by Kevin Burton
The best fiction writers will have to go some to match these strange-but-true tales, compiled by Dictionary Scoop.
We told five of their stories yesterday. Today we mostly have tales of war, but not always the customary kind. We briefly dip into the cola wars, sort of:
6 The year without a summer
In the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia – the largest in at least 1,300 years – 1816 became known as the ” Year Without a Summer .” The volcanic ash floating in the atmosphere led to climate abnormalities worldwide, resulting in crop failures and widespread famine in the most affected areas.
In Europe and North America, temperatures plummeted and most crops suffered irreparable damage due to the persistent frost. In the United States, a “dry fog” was observed in the eastern regions, dimming sunlight so much that sunspots were visible to the naked eye. Also, the high level of volcanic particles present in the atmosphere caused strange optical effects in the following years, such as strong red hues during sunsets , which can be observed in many paintings produced at the time.
7 Caligula’s War on Neptune
It seems that wars against unusual adversaries are a fashionable trend in human history because the Roman Emperor Caligula declared war in the year 40 AD on no one other than the god Neptune himself, king of the raging seas.
Known for his eccentricity, Caligula allegedly ordered his legionnaires to “attack” the sea with swords and spears , after which he declared victory against the powerful god and told the men to gather seashells as trophies of war. One can only imagine that the soldiers had a fun -albeit puzzling- day.
8 Pepsi’s naval power
In the late 1980s, Pepsi briefly possessed the sixth-largest navy in the world. In exchange for commercializing Pepsi products in the Soviet Union, the company received 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer.
However, the fleet was composed of obsolete and unseaworthy vessels that were destined to be turned into scrap almost immediately. The payment was made in the only resources the USSR could gather easily at the time, and it provided a way to establish profitable international relations – and open up to the world.
9 Followed by the Civil War
The American Civil War started and concluded with a curious connection to Wilmer McLean, an American wholesale grocer from Virginia. The conflict’s first major battle, the First Battle of Bull Run, took place in McLean’s farm in 1861. A cannonball fell directly through the kitchen fireplace of the McLean’s house, which was being used as headquarters for the Confederate Army, destroying the dinner that was being prepared by the stationed officers – something that was noted not without humor by the Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard.
The McLean family moved to Appomattox, Virginia trying to escape the war, but just four years later, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in McLean’s parlor, marking the conclusion of the Civil War. Unintentionally, McLean was a prime witness of one of America’s most defining conflicts. Later, he said of this: “The war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor.”
10 Genghis Khan fought against global warming
Genghis Khan’s vast empire and brutal military campaigns had an unexpected impact on the Earth’s climate. A recent study suggests that the Mongol invasions in the 13th century led to a significant reduction in global carbon dioxide levels, as large areas of cultivated land returned to forests.
This had the unintentional effect of scrubbing as much as 700 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere, roughly equivalent to the global annual consumption of gasoline today. This drastic ecological shift highlights the effect that land use, and particularly deforestation can have on our planet at a large scale.
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