History is fascinating, not least because of all of the disturbing things that have happened.
For example, have you ever heard of Unit 731? It was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in lethal human experimentation and biological weapons manufacturing during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
Biological weapons testing, freezing experiments, and vivisection were commonplace there and for many years the Japanese government did not recognize the horrors that were committed there.
The atrocities committed in Unit 731 were dramatized in the films Men Behind the Sun and Philosophy of the Knife, which, it should go without saying, are not casual viewing. (Seriously. Only for those with strong stomachs who can handle extreme horror films.)
Sadly, Unit 731 is not the first or last disturbing historical thing you'll read about today. People told us more after Redditor MoistPirate6130 asked the online community,
"What are some actual disturbing historical facts that you know?"
"During the construction..."
"During the construction of the film center of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, a scaffolding accident caused 169 construction workers to be buried alive in the wet quick drying cement."
yakuichi
I'll take "Top 10 Things to Never Ask Imelda Marcos" for 1000, Alex.
"The Cambodian genocide killed an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people between 1975 and 1979."
Longjumping_Toe3929
The Khmer Rouge's murder campaign is one of the most effective in recent history. The "killing fields" are visited by thousands of tourists each year.
"During the Iran-Iraq war..."
"During the Iran-Iraq war the Iraqi army laid cables all around the Hawizeh marshes (on the border of the two countries) and affixed them to big generators. When the Iranian soldiers tried crossing the wetlands the Iraqi would simply turn on the generators and the Iranians would drop dead."
"Afterwards they gathered all the bodies, laying them in long rows several layers deep until the top layer was above the surface of the water. Then they sprinkled the rows with lime and covered them in a thick layer of sand. This way they could cross the marchlands with their vehicles. They built roads out of the corpses of their enemies."
GoatintheShell3
The Iranians knew parts of the border with Iraq were heavily mined but lacked the equipment and training to safely remove mines, and doing so would have slowed any advance into Iraq.
So they convinced young men that running in groups across the minefield was the best way for them to support the war effort.
"In the 1950s..."
"In the 1950s the US government dropped “bio bombs” of “non-harmful bacterias” in public areas in order to see how they spread and how safe the people were from bio-warfare. It was called Operation Seaspray. It wound up making people sick."
[deleted]
Gee, I bet that was a surprise.
Not.
"So Governor Ratcliffe (the idiot in the purple suit with the pug from Pocahontas) was killed by the women of the Pawmunkey. They used oyster shells to skin him layer by layer until dead. And they likely let it last given the offenses Radcliffe had done toward the tribes of the area."
Silk_Facadian
Now there's something you don't read everyday...
Creative... and gruesome.
"During World War II..."
"Korean comfort women. During World War II the imperial Japanese army kidnaped thousands of Korean women and girls to be used as slaves."
mermaid_with_pants
Relations between the two countries are still strained as a result.
"People used to eat mummies. And use the ground up parts in paint."
Fillory_Alice
Mummy unwrapping parties were a thing.
Spanish Flu
"The Spanish Flu killed between 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as as many as 100 million people in the 1920s, making it the 2nd deadliest pandemic in the world after the Black Plague."
sagganuts18
Let's just say that as awful as COVID-19 has been that we're fortunate it is not anywhere near as deadly.
"They forced them..."
"The U.S. government took thousands of Filipinos from their homeland in the early 1900s and placed them in a ‘Human Zoo’ in Coney Island, New York for American entertainment."
"They forced them to wear their traditional clothing all the time despite the colder weather, perform dances and even made them eat ‘dogs’ for the audience in order to emphasize that Filipinos are uneducated savages."
FancyExtension704
The same happenend in Belgium during the colonisation of Congo under Leopold II. What horrible history.
Have you lost your faith in humanity yet? We totally understand if you have. Humans are capable of horrible things, as history has shown time and again.
Have some facts of your own to share? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below!
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
