up that the Canadians (I guess they were technically still "British" at this point..) burned down the White House during the War of 1812.

    sp0rkify Report

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    Christian Golden
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How do they react that it was in retaliation for the Americans' burning and looting of the Canadian capital of York sixteen months earlier?

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    #29

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About Modern postural yoga-- the type and style predominantly practiced in Western countries-- is about 100 years old. It was invented in India by Indians and is derived mostly from British calisthenics and Swedish gymnastics. It was specifically marketed to affluent Westerners by Indians as a superior form of spiritual and physical exercise. It's working as designed for its target market. 

    CunningRunt , Avrielle Suleiman Report

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    #30

    European-Chinese relations in the 19th century.

    The opium wars, the partition of parts of china to different European countries, the boxer rebellion, the taiping rebellion, most of the 19th century was china being utterly humiliated by Europe and fragmented which led to utter chaos in the early 20th century.

    Maester_Bates:

    In China they call it the century of humiliation.

    malu_saadi Report

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    El Dee
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Imagine using class A drugs to make money and control a population. Britain did it then and the US did it in the 80s..

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    #31

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About A lot of countries who in the modern day like to wag their finger at how other countries are doing and style themselves as "the best" by various social metrics achieved their current state through war, exploitation and destruction of the environment.

    PckMan , Stijn Swinnen Report

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    El Dee
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Older generations would say, 'if it wasn't for us you'd all be speaking German' But they forgot that we already don't speak our native language because we were already conquered and colonised by an English speaking nation who banned our language, culture and way of dressing..

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    #32

    The slavery practice of coverture. And the slave trade of the Ottoman Empire that continued into the 20th century.

    That was predominantly done to women and children so........pfft unimportant apparently to the topic of slavery.

    VinnyVincinny Report

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    UpupaEpops
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And that quite a significant portion of Ottoman slaves were white. Read up on Florence Baker for example.

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    #33

    Brutality in Australian Aboriginal society pre colonisation

    It was not some dreaming utopia, but the abuse of women, assault, murder, tribal rivalries, are all ignored and any discussion will see you labelled a racist.

    For example - Paleopathologist Stephen Webb in 1995 published his analysis of 4500 individuals’ bones from mainland Australia going back 50,000 years. (Priceless bone collections at the time were being officially handed over to Aboriginal communities for re-burial, which stopped follow-up studies).[15"> Webb found highly disproportionate rates of injuries and fractures to women’s skulls, with the injuries suggesting deliberate attack and often attacks from behind, perhaps in domestic squabbles. In the tropics, for example, female head-injury frequency was about 20-33%, versus 6.5-26% for males. The most extreme results were on the south coast, from Swanport and Adelaide, with female cranial trauma rates as high as 40-44% -- two to four times the rate of male cranial trauma. In desert and south coast areas, 5-6% of female skulls had three separate head injuries, and 11-12% had two injuries. Web could not rule out women-on-women attacks but thought them less probable.

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    El Dee
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I feel like this is going to be the story of most peoples history. Not sure why this is either surprising in any society or racist to talk about - unless you forget to mention that all societies have been like this in their development..

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    #34

    There's almost no archaeological evidence for the Jewish exodus out of Egypt or their slavery therein. Likewise, there's very little contemporary evidence for the existence of a historical Jesus.

    Two of the most defining cultural narratives have scant historical corroboration.

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    Ian Webling
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    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Correction: there is NO evidence for the Exodus. One thing I find amazing that it took forty years to reach the promised land. The total distance was 240 km. A person, walking at 3 km/h for 12 hours per day could walk it that fours days. Waking at a more realistic speed for a heavily burdened person in a desert of 2 km/h for 10 hours per day would take 12 days. I calculated that a snail could make the journey in 19 years.

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    #35

    The Philippines were colony of Spain for hundreds of year and when Filipinos were about to win thier independence on their own, Spain sold the Philippines to US then US acted like saviors.

    Spaniards were pretty racist to Filipinos that they dont bother teaching them spanish for 300 years of occupation.

    US troops setup education camps and thats why Filipinos speak english as a second or third language instead of spanish.

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    Gustav Gallifrey
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    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    On the other hand, there's a saying about the Philippines history under Spain and America: 'five hundred years in a convent, fifty years in a whorehouse'.

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    #36

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About On paper black American men got the vote before white women. In practice, white women got the vote before black men.

    Kafkaja , Edmond Dantès Report

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    gilded panda
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    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    it goes like this back then, rights wise; white man, white women, black man, black women. statisticly, black women have had it the hardest, since they need black rights AND womens rights to do anything

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    #37

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About That US spy agencies hired Nazis to work as spies during the Cold War.

    I learned about this reading a biography of Virginia Hall. It meant that she, as an employee of the CIA, was now working side-by-side with the same men who had tried to disrupt her operations and kill her during WWII. Ms Hall certainly wasn’t the only one put into this extremely dubious and awkward position.

