Recent surveys show people are less interested in learning about history. But perhaps if the information came in the form of funny memes, for example, it would be an entirely different story.
Enter the History Memes subreddit. All 11 million members and counting share the same fascination with events that happened at least two decades ago. Here, you’ll find visual puns and wisecracks about the German-Soviet pact of 1939, the Russian Revolution, and medieval battles, among many others.
We’ve picked some standouts that may ignite your curiosity or, at the very least, provoke some interest. Scroll through each one, and hopefully, you will enjoy learning a thing or two about significant moments in history.
#1 Great Depression Farmers Were Based
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#2 Habsburg Moment
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#3 Historians Be Like:
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Memes aren’t just about expressing mundane thoughts about daily life. Many educators are using them as a learning tool for students.
In an article for The Learning Scientists, cognitive science expert Dr. Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel explained that memes can provide students with visual and verbal content. Ultimately, this helps strengthen comprehension skills.
#4 Aviation History Is Relative…
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#5 Here We Go Again
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#6 Still Decoded Neanderthal Dna And Got The Nobel Prize In The End
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We tend to absorb information more easily if it is related to daily life. Dr. Kuepper-Tetzel states memes are concrete examples of abstract and complicated concepts.
Memes help extract ideas through the interplay of words and images. This, in turn, helps students understand the subject matter better.
#7 Nothing To See Here…
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#8 Definition Of "Know Your Enemy"
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#9 The Death Of Stalin
In 1953, Joseph Stalin suffered a stroke which would lead to his death. The chance of his survival were very low due to several reasons. “The Doctors Plot” had be occurring for the last two years, in which Jewish doctors in the Soviet Union were falsely accused of conspiring to kill high ranking Soviets. This led to the imprisonment and death of many of the Soviet Union’s doctors. In fact, the KGB were currently torturing Stalin’s own personal doctor. High Ranking Soviets were also very weary of calling any doctors that were left due to the fear that Stalin may accuse them of trying to usurp power or anything really and have them killed or imprisoned if he got better. Basically everyone was kinda sick of him and knew that eventually it would be them on the chopping block. When doctors were finally called, it was too late. Barely anyone dared to even enter his room. When his maid finally did, she found him face down on the floor.
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In a way, memes also encourage critical thinking. To do this, Dr. Kuepper-Tetzel encourages teachers to create memes that allow students to link their knowledge to real-world observations.
In doing so, they explain concepts and break down big ideas using their own words. As Dr. Kuepper-Tetzel notes, elaboration using memes helps the overall learning process.
#10 Maybe, Just Maybe, There’s A Reason They Told You Not To Eat That
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#11 That Weird Time When Women Were Not Allowed To Take Part In Opera And Choirs So They Cut Boy's Balls For That
During much of the XVII and XVIII centuries women were not allowed to sing in choirs and opera. So in Italy boys who showed a lot of singing talent as kids were transformed into "castrati", in other words, they were castrated before puberty in order to prevent their voices to turn deeper so they could play women and characters with higher voices in opera, or be sopranos and mezzosopranos in choirs. In the process of castration many were administred near lethal doses of opium, causing many of them to die in the process.
The last of the castrati was a man called Alessandro Moreschi, who used to sang in the vatican choir. He died in the 1920s, and in fact he recorded himself singing in the early 1900s, leading to the only surviving archives of a castrati.
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#12 It's Just Less Cool Huh
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Educators can use memes in different ways to make schoolwork more relatable to students. High school math teacher Sharon Serano suggests using these eye-catching images to create class rules, learn new vocabulary, dramatize novels, and, as you’ve seen from this list, emphasize historical events.
#13 Plot Armour Is Really Thick Here
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#14 He Had To Ask
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#15 It Really Doesn't Change Much
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As an experiment, Serano encouraged her students to create math memes using their preferred app or website. She was surprised by the turnout, with 38 of her students submitting more than 100 memes.
In her article for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Serano said, “Memes are a great educational device for teachers and students alike to promote clarity, pedagogy, and humor.”
#16 Heart Warming To See Romans Capable Of Love
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#17 I Think They Hoped Everyone Forgot About That
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#18 Always The Same Pattern
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Now it’s your turn to share insights, dear readers. Which of these memes caught your attention the most? Did any of them pique your interest and make you want to learn more? We’d like to hear about them in the comments!
