Page 13 - History Facts

Hitler forced the French to surrender on the same site where Germans were forced to surrender in WWI

After Germany's decisive victory in the Battle of France in June 1940 during WWII, Germany essentially occupied France. When choosing the location for France's surrender, Hitler enlisted some poignant symbolism.

The Second Armistice was signed on June 22, 1940 at Compiegne Forest in France. This was the exact sight where Germany surrendered to France in WWI. Since this original surrender was a humiliation for Germany, Hitler saw this as an opportunity for revenge. He even decided to sign the armistice on the same rail carriage where the WWI armistice was signed.

Hitler then ordered the site to be demolished. And the rail car was brought back to Germany as a trophy of war.

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300 hippies once invaded Disneyland and comandeered Tom Sawyer's Island!

Tom Sawyer Island is a Disneyland attraction. While not as exciting as some of the other rides, the island was particularly appealing to some enthusiastic hippies.

These particular hippies were part of a political movement called the Youth International Party (Yippies), who were riding the anti-war, free speech movement of the 60s. They used a lot of theatrical gestures as a way of protesting and making social commentary. For example, they once had a Pig run for president to mock the status quo.

On August 6, 1970, nearly 300 members of the Yippies invaded the island as a form of protest. They hoisted the Viet Cong flag and marched down Main Street. Disneyland responded by calling the riot police. The park closed early for the first time in history.

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Martin Luther King Jr.'s family filed a civil case in 1999, alleging that his assassination was the result of a police/federal conspiracy, and won

Martin Luther King Jr. Was tragically assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. While Earl Ray was charged with the murder, King's family maintained it was a conspiracy.

They claimed that the actual plot involved the US government and that they had just used Earl Ray as a scapegoat. Jesse Jackson, who was with King when he died noted that they had found saboteurs to disrupt the march, and that they had found people on the government payroll who had infiltrated their organization.

In 1999, they filed a civil case based on this conspiracy theory. The suit, which was for wrongful death, alleged that there was government involvement. The family won the case and collected only $100 in restitution. They requested such a small amount to prove that they weren't doing this for the money.

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The Sea of Galilee has a stone structure that scientists are saying is a bigger mystery than Stonehenge!

There is a 32-foot-tall cone-shaped rock formation at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee. It was discovered about 10 years ago thanks to sonar technology. Divers who have gone down to see it since then have found that it’s made of unhewn basalt cobbles and boulders.

Other people have describe it as a stack of rocks piled on top of each other. The structure is massive. It has a 230 feet diameter, which is double that of Stonehenge’s outer circle and weighs up to 60,000 pounds.

Scientists have determined that the structure is definitely human made. It was probably made on land and the rising sea later submerged it. The next steps on this archaeological find is to search for artifacts around it that will give clues as to when and who built it.

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A hundred years ago, people used to wake up in the middle of the night for an hour, then fall back asleep!

Waking up from a deep sleep may seem like one of the most unfortunate thing ever, but people as recent as one hundred years ago would do it purposely! A citizen would fall asleep for a few hours, wake up for approximately one hour, and then go back to sleep for the rest of the night.

Historians have come to a few conclusions as to why this was a social norm amongst every day citizens. Poorer couples would be too tired after field labor to do much more than eat and go to sleep, thus they woke up later to 'do the dirty', if you know what I mean.

Other citizens would use this peaceful time at night to pray, reflect, interpret their dreams which were more vivid late at night than they would be in the morning. Poets and scholars also preferred to do most of their writing late at night, because they would be uninterrupted.

Learn more about this historical phenomenon known as Segmented Sleep by clicking the source!

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