Overlooked Historical Moments That Changed The Course Of The World

The butterfly effect of chaos theory suggests a small butterfly flapping its wings could, hypothetically, cause a typhoon.

Another similar concept is the ripple effect, that looks at how a pebble dropped in a still pond produces ripples that will eventually reach the shore.

Both illustrate the notion that the world is so deeply interconnected that one small occurrence can influence a much larger, complex system.

But are there other, tangible, real world examples?

Reddit user Jfocii asked:

"What’s one tiny, overlooked moment in history that you think changed the course of the world?"

ARPANET E-mail

"Ray Tomlinson's first e-mail over ARPANET in 1971."

"It was the first practical use for the newly developed File Transfer Protocol and predecessor of things that now are known colloquially as the 'internet'."

~ Gourmet-Guy

Mansa Musa's Pilgrimage

"Mansa Musa went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and spent so much money (in gold) that he altered the North African and Mediterranean economies for decades."

~ stateofyou

* Mansa Musa (reigned c. 1312 – c. 1337) was the ninth Mansa of the Mali Empire, which reached its territorial peak during his reign. Often described as the richest person in history, he is known to have been enormously wealthy, described as being inconceivably rich by contemporaries

Rabin Assassination

"I'm actually surprised how little we talk about the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin at the hands of a right-wing Israeli extremist/domestic terrorist."

" Politics around the world have been marching backwards since that moment."

~ aotus_trivirgatus

"And the backstory to the backstory, the root of it all is one rabbi named Meir Kahane. Kahane was an orthodox rabbi from New York who founded the 'Jewish Defense League'—which was a blend of a terrorist group that attempted multiple bombings and his own personal cult."

"Kahane was sought by US authorities for terrorism, so he used 'right of return' to flee to Israel, then started his own political party with his own unique slant on far right-wing revisionist zionism."

"Kahane's party would be disolved by the Israeli government, but the fascist and Orthodox-supremist ideology of Kahanism would become huge."

"His followers would enact not only the murder of Prime Minister Rabin for the act of seeking peace in the Middle East and lasting peace with Palestinians, but multiple other killings."

~ crumpledcactus

Twistlock

"In the mid-1950s, Keith Tantlinger invented the TwistLock locking mechanism."

"He then released the patent royalty-free. Now nearly every object bought and sold on the planet is delivered in shipping containers that are interchangeable and movable because of this interlocking system."

"This is also why I think April 26th, 1956 was the most significant day of the 20th century, and possibly the 21st century as well."

~ renaissancenow

Weinergate

"Anthony Weiner sending d*ck picks to those teenagers. It reopened the Hillary Clinton email case*, and now, here we are."

~ TooOfEverything

"Quick reminder that this was also the third time Anthony Weiner had been caught sending d*ck pics to random women."

"I think that's the most important thing here."

"You get caught once, humiliating your high profile wife, destroying your political career, devastating your carefully crafted good image... So you'd never do it again, right? You'd learned your lesson, and would never be so foolish again."

"No, the f*cker did it again. Got caught again. Humiliated himself and his wife again."

"AND THEN HE DID IT A THIRD F*CKING TIME!!!"

~ SinisterDexter83

"The Weiner documentary is a fascinating watch. He even let them keep filming as his entire re-election campaign (and life) fell to pieces all around him."

~ eulerRadioPick

"Because he's a massive narcissist. That word gets thrown around a lot, but damn if it isn't apt here."

~ imatumahimatumah

* Discovery in the case against Weiner surfaced emails to Hillary Clinton on his laptop. Weiner's then-wife was a Clinton aide. The FBI reopened its investigation of former Secretary of State Clinton's use of an unsecured server for some email correspondence.

Hitler Or Himmler

"The failed assassination attempt of Adolf Hitler on November 8, 1939."

"Things could have been a lot different."

~ MMaxs

"Himmler takes over."

"That would be an even worse scenario."

~ jatie1

"Yeah. Killing Hitler FEELS like it would be a good idea, but it probably would not actually be so."

"The biggest thing that saved the world from the Nazi's was the fact that Hitler was an incredible orator and had a certain charisma that drew people to him, but he was hilariously incompetent as a ruler."

"Removing Hitler from power just opens the door for Himmler to step in, and now the world is facing a Nazi zealot who is actually competent."

~ evil_chumlee

Death Of Prince Arthur of Wales

"Henry VIII not fathering a living son & the Pope refusing to grant him a divorce."

"Yes, there were issues with the church at the time in England, but nothing large enough to drive the English Reformation that happened. It was Henry VIII that really drove it."

"If he had a living son or married Mary off to James V of Scotland, his nephew, when Mary was young enough to have children, everything would have been different."

~ Violet-Rose-Birdy

"Or if his older brother Prince Arthur never died, thus becoming King Arthur, remaining married to Katherine of Aragon so she couldn't become Henry's first wife, and taking the heir pressure off of Henry entirely."

"No Golden Age under Queen Elizabeth I."

"No 'Bloody Mary'."

"No Jane Grey coup."

~ ResplendentAmore

Our 44th President

"We got President Barack Obama because a producer in Hollywood thought Garrett Wang was handsome."

"Not sure how much of this is apocryphal, but the story is that after a few seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, the producers wanted to shake things up a bit. They decided to change the cast a bit, but couldn't decide whether to kill off Kes, a female character, or Harry Kim.

"The story was that some producer decided that Garrett Wang looked pretty good on a recent TV Guide cover [and as one of People magazine's 50 Sexiest People], so the character might still have some life in him. So Kes was written out."

"Since they'd gotten rid of a female character, they decided to add another—a sexy Borg played by Jeri Ryan. She was a huge hit which raised her profile considerably, so when she divorced her husband Jack Ryan it was news."

