Historical Events That Sound Fake But Are Totally True

There are some life events that make you want to shake your head and say, "This wouldn't even seem real in the movies."

But it's true, life can be crazier than what any writer could concoct.

This can be said about world history.

Some of civilization's bloodiest and nuttiest battles sound like a plot out of a bad Netflix series.

But if we do some deep diving into the past, we will find outlandish truth beyond our comprehension.

It's like watching cop shows and mocking people who spontaneously confess.

We're like, "That would never happen!"

Cut to the lastest Dateline NBC... that's exactly what happened.

Humans are weird.

Redditor kodumonpotti363 wanted to hear all of the far out there truths about history, so they asked:

"What is a real historical event that would sound completely fake if it were part of a movie?"

Plot Points

"Napoleon returning from exile. Seems like something that was badly written into history so the writers would have an excuse to continue the plotline."

- xslvtx

"Yeah, and vast french armies sent out to arrest him only to immediately join him after a short, rousing speech would feel like lazy writing."

- Gwarnage

Napoleon GIF by Sony PicturesGiphy

Oh Jesus

"Hong Xiuquan and the Taiping Rebellion."

"Some Chinese dude failed the civil service exams too many times and had a nervous breakdown. He then had a hallucination telling him he was Jesus's brother and started one of the deadliest civil wars in Chinese history."

- VictorSierra09

"I love teaching about him in class. I teach in the Bible Belt, so I always try to grab my students’ attention by calling him the Chinese brother of Jesus and they’re always dumbfounded lol."

- AverageCollegeMale

"And don't forget that he got that from a Christian pamphlet, he didn't read the Bible when he decided he was Jesus brother."

- Klytus_Ra_Djaaran

Molasses

"Great Boston Molasses flood of 1919."

- wanderingstorm

"What’s seemingly wild about the Molasses Flood is that its effects can still be felt today- It was the impetus for establishing modern construction regulation. The reason we require architects and engineers and inspectors to sign off on everything is all because a bunch of kids drowned in molasses 100 years ago lol.

- fluffy_flamingo

"I remember learning about that in school and then years later bringing it up like it was something everyone learned and getting blank stares and 'that never happened.'"

- cwx149

Crazy Moments

"The leadup to the first world war. So many specific coincidences and every attempt to prevent the war failing in one way or another."

"From Archduke Ferdinand’s driver taking a wrong turn onto the street where Ferdinand’s assassin was having a consolation sandwich, sulking over having failed the previous assassination attempt earlier in the day. To a diplomat having a heart attack and dying moments before signing a document."

"It’s as if the forces of the universe made sure the war would be inevitable."

"What I mean is, not the fact the war broke out, but rather how it wasn’t as straightforward as one might think."

"Or maybe even the christmas truce. We all know it happened, but the fact that enemies who previously shot at eachother met and even played soccer."

- Derolyon

That Guy

"The one unkillable soldier. Literally an action movie protagonist irl. Survived 2 bullets in his left eye in the same charge, amputated a few fingers himself when the doctor refused to do so, survived several plane crashes and castaways, survived the Boer war, ww1 and ww2 and a few more, personally told Mao Zedong that communism is bs, etc."

"https://youtu.be/KzzzI5N9li0?si=nvGmKArAmPNlfY-m"

- mistiroustranger

Sensational

"The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand."

"The failed first attempt, the car taking the route that it did, the car stalling right in front of Gavrilo Princip then the aftermath of that event being so catastrophic."

"It sounds like sensational Hollywood writing."

- FatRascal_

warrior sparta GIF by Assassin's CreedGiphy

Over-the-Top

"In June 1667, Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter led a raid right up the River Medway, near the Thames, and pretty much knocked out the entire English fleet while they were still moored. They even captured the English flagship, the Royal Charles, and sailed it back to the Netherlands. It was such an unbelievable humiliation for the Royal Navy that, if you saw it in a movie, you’d think it was too over-the-top to be real—but it actually happened."

- LockStockNL

The Yamato

"The battle off Samar. A tiny US task force driving off the entire Japanese Center force (which included the Yamato) by fighting so hard the IJN thinks each ship is one class above its actual class (IJN thought the destroyers were cruisers, the destroyer escorts were destroyers, and the light carriers were fleet carriers)."

