Hitler Firing Off

I found this image all over. Anyone know who made it?

Thanks to recent politics, I've been seeing the same myth cropping up over and over. There are several different versions, but each one has the same central core: that part of Adolf Hitler's control of Nazi Germany rested on the fact that he managed to take the guns away from the German people. 

So did he?

Well. No. He didn't. In fact, he did the opposite. 

Elections

I apologize, but I've not written most of this post. 

Mostly because I've been dealing with an attack of the allergies that has left me a whimpering mass of red itchy welts.

It's more than mildly uncomfortable. Especially the backs of my ears.

But since in the US this was election week, I thought I'd share a quick video that has been one of my favorite history videos ever since I first saw it: Attack Ads, Circa 1800.



(And if the embedded video isn't working for you, the link in the title should take you right to the YouTube page proper.)

Bonfire Bright

This one I suspect many (if not most) USians became familiar with the name Fawkes from the character in Harry Potter. I recall one English friend of mine being very surprised to discover that Bonfire Night isn't celebrated in the US. So for those of you who don't know what Bonfire Night is all about, here's a really quick, dirty, rundown:

In the early 1600s, Guy Fawkes was involved in what was called the Gunpowder Plot. It was basically a failed assassination plot to kill James I of England VI of Scotland (the guy who was King of England after Elisabeth I). He was caught on 5 November, and  people lit bonfires in celebration. The tradition continues to this day as Bonfire Night. 

There's a couple things I've heard about both the Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes, that I'll tackle here:

1) Guy Fawkes was a lone conspirator. 

2) He piled barrels of gunpowder in the Parliament basement.

3) The gunpowder was old, so there was actually no danger. 

So are those true?

Fe Lady

The Iron Maiden. Usually this brings up one of two mental images for most people. One's a band.

That's not the one this post is talking about. 

This is about this one:

This is one you'll hear a lot. Medieval Torture Instrument # 1. The Iron Maiden. 

There's only one problem. It's not medieval. 

Wooden Washington

Wooden teeth image courtesy of Japan Times.

One of the more common things I hear when people start talking about myths and George Washington is that they know that Washington didn't actually chop down a cherry tree, and then they  go on to inform me that Washington did have wooden teeth -- occasionally with the elaboration that the teeth were made from cherry wood, and thus the origin of the tree chopping myth. 

So did George Washington have wooden teeth, cherry or otherwise? 

It's like posting First! in comments...

George Washington, by Gilbert Stuart (mostly). 

Ask anyone who the first president of the US was, and they'll either look at you blankly and have no idea, or they'll tell you that the first president was George Washington. 

Ask them when his presidency started, and most people will tell you 1776.

... Unfortunately, that's a myth. George Washington didn't become president until 1789.

Yes, that means there's a 13 year gap between the kick-off of the Revolutionary War / American War of Independence and Washington's presidency. 

So what happened? 

Off With Their Heads

Wikipedia has some of the best pictures. 

The guillotine. 

Most people know a handful of things about this particular device, mostly (I'm guessing) because of its shock value. It's not exactly something one encounters every day.

Most people are able to confidently tell you that: 

1)  It got its name from its inventor, Mr. Guillotine.

2) It's how the French killed people during the French Revolution, after which it fell out of used because of its Revolution connections. 

Well, zero out of two isn't too bad... 

Richard III

For most people, England's King Richard III is a character in a play that was required reading (or viewing) in  High School. With his recent appearance in the news, suddenly Richard III references are popping out of the woodwork. 

From what I've seen (using an exhaustive search of during-my-morning-coffee on Twitter and Tumblr) most people seem to know three things about him.

1) Shakespeare wrote a play about him.

2) He was a hunchback.

3) He murdered at least one kid, possibly two, and they were either his sons or nephews.

Is it bad that I'm so excited that my list was as high as three things about a man who has been ignored for so long?

The Cake is a Lie

Gary Larson, how do I love thee. Let me count the ways…

It’s probably one of the most famous phrases in history: “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.”