"Jack then ran for Senate for Illinois and details of his divorce went public and included how he pressured his then-wife to go to sex clubs. Because Jeri Ryan was famous, this was big news, contributing to Ryan losing the Senate primary to a little-known community organizer named Barack Obama."

"All because Garrett Wang took a good picture for TV Guide."

~ Kevin_Uxbridge

Queen Victoria

"The death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in 1818."

"Charlotte was the daughter of George IV and was the last hope for the Hanoverian line and was very popular. After she died in childbirth in 1818, she and her stillborn son were greatly mourned."

"Her death made George IV’s brothers dump their mistresses and many illegitimate children and marry princesses and father legitimate children."

"This lead to a baby being born who would become Queen Victoria, also known as the Grandmother of Europe."

~ QueenLiLi20

"Also, if Charlotte had survived to become Queen, her husband would have become her Prince Consort. If Charlotte had died, but the baby had lived, her widower might have stayed in Britain at least until the boy grew up."

"Instead, Leopold was offered, and refused, the throne of Greece, and then in 1830 was offered and this time accepted the throne of the brand new nation of Belgium."

"So if Charlotte had lived.... no Leopold II personally ruling a huge part of central Africa, inventing new ways to be cruel and creating trauma that still haunts the region. No brave Albert I in the trenches of the First World War."

"And none of the mess Leopold III caused during and after the Second World War. Belgium would have had a different royal family, with their own scandals and triumphs."

~ flodnak

United States 2000 Election

"So it's not the most obscure event ever, but I think Al Gore conceding the 2000 election before the votes in Florida were fully counted sent us down a darker timeline."

"Imagine the progress we could have made on climate change if we had a world leader that took it so seriously 20+ years ago."

~ sunbearimon

Pacific Theater

"At the Battle of Midway, the Japanese destroyer Arashi stayed behind to continue to try and sink the submarine USS Nautilus, which had been harassing the Japanese fleet all morning, while the rest of the fleet sailed on ahead."

"At around 10am the Arashi broke off the attack and started racing to catch up with the main fleet that was now 30 miles away. She was soon spotted by a large squadron of US dive bombers from the carrier USS Enterprise that had miscalculated their original course and were on the edge of having to return to their ships without engaging the enemy."

"The bombers used her to point the way to the main Japanese force and, in conjunction with a squadron from the carrier USS Yorktown that arrived over the Japanese fleet at the same time, the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu just as they were getting ready to launch a major strike."

Even though a 4th carrier, Hiryu, did survive this attack and was able to launch a much reduced counter strike that caused major damage to the Yorktown which led to her being sunk 3 days later, Hiryu was eventually hunted down and destroyed by dive bombers later on that day, completely eliminating the entire 4 carrier strike force."

"If that destroyer doesn’t stay behind, the Enterprise dive bombers don’t find the Japanese carriers in time and they manage to launch a devastating attack on the US fleet and the entirety of the Pacific War is completely altered."

~ SeaEmergency7911

🍻🍻🍻🍻

"Ten thousand years ago, someone (probably) had collected some wild grass seeds in a clay pot that got wet. The seeds began to germinate which turned their starches to sugars."

"The sugary water was soon full of microorganisms. When the person discovered that their seeds had been ruined, rather than throw them out, they decided to drink the contents."

"Thus was born beer, which led to agriculture and eventually modern society."

~ -im-your-huckleberry

United States' Southern Border

"After the war between the US and Mexico, under President Polk in 1848, Polk wanted to take everything down nearly to Mexico City, including all of Baja, and then a line following the geography drawn east from the tip, more or less."

"His representative, Trist, disagreed and proposed a much lighter penalty, and headed to negotiate the terms in Mexico City, while Polk wanted the negotiations to occur in DC. Polk he sent a notice to recall Trist, essentially firing him."

"This being the days of travel taking weeks and being very difficult, the guys sent to recall Trist never found him, and there is some likelihood that Trist actively evaded the notice."

"Trist defied Polk and gave us the current southern border, which he felt was just and sensible. Polk objected but the senate cared less about the southern border and stretches of empty desert than they did about the costs of war and occupation, and they ratified Trist's treaty."

"Had Polk's people found Trist we might have incorporated half of Mexico, nearly everything north of Mexico City."

~ dxrey6

Zzzzzzzz...

"The invention of the snooze button.

~ mav747

Getting Real About War

"One tiny, overlooked moment in history that had significant consequences was the decision by a young, unknown German soldier named Alfred Rinland not to throw away his life on a futile charge during World War I."

"This event indirectly led to the creation of one of the most influential works of the 20th century: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque."

"In October 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, Alfred Rinland was ordered to lead a charge against enemy trenches. Seeing no chance of survival and questioning the senselessness of the order, he hesitated and eventually refused to go forward. This act of defiance saved his life but resulted in him being court-martialed and sentenced to death.

"However, due to the influence of his commander, who recognized Rinland's mental state, the sentence was commuted to ten years in prison. After his release, Rinland became friends with Erich Maria Remarque, sharing his experiences from the war with him."

"Inspired by these conversations, Remarque wrote All Quiet on the Western Front, which provided a stark and poignant anti-war perspective that resonated deeply with readers worldwide."

"The novel was an enormous success, selling over 2.5 million copies in its first year alone and being adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 1930. It played a significant role in shaping public opinion about war and has continued to influence generations of readers and thinkers ever since."

"This tiny, overlooked moment thus had far-reaching consequences that changed the course of history by helping to create one of the most powerful anti-war statements of all time."

~ Ucla_The_Mok

What minor moment would you add to the list?