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

Make us preferred on Google

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The Guillotine Isn't So Outdated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

Martha Stewart on "The Real Housewives of New York"; A vintage photograph of John F. Kennedy Jr.
Bravo; Barry King / Contributor/Getty Images

Martha Stewart Reveals Prescient Warning She Gave JFK Jr. Just Days Before Fatal Plane Crash

The tragic deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and Lauren Bessette were brought back to the public eye with the highly rated, if controversial, mini-series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.

The mini series proved particularly triggering for the multitalented Martha Stewart.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ben Shapiro; Nick Offerman
Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Nick Offerman Epically Rips Ben Shapiro's Homophobic Rant About His Critically-Acclaimed 'The Last Of Us' Episode

Far-right The Daily Wire weirdo Ben Shapiro has made an entire career out of crash-outs about LGBTQ people, becoming one of the main mouthpieces of the right in the process.

And actor Nick Offerman has had enough. In a recent interview he laid into Shapiro, un-fondly reminiscing about what the commentator had to say about Offerman's role as a gay man in The Last of Us.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lisa Demuth
Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images

Minnesota GOP Gubernatorial Candidate's Daughter Calls Her Out For Sounding 'Like Trump' In Shady Post

Shelisa Demuth, the daughter of Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth, called her out for sounding "like" President Donald Trump regarding her views on affordable housing compared to her Democratic challenger, Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Demuth’s daughter, Shelisa Demuth, has clashed with her mother before, particularly after Lisa Demuth blocked a major Senate-approved gun reform package in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Shelisa Demuth is a survivor of the 2003 Rocori High School shooting.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Hank Kunneman
Voice of Revival/YouTube

MAGA Pastor Dragged After Claiming Uncircumcised People Are Trying To 'Steal This Nation' In Unhinged Sermon

Hank Kunneman, a pastor and self-described prophet of One Voice Ministries, went viral after delivering an utterly odd, transphobic, and Islamophobic sermon to his congregation ahead of the midterm elections pledging that he won't let uncircumcised people "steal" the United States.

Kunneman's remarks attracted attention after they were circulated by Right Wing Watch, an organization that tracks far-right extremism in the U.S. According to the Old Testament of the Bible, uncircumcised people are excluded from God's spiritual covenant. The term "uncircumcised" was also used to describe the Philistines, foreigners who did not follow God.

Keep ReadingShow less
Spice Girls attend launch of new musical based on the Spice Girls' music at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel.
Eamonn McCormack/WireImage

Fans Bummed After The Spice Girls Reveal What Their 'Big Announcement' Is—And It's Not A Reunion Tour

Spice Girls fans will tell you what they want, what they really, really want—and apparently, expectations were too high. It all started with a cryptic social media post two days ago that had fans convinced something major was about to spice up their lives.

The video opened with a copy of The Stage newspaper resting across a set of colorful patterned stairs—and the choice of reading material was no coincidence. The same publication famously carried the 1994 ad seeking members for an all-female pop group that would eventually become the Spice Girls

Keep ReadingShow less