Let's Share Memes III

02/02/2021

30/07/2020

11 facts you should have learned about World War I.

The first World War was a global war centered in Europe that began on July 28, 1914, and ended on November 11, 1918. The war lasted four years, three months and 14 days.Before WWII, WWI was called the Great War, "the World War" and "the War tu End All Wars". During the four years of conflict, 135 countries participated in the conflict. More than 15 million people died.
WWI involved some of the most significant powers of the world at that time. Two opposing alliances – the Allies and the Central Powers – were at odds with one another. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his pregnant wife Sophie triggered the start of the war. Ferdinand was the nephew of Emperor Franz Josef and heir to the throne of Austria and Hungary. A Serbian terrorist group, the Black Hand, planned the assassination. The man who shot Ferdinand and his wife, Gavrilo Princip, was a Bosnian revolutionary.
Though the assassination triggered the start of WWI, several causes factored into the conflict.
Alliances between countries to maintain the power balance in Europe were tangled and not at all secure. All across Europe, countries were earnestly building up their military forces, battleships and arms stores to regain lost territories from previous conflicts. By the end of the war, the four major European empires – the Russians, the Ottomans, the Germans and the Austro-Hungarian had all collapsed.
Austria-Hungary took over Bosnia, a former Turkish province, in 1909, which angered Serbia. Two years later, Germans protested against the French possession of Morocco.
US forces joined World War 1 when 128 Americans were killed by a German submarine while aboard the British passenger ship Lusitania. In total, 195 passengers were killed. This put pressure on the U.S. government to enter the war. President Woodrow Wilson wanted peace, but in 1917, Germany announced that their submarines were prepared to sink any ships that approach Britain. Wilson then declared America would enter the war, with the goal of restoring peace to the region. Officially, the war began for US forces on April 6, 1917.
US forces spent less than eight months in combat. During that time, 116,000 US service members were killed in action, and 204,000 were wounded. Overall, 8 million service members died during the duration of the war, and 21 million were injured. A total of 65 million military members were mobilized during the war.
By 1918, German citizens were protesting against the war. Thousands of German citizens were starving because of British naval blockages. The economy in Germany was beginning to collapse. Then the German navy experienced a significant mutiny, which all but quashed the national resolve to continue with the conflict. German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on November 9, 1918, which helps to encourage all sides to lay down arms.
The peace armistice of WWI was signed on November 11, 1918, in Compiegne, France. One year later, the Treaty of Versailles officially ended the war. This treaty required that Germany accept full responsibility for causing the war. The country was required to make reparations to some of the Allied countries and surrender much of its territory to surrounding countries. Germany was also required to surrender its African colonies and limit the size of its standing military.
The Treaty of Versailles also established the League of Nations to help prevent future wars. By 1923, 53 European nations were active members of the League of Nations. However, the US Senate refused to allow the US to participate in the League of Nations.
Germany joined the League of Nations in 1926, but much of the German population was resentful of the Treaty of Versailles. Just five years later, Germany (along with Japan) withdrew from the League. Italy followed three years later. Shortly after, German nationalism gave rise to the N**i party. Some historians argue that WWI never actually ended, only that the conflict paused briefly and that WWII was, in fact, a continuation of the Great War.

28/07/2020

This sub sank because its commander couldn't flush his toilet.
In April 1945, being a German submariner was a dangerous prospect. Allied sub hunters had become much more effective and German u-boats were being sunk faster than they could be built. Technical breakthroughs like radar and new weapons like the homing torpedo were sinking the Germans left and right.

For the crew of U-1206, the greatest threat was actually lurking in their commander's bowels. German Navy Capt. Karl-Adolf Schlitt was on his first patrol as a commander when he felt the call of nature and headed to the vessel's state-of-the-art toilet.

While Allied subs had toilets that flushed into a small internal tank that took up needed space in the submarine, the Germans had developed a compact system that expelled waste into the sea. The high-tech system even worked while the sub was deep underwater.

Unfortunately, the toilet was very complex. By doctrine, there was a toilet-flushing specialist on every sub that operated the necessary valves. The captain, either too prideful or too impatient to search out the specialist, attempted to flush it himself. When it didn't properly flush, he finally called the specialist.

The specialist attempted to rectify the situation, but opened the exterior valve while the interior valve was still open. The ocean quickly began flooding in, covering the floor in a layer of sewage and seawater. The specialist got the valves closed, but it was too late.

