Page 116 - History Facts

A 12-year old made a chart showing how almost all U.S. Presidents are descended from King John of England.

A highly ambitious 12-year-old girl named Bridge Anne d'Avignon has been looking into ancestry and lineages, especially going back to English ancestry. She has been working with her grandfather to discover common ancestry among United States presidents. 

The idea of her website is that we are all related in one way or another. What she discovered was truly incredible. Every US president, but one are related back to an English king named King John Lackland. Only Martin Van Buren isn’t related to the English king. 

No other historian has made as many connection as this little girl has made with the help of her grandfather. D’Avignon’s next goal is to get to Washington D.C. She is selling charts like the one she made of the presidents to whoever wants to buy them. She will even sign the first 1000 copies that are bought. It is an amazing source of history with all the presidents in a circle and their lineage. She wants to take the chart to Obama in the White House and have it hung there. 

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Roman dictator Cincinnatus was plowing his field when he was made dictator. He resigned and returned to his farm after 16 days.

Cincinnatus was a Roman senator at the time that he was chosen to be dictator. Some other senators went to see him to inform him of the news. At the time, he was working on his farm and plowing his fields. 

He called out to the approaching senators, asking if everything was all right, and they responded "it might turn out well for both him and his country.” The senators told Cincinnatus that he should go get his senator’s toga. His wife Racilia brought his toga out to him. 

It was only after Cincinnatus had put on his toga that the senators told him that he had been chosen as dictator. Cincinnatus traveled with them to meet the other senators and his sons across the Tiber river. He appointed several leaders as dictator, including Lucius Tarquitius as his second in command. 

Tarquitius was put in charge of the cavalry and Cincinnatus took control of the infantry. They took their enemies by surprise in the Battle of Mons Algidus. Cincinnatus chose not to completely take out their enemy, the Aequi, accepting conquering them as enough. 

After just 16 days, Cincinnatus had won the battle and disbanded the army. He resigned his job as dictator and returned to town.

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There is a website that will map out length and costs of traveling in Ancient Rome!

Ever wondered what it would be like to travel before the invention of Modern technology. Have a random interest in the history and culture of Ancient Rome? Then, you will love the website orbis.com. It is an elaborate website that allows you to examine and learn about travel just as people would have in the time of the Roman Empire. 

The Roman Empire was huge, stretching across three continents. It is estimated that about a quarter of the population of the world was under Roman rule. With such a large span of land and huge number of people under control, it’s necessary to have extensive means of transport from roads to river paths.

Orbis as a website is capable of taking into consideration all of the costs and additional factors that might affect travel in the Roman Empire. What a lot of people don’t realize is the amount of association between different cities has a lot less to do with physical distance, and a lot more to do with the actual cost of traveling that distance. 

Orbis takes into consideration actual historical roads and paths, sea routes, and seasonal factors. Check it out and let us know what you think!

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There are two individuals in the U.S. who have their own zip code: the president and Smokey the bear!

People take Smokey the bear pretty seriously. Smokey gets all kind of fan mail, so much so that he has been given his own zip code: 20252. The president is the only other person (if Smoky Bear is considered a person) to have his own zip code. 

Smokey Bear has had his zip code since 1964. The advertising to prevent wildfires began in 1942. Initially, they used propaganda relating to the war like “Careless Matches Aid the Axis" and "Our Carelessness, their Secret Weapon." 

Starting in 1944, they decided to use animals to advertise wildfire prevention. Originally, they were going to borrow Disney’s character Bambi, who already had the sympathy of people around the nation. They changed their mind, however, using a bear as their new mascot. Smoky the Bear was created on August 9th, 1944. He was named after an Assistant Fire Chief named Smokey Joe Martin. 

His first saying was "Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires," and was created by the artist Albert Staehle. Later, the drawing of Smokey was taken on by Rudy Wendelin. Smokey got his slogan "Remember only you can prevent forest fires" in 1947. 

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Both Sweden and the Soviet Union made plans to develop moose-mounted cavalries!

I’m sure there’s a “Soviet Russia” joke in this fact. How about, in Soviet Russia moose hunts you? Anyways as early as 1869, the Russian zoologist and explorer Alexander von Middendorff wrote to the Tsar’s government about how the moose is an underutilized and unexpected war resource, and suggested that the government invest in domesticating it. 

This idea didn’t go very far at the time, but it resurfaced in the 1930’s Soviet Union. It was suggested that moose cavalry could be efficiently used even in the deep snow. In 1934, the Soviet Government’s Nature Reserve Comittee ordered the creation of moose reserves and breeding centers in support of the effort. 

However, the idea had not materialized by the time WW2 came around, and thus it was swept away. Sweden also engaged and eventually failed in this plan. I guess the moose was just meant to be free.

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