#19 Barrel Man Had The Right Ideas
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#20 Truly Disgusting Experiment
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#21 I Feel So Bad For The Poor People
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#22 The Cruelty Humans Are Capable Of Is Frightening
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#23 Why Everybody Likes Ike
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#24 A Cheap And Easy Way To Boost Worker Productivity
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#25 Happens Too Often
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#26 They Ain’t Getting Away That Easy
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#27 Never Ask Your Fav French Philosopher What Petition They Signed Back In 1977
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#28 Remember Kids, Was Never Cool
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#29 Imamura Hitoshi -- War Criminal
"Imamura was detained at Rabaul by the Australian Army, as he and troops under his command were accused of war crimes, including the execution of Allied prisoners of war. One infamous example highlighted how the prisoners captured in eastern Java were locked up in bamboo cattle cages and thrown overboard into shark-infested waters. In April 1946, Imamura wrote to the Australian commander at Rabaul, requesting that his own trial for war crimes be expedited in order to speed the prosecution of war criminals under his command. Imamura was charged with "unlawfully [disregarding and failing] to discharge his duty ... to control the members of his command, whereby they committed brutal atrocities and other high crimes ...". He was tried by an Australian military court at Rabaul on 1–16 May 1947; he was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for ten years. Imamura served his imprisonment at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo until he was released in 1954. As he found that his imprisonment was too light with respect to his responsibility for the crimes of his subordinates, he had a replica of the prison built in his garden, and he stayed there until his death.
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#30 And They All Had A Great Time Doing It
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#31 That's Really Sad To Be Honest
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#32 It Happened An Uncomfortable Amount Of Times
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#33 It'd Be Like Messi And Ronaldo Fighting To The Death
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#34 It Stood For 300 Years In One Of The Harshest Environments On Earth
Context: The Tree of Ténéré was considered to be the most isolated tree in the world. The tree survived for around 300 years in one of the harshest environments in the world. It resided in the Sahara Desert where it was the only tree around for 250 miles. The tree overcame all odds by spreading it’s roots 100 ft below the surface in order to reach the water table that laid below. It was notable for being a well known landmark for travelers in a harsh and unforgiving environment. It also stood as a testament to the once green Sahara that later became the barren wasteland we know today.
In 1973, a drunk driver smashed into it, snapping its trunk, killing the tree. The driver became known as the man who managed to crash into the only obstacle in miles.
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#35 Spaniards Could Use A Shower
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#36 They Were Just Built Different Back Then
There were several reasons these women chose to ingest an inedible material with dangerous side effects. firstly, pale whiter skin was a much-desired quality. By consuming pieces of clay pots the ladies became anemic because the clay covered their intestinal walls preventing the absorption of Iron. This created the sought-after white completion fashionable at the time as well as ensuring the ladies stayed slim as other essential nutrients were stopped from entering the body.
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#37 What Was The Point Then, Lenin
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#38 They Weren’t All Stupid
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#39 Hook Me Up With More Of That History Of Textiles!
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#40 Chad
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#41 If Only Religious People In My Childhood Knew This
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#42 The "Clean Emperor" Myth
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#43 I Mean C'mon
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#44 They Had Popcorn Ready & Everything
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#45 Still Incredibly F*cked Up Let's Be Real
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#46 It’s Been A Bumpy Ride, But I Would Say Britain And France’s Relationship Ended Up In A Pretty Good Spot, All Things Considered
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#47 Horrifying Thing I Recently Learned
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#48 You Can't Argue With That Logic
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#49 A True Scientist Keeps Experimenting Even In The Last Seconds Of Their Life
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#50 No One Likes Extremist Religious Beliefs
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#51 Not So Casual Inglaterra W
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#52 Game Over No Matter What!
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#53 They Messed Up
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#54 The Coral Sea Incident
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#55 King Albert I Of Belgium
So apparently king Albert I of Belgium frequently flew over the battlefield in an airplane during ww1. He did this every 2-3 days if the weather was good to see firsthand how the frontlines looked. During the final offensive in 1918, when he was overall commander of all Allied troops in Flanders, he also did this to assess the situation. Unnecessary to state that his generals were under extreme stress every time he did this, especially because the Germans frequently shot at him when he was flying above the frontlines and having your supreme commander be in such a vulnerable position isn’t really what you want.