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    BrookeBT
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    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And how many Nazis the US and Russia recruited for their space programs among other things

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    #38

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About The British made the first large-scale concentration camps (for the second Boer war), and although they didn't deliberately try to kill the occupants they also didn't do much to alleviate the awful conditions - particularly in the camps holding coloured people, where 1 in 6 died.

    The vast majority of inmates were women and children - those with male relatives still fighting were given smaller rations as an incentive for their relatives to surrender.

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    Ian Webling
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    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is a divisive topic in White South Africa. While it is true that the British set up concentrations and they were initially diabolical, the atrocities were the result of mismanagement compounded by corruption. After Emily Hobhouse became involved, conditions improved. By later stages of the war, the death rate in the camps was lower than that in Belfast - not in war zone. After the war, Louis Botha, a Boer leader who became Prime Minister, said, "Thank God for the concentration camps." While I am not condoning the creation of the camps - that was done in response to the "scorched earth" policy of the British, an equally odious policy - they were not an attempt - as is often claimed - to exterminate the population.

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    #39

    The allies also committed genocide (bengal) and had concentration camps (Kenya).

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

    History buffs may cite the British camps for Boer civilians, with 30K deaths (a large portion were native farm laborers) as the first concentration camps, or the Spanish camps in Cuba at the same time. But earlier in the 19th C., the US set up camps as they rounded up the Cherokee and other SE tribes in preparation for the Trail of Tears. Deaths in these camps exceeded those on the march itself.

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    #40

    There has not been any point in American history where all men have had the enforced right to vote. At the time of the Revolution, the right to vote (and it was an enforced right) was solely afforded to white, male property owners - about 6% of the population of the Colonies, ~150,000 men. During Reconstruction, the right to vote was given to all men but, obviously, it wasn’t enforced for black men. It’s also worth noting that, in many states, a widow could vote in the name of her dead husband if he’d been eligible. Fast forward to 1920 and women get it, but it isn’t enforced for black women. In 1963, the Voting Rights Act passed, since which all women have enjoyed the enforced right to vote. However, before and after this, some states require men to be registered with Selective Service (the draft) in order to vote, making it a privilege for these men as opposed to a right.

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    Sky Render
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    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And thanks to gerrymandering, votes count for basically nothing in quite a few US states. If you value your faith in democracy, don't read up on what North Carolina just put into law in regards to this ongoing problem of anti-democracy...

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    #41

    One of the last known anti-Jewish pogroms in Poland took place in the summer of 1946.

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    El Dee
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    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    One of the things that the publicising of the Holocaust (because remember this was not generally known by the allies and definitely not by their populations) is that it GREATLY reduced hatred and actions like this against Jewish people. (NB 'reduced') But sadly the lesson learned by society was not that hate was wrong but merely that targeting hate to Jewish people was unacceptable. Nowadays all of the institutions that hated or were at least suspicious of Jewish people have turned this towards Muslims - with no outcry from society..

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    #42

    Augustus lost *two whole legions* at Teutoberg. That’s about 20,000 troops, and that’s terrible

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    Christian Golden
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    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    3 legions: 17th, 18th and 19th. Plus auxiliaries and cavalry sqns. Estimates range between 15000 and 27000 dead, Thanks, Arminius!

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    #43

    Inca empire lasted less than a century, starting in 1434 (around the same time modern printing started), they were conquerors that eliminate other natives for territory, some of this cultures were pretty much erase from history, others did survive and some of their deities and people were adopted by the Incas.

    They also had a "tax system", when most of the crops went to the Inca ("The leader" that was seem as the son of the Sun, a demigod basically) and his family, the leftovers were for the population (contrary to the Aztecas, when it was the other way around).

    When Spanish conquerors arrive (less than 200 men), they received the help from this other natives against the Incas, as warriors or translators.

    Heck, before independence in 1821, many Peruvians were against it, they were forced to become independent from Spain with the combination of argentines, chileans, venezuelans and more.

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    #44

    Switzerland operated a concentration camp for allied POWS during WW2 and treated them massively contradictory to the terms of the Geneva conventions.

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    Ace
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    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Giving it that name is deliberately provocative. As a neutral country Switzerland was not really allowed, and was geographically unable, to return escaped POWs, so housed them in internment camps, as did the Irish mentioned elsewhere in this list and other neutral countries. The Geneva conventions apply to parties in a war, so are irrelevant in this context.

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    #45

    “Unit 731”: 45 Dark Historical Events And Facts That People Don’t Like To Talk About One of the 1st - if not the 1st - cases of slavery in the US was a black man, Anthony Johnson, petitioning the court to keep his indentured servant for life.

    Obiwan_ca_blowme , Rui Silvestre Report

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    Pete jamail
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    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    “Finally! A single unsourced anecdote about a black guy owning a black guy. We’re off the hook everybody, Racism is both sides now!!! - 3/4 American Congress

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