The toilet was positioned above the battery bank. As the saltwater cascaded onto the batteries, it created chlorine gas that rapidly spread through the sub and threatened to kill the crew. Schlitt ordered the sub to surface.

The sub reached the surface about 10 miles from the Scottish coast and was quickly spotted by British planes. One sailor was killed as the sub was attacked. The order was given to scuttle the ship and escape. Three more sailors drowned attempting to make it to shore. The other 37 sailors aboard the U-1206 were quickly captured and became prisoners of war.

Luckily for them, the war was nearly over. The sub sank April 14, 1945. Hi**er killed himself April 30 and Germany surrendered May 8.

24/07/2020

Scientists Finally Discover Ancient Blueprints Showing How The Pyramids Were Built

21/07/2020

Gruesome Ways People Were Executed In The Time Of Henry VIII

While commonly associated with the Salem Witch Trials, the act of crushing someone until they perish was nevertheless prevalent during the time of Henry VIII.

Called "pressing," or "peine forte et dure," this method was simple: Place a large plank over the body of the captive, and steadily add weight until they can no longer breathe. While this was also an extremely effective torture method for gaining information from enemies, it was also one of the longer methods of ex*****on, as the added weights were not brought on all at once, but rather slowly, ensuring the prisoners suffered as much as possible.

This led to bones breaking and, eventually, asphyxiation.
Boiling is perhaps one of the slowest (and therefore, most painful) methods of ex*****on.

While most other methods are fairly quick, Henry VIII reserved boiling for the enemies he truly wished to suffer before meeting their fate. In that case, whenever someone was found guilty of poisoning, they would be strung up in a series of pulleys and ropes, hanging precariously above a drum of boiling liquid.

And the "liquid" part of that description is relative, simply because sometimes Henry VIII didn't want to use just plain old water - he would occasionally use tar, oil, acid, wine, and sometimes molten lead to get the deed done.

At the other end of this intricate contraption of death is the ex*****oner, who would slowly lower the prisoner down and raise them back up to psychologically torture them before plunging them into the liquid. And as the victim was lowered, their skin would slowly blister and pop before melting away to destroy the muscles, arteries, veins, and anything else that clung to the bone before turning the would-be poisoner into a bloody soup.
At this point, we're starting to head into the "extremely creative" side of Henry VIII's punishments, specifically with one that easily made the biggest mess out of a human being.

Being burned alive? Your body is going to be cremated into a nice little pile of ashes. Hanged? You're completely intact, so no real mess to clean up there. Boiled alive? Everything is ready to be dumped out from your steaming-hot person-cauldron.

But being drawn and quartered? Let's hope Henry VIII's clean-up crew was on point, because things are about to get very messy.

Typically reserved for those found guilty of high treason, the act of being drawn and quartered is very literally what the human body is subjected to. First, the prisoner was dragged behind a cart from where they were held to where they were executed, then they were hung, disemboweled, and emasculated. Afterward, whether the prisoner was still living at that point or not, they would be chopped up into four pieces, all of which would be displayed in various parts of the country as punishment - and as a warning to others.

Occasionally, however, the "quartering" part of this punishment was relative, as prisoners were often subjected to various mutilations beforehand, such as having a hand or foot cut off before the rest of their body was diced into pieces. On top of that, often the prisoner's limbs would be tied to four horses, each sent racing off in a different direction, which would swiftly snap the limbs away from the torso in a gruesome fashion, rather than be sliced away by an ex*****on's axe.
Like classic jazz standards played by thousands of bands around the world, the act of being burned at the stake is one of the most familiar methods of ex*****on, incorporated by countless leaders and communities over time.

And Henry VIII was no exception. Although there are a few different ways to burn a victim at the stake, either way, they slowly roasted to death.
What might seem to be a run-of-the-mill type of ex*****on is anything but in the world of Henry VIII, as he could pretty much request heads be taken off for no reason.

Although beheadings were often done in private, that is, on the Tower green within the Tower of London, Henry nevertheless sought to make an example out of those close to him so stories of their ex*****on would immediately reverberate throughout the land.

Although many prominent people found themselves on Henry's chopping block, the most famous of his victims is the mother of the great Queen Elizabeth I, Ann Boleyn.

Anne Boleyn herself, who was executed on the Tower green in 1536 after being accused of treasonous adultery.

16/07/2020

16/07/2020

Only a genius can solve this