Unlikely simultaneous historical events

[Harpo]

Sometimes different historical events or things can occur simultaneously, although they would seem incongruous together.

A well-known example is that of Abraham Lincoln and the samurai and the fax machine.

Abraham Lincoln and the Samurai Fax Machine

A popular post claimed that "there was a 22 year window in which a samurai could have sent a fax to Abraham Lincoln."

www.truthorfiction.com

There are many more examples - woolly mammoths were still around when the Egyptian pyramids were built

 

[paranoid marvin]

Good thread. Will be interesting to see what people come up with here.

I suppose one of the more obvious ones is Halley's Comet and the Norman invasion of England in 1066. For some it was a sign of impending doom, for others a sign of impending success. Either way, it made it into the Bayeux Tapestry.

 

[sknox]

My favorite is an old one: who was king of England when Columbus sailed? Well, of course, back then it was, when Columbus discovered America, but we'll let that slide. Anyway, it was a good demonstration to this new grad student of how specializing tended to put knowledge into silos. Most of us knew when Columbus first crossed the Atlantic. The Europeanists, at least, could name who was king of England in 1492. But very few of us juxtaposed the two bits of knowledge.

 

[Brian G Turner]

That reminds me that I've got this book on my Amazon wishlist:

Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe eBook : Norwich, John Julius: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe eBook : Norwich, John Julius: Amazon.co.uk: Books

amzn.to

 

[sknox]

Norwich is usually a good read. That was an extraordinary time; Erasmus famously called it the Age of Gold. ... Er, ok, famous among 16thc historians. <g> Ironically, it was published on the eve of the Protestant Reformation and a century of religious warfare.

 

[sule]

The one that comes to mind for me is that John Tyler, the US President from 1841 to 1845, has a living grandson. He used to have two, but one died in 2020.

 

[paranoid marvin]

That reminds me that I've got this book on my Amazon wishlist:

Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe eBook : Norwich, John Julius: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe eBook : Norwich, John Julius: Amazon.co.uk: Books

amzn.to

There was quite a bit of competitiveness between Henry VIII and Charles. Charles usually got the upper hand, which annoyed Henry quite a bit.

 

[Toby Frost]

Mervyn Peake once illustrated a book by Quentin Crisp, which feels weird somehow.

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

That reminds me that I've got this book on my Amazon wishlist:

Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe eBook : Norwich, John Julius: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe eBook : Norwich, John Julius: Amazon.co.uk: Books

amzn.to

The late 15th century is an interesting period in Europe & the World
1. Christopher Columbus' voyages 1492 departure
2. Jews expelled from Spain 1492
3. Henry VIII
4. Ottoman Empire marches as far north as Hungary and sits waiting to attack Vienna
5. Pope Alexander VI (Borgia) elevated 1492

Meanwhile in Ming Dynasty China -

1494 Yellow River flood: Yellow River floods but Liu Daxia successfully directs the river to flow south of Shandong, stabilizing the course of the Yellow River until the 19th century

 

[Aquilonian]

It has been alleged that Rasputin was badly injured in an assassination attempt on the same day that Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. If Rasputin had not been put out of action for several months while he recovered, he would likely have used to influence to discourage Russian involvement in the First World War.

Another weird coincidence is that both Churchill and Hitler were injured in car accidents within a ten day period at some point in the early 1930s. In both cases they could easily have been killed.

 

[Aquilonian]

Actually for me the most interesting historical "coincidence" is that the founders of several major religions and philosophies were all contemporaries, alive at the same time in different parts of the world. Specifically Zoroaster, the Buddha, Mahavira (Jain religion), Confucius, Pythagoras, and Lao Tzu (Daoism). Also the modern form of Judaism was simultaneously forming during the "Babylonian Captivity" with people like the prophet Isaiah. Mainstream historians' attempts to explain this are very unconvincing.

 

[BAYLOR]

Sometimes different historical events or things can occur simultaneously, although they would seem incongruous together.

A well-known example is that of Abraham Lincoln and the samurai and the fax machine.

Abraham Lincoln and the Samurai Fax Machine

A popular post claimed that "there was a 22 year window in which a samurai could have sent a fax to Abraham Lincoln."

www.truthorfiction.com

There are many more examples - woolly mammoths were still around when the Egyptian pyramids were built

View attachment 98155

There was a remnant population of mammoths on Wrangel Island in Siberia . They survived up until about roughly 4000 years ago , died out because their gene pool was very small , the population became inbred to the point of non viability..

Have you ever read Paris in The 20th Century by Jules Verne? Set in in 1963 , it predicted Automobiles , Fax machines, Subways, electronic music. long haired fashions and homelessness. This particular novel never saw publican in Verne lifetime because his publisher thought it tooo unbelievable. The Manuscript for this one was found in 1989 in a vaunt by one of Jules Verne's descendants.