Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Break Down Which Major Historical Events Many Folks Don't Realize Happened Around The Same Time

History is fascinating, because while we're busy thinking about important events, sometimes we lose context of how long ago that event actually happened.

We might forget that two important figures in history were alive at the same time, or we might picture an event as if it happened 100 years ago instead of 20.

Remembering the context in which these events happened makes them all the more powerful.


Redditor drichm2599 asked:

"What are two historical events most people don't realize happened at about the same time?"

Diary of a Young Girl

"Anne Frank was born the same year as actor James Hong, who attended the Oscars [this year]."

- CityAbsurdia

Oxford May Be Older Than You Think

"Oxford University is older than the Incan Empire."

- Iknowr1te

"It sounds crazy until you know that the Inca were from late medieval and early modern history, rather than ancient history."

- David_bowman_starman

Galileo at Harvard

"There was a six-year period in which Galileo could have taught at Harvard."

- monkeydo54

Vienna 1913

"Hitler, Stalin, Trotsky, Tito, Freud, and Archduke Franz Ferdinand all lived in Vienna in 1913."

- AdamBombKelley

"So a communist, a socialist, a fascist, and a monarchist walk into a bar..."

- nuclear-launch-codes

"Freud: Clearly all their thoughts dwell on their mothers."

- Guy_with_Numbers

The Guillotine Isn't So Outdated

"The last execution by guillotine in France and the release of the first 'Star Wars' movie took place in the same year (1977)."

- justanotherstr4nger

Meanwhile, 'Toy Story 3' Was Released 13 Years Ago...

"The most recent execution by firing squad in the U.S. took place the same day 'Toy Story 3' was released in 2010."

- ScorpionX-123

The Samurai Address

"There was a 22-year period when Abraham Lincoln could have sent a fax to a Samurai."

"The fax machine was invented in 1843. The samurai were abolished in 1867. Abraham Lincoln died in 1865."

- SnooGrapes2914

Egyptian Civilization

"Wooly mammoths were still around when the Egyptians were building the pyramids."

- BaconReceptacle

"Cleopatra was born closer to the moon landing than to the pyramids being built. By a lot."

- Selith87

"We generally do not appreciate how long the ancient Egyptian civilization was around. Narmer, Pharaoh of the First Dynasty of the Early Dynastic Period, lived over 3,200 years before Pharaoh Cleopatra VII Philopator died, ending the line of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. And there are Pharaohs before Narmer, such as Iry-Hor, a candidate for the earliest person whose name we know."

"Egyptian culture existed for over three millennia, evolving, changing, sometimes enduring massive fractures, collapses, and invasions. Either via conquest or being conquered, they had an uncanny ability to absorb the cultures of other peoples into their own, creating this mutable yet eternal cultural identity."

"The gods of Egypt were old by the time Hatshepsut sent her expedition to Punt. They were even older when Ramesses II fought the Battle of Kadesh. By the time the Roman Republic was founded, they were ancient."

"Ancient Egypt existed for a really f**king long time."

- Nerevar1924

The Dinosaur Timeline

"One that trips me out is that T-rexes are closer to being alive with us than they would be to the Stegosaurus."

“Tyrannosaurus lived 68 - 66 million years ago, and Stegosaurus lived 155 - 145 million years ago. That puts the gap between those two, 77 million years and 66 million years between the Tyrannosaurus and us.”

"Insane, as I always think of dinosaurs being around in the same basic time period."

- Rollotommasi5

Historical Overlaps

"Joe Biden was alive when Nikola Tesla died."

- Shevek99

"Ancient" Civilizations

"The founding of the capital of the Aztec civilization in Tenochtitlan (which would become the foundation for Mexico City a few centuries later) and the beginning of the 100 Years War over in Europe are only about a decade apart (~1325 vs. ~1338)."

"In fact, the major civilizations of the Americas that were ultimately taken down by European conquests and diseases all roughly rose and fell over the course of the 11th through 16th centuries."

"I always find it funny if someone refers to the Incan, Mayan, or Aztec civilizations with words like 'ancient', considering they rose and fell during the same periods as the Mongolian and Ottoman empires, and we don't typically call those ancient."

- rizhail

The Summer of '69

"In 1969 in August Hurricane Camille hit the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the rain storm at Woodstock was part of that storm, and Manson’s group had just gone on the murder spree. The US was as crazy as ever."

- BinxMcGee

So Eerie

"The iconic cover photo of the Beatles' 'Abbey Road' album was taken on the same day as the Manson murders."

- President_Calhoun

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

"Fenway Park opened the same week that the Titanic sunk."

- redsoxsteve9

Kind of Wild

"We are more years in the future from the release of the movie 'Back to the Future' than the movie traveled back in time."

"If we traveled back in time the same amount of years they did, you could still get a VHS copy of 'Back to the Future' in a bargain bin."

- McFeely_Smackup

While we may know these different pieces of history, it's fascinating to think about how they all fit together into the world's timeline. Some of it's interesting, but some of it feels mind-bendingly surreal.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Screenshots from @onavicente's TikTok video
@onavicente/TikTok

Wedding Photographer Reveals The Telltale Signs That A Couple Will Get A Divorce In Eye-Opening TikTok

We've all heard the saying, "When you know, you know."

Sometimes a relationship doesn't go the "normal" or "acceptable" way, like not meeting in conventional ways or not being together "long enough" before marrying, but when a couple knows they're in love, they know.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sabrina Carpenter
Neilson Barnard/The Recording Academy/Getty Images

Sabrina Carpenter Hilariously Perplexed After Misogynistic Troll Makes Bizarre Dig About Her Height

As much as the internet trolls might try to tear Sabrina Carpenter down, all she has to do is meet them with some honest confusion to shut them down.

Carpenter performed at Lollapalooza last weekend, including her award-winning song, 'Manchild,' which calls out a specific man in the lyrics for being self-centered, including the adjectives "slow," "stupid," and "useless."

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @thesecretlifeofdads' TikTok
@thesecretlifeofdads/TikTok

Viral 'Pints And Ponytails' Event For Dads Who Want To Learn How To Do Their Daughters' Hair Is Giving Us All The Feels

Dads have a lot to learn when it comes to raising their kids, and in some case, single dads don't always have the same sounding board for their choices as married couples and co-parents.

This isn't talked about enough, but dads with daughters have the added pressure of learning how to take care of girls, from dressing them to taking care of their hair, which can be a very different experience from raising boys. If they weren't raised with sisters or female cousins, they could be at a total loss for how to approach this.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rogue dancing robot at Chinese hot pot restaurant
@adamcurtisbroll/X

Restaurant's Service Robot Starts Dancing Uncontrollably As Staff Tries To Subdue It—And Everyone Had The Same Response

Another day, another example of the myriad ways AI technology is absolutely not ready for prime time!

The internet is cutting up over a service robot at a California hot post restaurant that went absolutely berserk in the middle of the dining area.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bruno Mars; Taylor Swift
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy; Raymond Hall/GC Images/Getty Images

Bruno Mars Sets The Record Straight After He's Caught Allegedly Liking A Post Calling Taylor Swift 'Talentless'

Bruno Mars found himself facing backlash over an alleged like he gave to an alleged reel about an alleged X post, by the official BTS account, that called Taylor Swift "talentless" according to a celebrity gossip-sharing Instagram influencer who cited an Instagram reel of a reel from a parody account currently only on TikTok.

If that was confusing, it should be.

Keep ReadingShow less