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#56 “I’m Here To Take Pictures…for History”
On April 18th, 1988 the United States Navy launched Operation Praying Mantis against the Iranian Navy in the Persian Gulf in retaliation for Iran placing anti-ship mines in international waters, damaging neutral oil tankers and a US Navy ship.
The engagement was one sided to say the least, and in the midst of the fighting an unknown Destroyer approached the Americans. The ship identified itself as Soviet, and when US Command asked them why they were there the Captain stated in broken English “I’m here to take pictures…for history”.
This being one of the largest naval battles since World War II, it was understandable that the Soviets wanted to take notes on their American counterparts.
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#57 Nice Try, Comrade
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#58 Turns Out Schrödinger Was A Horrible Person
Schrödinger kept a record of his sexual liaisons including children he sexually abused in a diary he called Ephemeridae, in which he stated a "predilection for teenage girls on the grounds that their innocence was the ideal match for his natural genius"
At the age of 39, Schrödinger tutored 14-year-old "Ithi" Junger. As John Gribbin recounted in his 2012 biography of Schrödinger, "As well as the maths, the lessons included a fair amount of petting and cuddling' and Schrödinger soon convinced himself that he was in love with Ithi.
Schrödinger assured Junger she would not become pregnant, and seduced her at 17. She later became pregnant and had an abortion that left her sterile. Schrödinger left her soon after and moved on to other targets.[42] Kate Nolan, a pseudonym used by the surviving family to protect the victim, was also impregnated by Schrödinger amid claims of a lack of consent.
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#59 That's At Least A Couple
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#60 The Good Old Days
Context: After the Ottoman Empire declared their Jihad on the Entente in 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire chose to follow in their tracks to rile up their Muslim Citizens. The Bosnian Ulema was called to Budapest and the Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared a Jihad in the name of the Habsburg Empire and Emperor Franz Joseph, which in the end rallied more Bosniaks up in support of the Central Powers War Effort.
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#61 So Obvious
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#62 Bro Was Playing 4d Chess
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#63 Darker Than You Think
One of unit 731 many experiments was to freeze people then splash them with boiling water they figured out the best temperature for treatment.
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#64 Putting The W In Washington
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#65 Ww2 Espionage Is Wild
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#66 Probably The Most Hollywood Story To Come Out Of Human History
The CIA sent a woman who had previously had an affair with Castro who she alleges impregnated her and drugged her forcing an abortion, she then fled to florida and became an anti Cuban activist where she was recruited by the CIA to assassinate Castro by poisoning his food, after returning to Cuba and re-engaging with Castro instead of going through with the assassination she confessed the plot to him, told him she was in love with him and slept with him.
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#67 Big Brain Time
In March 1814, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia imposed a law that no Spaniard may intermarry with another Spaniard, and that they may only wed mestizos, Amerindians, or Africans. This was done to eliminate any socioeconomic disparities along racial lines, and also to end the predominantly criollo and peninsulare influence in Paraguay.
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#68 That’s One Way To Stamp Out Crime
Context: Vlad the Implaler ruled Walachia (in Modern day Romania) intermittently between 1448 and 1777 (edit: 1477) and had a rather gruesome way of achieving peace for his lands. He impaled people… a lot… and in probably the worse way possible.
(Gore Warning) Vlad found the best way to impale someone was to go in between the legs, all the way up through the body and come out the back of the neck or mouth. This method allowed the person on the stake to remain alive for hours or even days. To make matters worse, the stake would usually be blunt at the end, not sharp, making the precess even more excruciating. He would then litter the lands with these people impaled on stakes, especially around roadways. This way when advancing armies made their way toward him, they faced shear horror as they would be walking through “A forest of Corpses”. Although, that’s not 100% true as a good amount of these people would still be alive and crying in agony.
Vlad enjoyed the practice of impaling so much so that he reportable impaled 20,000 people in just 1 day. You could say the man was an expert in “Psychological Warfare”
This constant reminder of death and what would happen to those who broke the law would deter most crime in Walachia and for Vlad’s rule, crime would remain relatively low. It’s said that the area was so safe, that you could leave gold in the middle of the street all day long and no one would steal it. Local people from that area today generally still regard Vlad the Impalor as a National Hero.
