History class was probably one of my favorite classes. It was so fascinating to learn about the different era, wars, and empires. I loved learning dates and particular historical figures that helped shape different cultures. Being raised in Texas during my early years, we even have a class that’s based solely on Texas History. That’s how serious Texans are about their history, am I right?
Well, that’s debatable but it’s known that Texas is a ridiculously proud state, so that may have something to do with it. Other than that, every time I took a history class, I wrote everything down. In one class, the professor came in on the first day of class and said, “I don’t have any PowerPoint presentations, I just talk the whole time. You’ll have to write down EVERYTHING I say.” Oh boy, I did. That’s the s*it I do like.
As much as that class and the rest of my history classes were ever so informative, there are some bits and pieces of history that classes fail to mention. Maybe it’s because there’s just SO MUCH to try and fit into a course load in just one semester. For the rest of us that want to learn more, there’s always digging through more obscure history books, because there’s plenty out there that we don’t know.
These 19 historians share important events that most don’t know:
1.
Charlemagne’s inheritance as it was divided among his several heirs is huge and no one talks about that. The borders it created shaped modern Europe. The short version is that Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Czech Republic, Northern Italy, Slovenia and Slovakia were all controlled by Charlemagne in the “Carolingian Empire”. After, his son Louis tried to hold it together, only having Aquitaine, Italy and Bavaria fracture off. But after Louis died the whole thing just broke apart, forming: West Francia (which later became France), Lotharingia or The Middle Kingdom (which was based along the Rhine River. It has no modern successor, but set up the historical autonomy of the Low Countries and Burgundy, as well as the often and violently disputed border between Germany and France), East Francia (which would become the medieval Holy Roman Empire and later Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, etc)
2.
The development of high-yield dwarf wheat. That development alone has saved more lives than just about anything I can think of except the sewer system. The primary developer’s name was Norman Borlaug.
3.
The Siege of Mecca in 1979 – it gets overshadowed by the Iranian revolution, but is hugely important in the realms of global jihadism/extremism. Basically, Saudi extremists took over the Grand Mosque in Mecca, as they tried to introduce one of their members as the ‘Mahdi’ – the redeemer who comes before the day of judgement. The whole story reads like a Hollywood film – Saudi forces fail to take back control and then a crack team of French commandos are brought in, they convert to Islam in a hotel room to allow them to enter the holy city, and go in and f*ck shit up and take back control.
4.
I don’t think people realise how important the scramble for Africa was. It gave a platform for smaller European powers to form empires, which in turn, when validified by the Berlin conference in the 1880s, led to a massive surge in Imperialism and Militarism, especially in the brand new nation and empire of Germany. A defensive arms race began, and is arguably one of the main precursors to WW1.
Irvi Torremoro is an Austinite by way of Las Vegas. She's worked in various outlets in food & beverage and is now focused on writing, eating all the things, talking about Beyonce, and petting all the puppies. She runs flavorandbounty.com, a lifestyle blog about people in the service industry.