"The Yamato alone weighed more than the entire US force that entered battle against them. It involves one of the smallest oceangoing US warships getting into a gun duel with an IJN Heavy Cruiser and damaging it so heavily that the IJN scuttled it after the battle."

- bigloser42

Liberation!

"Battle of Castle Itter. American, French POWs and German Wehrmacht solders fought against the SS. Gross over simplification, the SS had a handful of high value French prisoners in Castle Itter. A small American unit went to liberate them before they could be executed. The came across a handful of German solders. They ended up joining up with them to protect the POWs. The 3 groups fought off the SS until more Americans showed up."

- Mountianman1991

No Losses

"There was a famous navy battle just off the coast of the Netherlands where Dutch warships were fought by men on horseback. The French cavalry won, capturing all 14 warships with no losses."

"Even if you factor in the detail that this took place during a record cold-snap that froze the freshwater bay over completely, it's still a pretty outlandish tale."

"Case in point: the details of its authenticity are still being debated by historians, though all records indicate that a total surrender on the part of the Dutch navy did happen - the issue is whether the cavalry actually charged them head-on, or simply went out as a formality to negotiate their surrender while they were stuck in frozen-over waters."

"Either way it's an exceptionally rare occurrance, and one that's been commemorated in paintings and poorly-cited wikipedia articles in the years since."

- sck8000

Taking Sicily

"Operation Mincemeat during WW2."

"British government takes the corpse of a homeless guy, fakes documents and dresses him up to look like a soldier, puts a fake letter in his pocket saying the British will invade Greece and Sardinia, fires him out of a submarine towards Fascist Spain. The Spaniards find the body and tell the Nazi party about the upcoming invasion, so they then move troops from Sicily to Greece. They’re totally caught off guard and the Allies successfully took Sicily, which they used to start the liberation of Italy."

"Totally insane, can’t believe it worked."

- TheIronMaiden13

CHEERS!!

"Two students go to a pub and complain about the quality of the wine - a fight starts and escalates out of control, lasting three days with over 90 people killed."

"The St Scholastica day riot."

- GypsumF18

Thats Bad Oh No GIF by Acorn TVGiphy

Campbeltown

"The St. Nazaire Raid in the Second World War. In short, a bunch of British commandos with balls of tungsten rammed a ship full of explosives into a Nazi dry dock and it blew up the next day while a whole pile of German officers were inspecting the wreckage."

"From an account of the raid - Just before the Campbeltown exploded, Sam Beattie was being interrogated by a German naval officer who was saying that it wouldn't take very long to repair the damage the Campbeltown has caused. Just at that moment, she went up. Beattie smiled at the officer and said, 'We're not quite as foolish as you think!'"

"S**t sounds made up for a big budget action movie, such a crazy read."

- SopranosBluRayBoxSet

Bloody

"When the Irish film Michael Collins included a scene of the British army opening fire on civilians at a GAA match, killing spectators and players alike, some people were up in arms about the director being inflammatory and including needless scenes to demonise the British."

"So we had to open a history book and say: no, no, it happened. There was more than one Bloody Sunday."

- Murky_Translator2295

Tyre

"Alexander the Great approaching the island city of Tyre and deciding 'Screw it, rather than attack an island, I'll just make the island part of the mainland' and building a land bridge to link Tyre to the mainland so that he could attack and take it."

- lastdiadochos

colin farrell alexander GIFGiphy

On the Ice

"Sail of Endurance to Antartica. Ship was stuck on ice, sank and crew stuck on ice field. It took them almost one and half year to walk over ice and sail with small boats to uninhabited 'elephant island.'"

"After that part of crew sailed 1300 km with small lifeboat in roaring in southern storms to small island where there was whaling station. They could not reach side where there is harbor so they hiked over mountains to over 1000 metres of elevation."

"In the end everyone from 28 men survived the trip."

- Federal_Cobbler6647

Was any of this mentioned in our history classes?

I feel like I may have slept through more than I realized.

The truth really can be stranger than fiction.

What other funny history facts need to be discussed?