Or, as it’s more usually heard in English, “Let them eat cake.” Everyone knows that Queen Marie Antoinette said this famous phrase when she was informed that the population of France had no bread.

Right?

Well, no, not exactly.

Stars, Stripes, and Circles

"The Birth of Our Nation's Flag" by Charles H. Weisgerber

See Washington swooning on the far left.

Everyone knows that Betsy Ross designed the first American flag. She got the job because she astonished George Washington with her unrivaled ability to cut out a five pointed star from cloth (seriously, that’s the lesson I learned in school).

If you’re not a USian, this is probably not a familiar story at all, so lemme put up a version of what an average school history book says:

“George Washington was a frequent visitor to the home of Mrs. Ross before receiving command of the army. She embroidered his shirt ruffles and did many other things for him. He knew her skill with a needle. Now the General of the Continental Army, George Washington appeared on Mrs. Ross's doorstep around the first of June, 1776, with two representatives of Congress, Colonel Ross and Robert Morris. They asked that she make a flag according to a rough drawing they carried with them. At Mrs.Ross's suggestion, Washington redrew the flag design in pencil in her back parlor to employ stars of five points instead of six.” [*] 

And then she sewed it up, and everyone swooned at its awesomeness, and it was the FLAG OF AMERICA.

So there has to be dozens of proclamations, records of the momentous event, and an ancient statue somewhere immortalizing her amazing ability to cut pretty 5 pointed stars and arrange them in a circle.

Well, no. Not really. 

The Midnight Fear of Paul Revere

Ah, Independence Day. A time for all USians to come together and remember the heroes of our country’s founding, and the heroic acts they performed heroically.

Today I’m tackling the ride of Paul Revere. If you’re from the US, you’ve probably heard the poem about him. It starts off like this:

Listen my children and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,

On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;

Hardly a man is now alive

Who remembers that famous day and year.

This was written in 1860, 85 years after the actual ride. I’m pretty sure it was safe to say that “no man who is now alive.” A couple of women might have remembered it though.

Paul Revere by John Singleton Copley, c. 1768–70 

Did you know Revere's day job was being a silversmith AND a dentist?

Few people know all 13 verses of “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”, but most people raised in the US school system know the basics:

1) Paul Revere warned everyone that the British were coming by bravely riding through the night warning everyone singlehandedly.

2) He knew if they were coming by land or by sea because lamps in a lighthouse told him so.

3) He yelled “"The British are Coming!" as he rode along, to warn all of the Americans.

4) He completed his ride Revere rode triumphantly into Concord, having safely completed his journey.

Sounds about like I was taught, and my school couldn't have gotten it that wrong, right?

Ha.

Great Bras of Fire

Look, I’m trying to keep this rated PG here.

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “Bra-burning feminist.” Everyone knows that in the 1960s or possibly the 1970s, feminists were so enraged by men that they ripped off their bras and tossed them into a fire.

Or something like that, anyways. It must have, I mean, it’s referenced in passing in news columns like it’s common knowledge at least. 

There must have been tons of bra burnings, right?

Well, no, not exactly.

The Height of Napoleon

Jack of All Trades -- providing amusingly incorrect history since the year 2000

Let’s face it; everyone knows that Napoleon wasn’t exactly at towering example of height. One might even say he had a Napoleon complex because of his short stature.

I mean, just look at this contemporary 1850 image of him:

James Gillray: The Plumb-Pudding in Danger;–or–State Epicures Taking un Petit Souper, 1805

Metropolitan Museum of Art

It’s not like the British, his mortal enemy, would make stuff up about him, right?

Medieval Witch Hunts

Monty Python. The expert of all things witchy.

Everyone’s heard someone say something along the lines of, “If I’d lived in the Middle Ages, I’d have been burned as a witch.”

Because everyone typically knows two things:

1. The Middle Ages were one big witch hunt, until the Renaissance/Enlightenment arrived and everyone returned to sanity.

2. Witches were burned alive, traditionally at the stake.