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#69 Culture Shock
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#70 ????
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#71 This Is Why You Look At The Smart Kid In Class
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#72 “Don’t Put This In The Records”
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#73 Building A Whole Navy From Scratch? Easy Peasy
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#74 Eastern vs. Western Ancient Schools Of Thought Be Like:
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#75 One Of The Most Complicated Cases In FBI History
On August 28, 2003, pizza delivery man Brian Douglas Wells robbed a PNC Bank near his hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. Upon being apprehended by police, Wells died when an explosive collar locked to his neck detonated. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into his death uncovered a complex plot described as "one of the most complicated and bizarre crimes in the annals of the FBI.
The investigation determined the plot was masterminded by Diehl-Armstrong to receive an inheritance by hiring Barnes with the money from the bank robbery to kill her father. William Rothstein and Floyd Stockton were also found to have conspired in the crime, but Rothstein died before being charged and Stockton was granted immunity in exchange for testifying against Diehl-Armstrong. Diehl-Armstrong was sentenced in 2011 to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, and Barnes received a reduced sentence of 22½ years in exchange for testifying against Diehl-Armstrong; both died in prison.
Wells' involvement in the plot is a matter of controversy. Investigators concluded Wells was a willing participant in the robbery, but was told the bomb was fake. Wells' family said he was forced to rob the bank by the conspirators
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#76 'merica's National Identity
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#77 Western Resistance In 1945 vs. Resistance In 1945... (Depression)
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#78 Native Americans Didn’t Have Horses Before Europe Came To America
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#79 Once You See This Playing On TV, It's Joever
PyotrIvanov:
Swan lake was played on repeat over soviet broadcasting so they wouldn't report the on the fall of communism. Or at least that is a good way to sum it all up.
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#80 Larry Bird Was A Menace
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#81 Wwii "Super Weapons" Went A Lot Further Than V-1 And V-2
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#82 Great Guy
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#83 We Do A Little Of Side Switching
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#84 Very Ruth Benedict Coded
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#85 How Did The Basques Even Get There?
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#86 Korean War In Schools
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#87 The Ol' Reliable
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#88 Before The Dark Times, Before The Empire
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#89 A Practice We Should Use Nowadays
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#90 Same Happened In Japan
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#91 Japan Being Japan
The "Fugu Plan" was developed during the 1930s by Japanese "Jew Experts" after the Japanese leadership came in contact with the protocols, which they believed to be an authentic document.
The idea was to attract hundreds of thousands of american and german Jews to settle in Japan and “Manchukuo“ by promoting the crackpot idea that Judaism and Shinto are quite similar. By this they hoped to utilize supposed jewish secret knowledge to dominate Asia and influence the US.
In the following years every japanese embassy in the world was instructed to gather intelligence about jewish life in their countries and report on jewish movements. Thousands of jewish refugees arrived in japanese occupied Shanghai.
While the idea of a jewish homeland was increasingly discarded due to the closer relations with Germany, this extremely strange view of things led to the Japanese occupiers in Shanghai treating Jews better than other foreigners and refusing to meet the German demands to create concentration camps for Jews. Although they forced Jews to live in a designated ghetto.
Approximately 24,000 Jews escaped the Holocaust either by immigrating through Japan or living under direct Japanese rule by these completely arbitrary policies - which is of course nice but it’s not a story of humanity as it’s often told and doesn’t change the fact that the japanese worldview was as hostile and deranged as the german one at the time.
Sources:
1.) "The Paranoid Apocalypse - A Hundred-Year Retrospective on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" by Richard Landes and Steven T. Katz
2.) "The Fugu Plan" by Marvin Tokayer and Mary Swartz
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#92 Heracles Wasn't Just About Muscles And Brute Strength
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#93 If Only He Knew What They Would Do
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#94 Least Underrated Vietnam Warfare Tactic
Operation Wandering Soul was a propaganda campaign and psychological warfare effort exercised by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. It was an attempt to increase desertions and defections from Việt Cộng forces and weaken their morale. Like most cultures, Vietnamese culture includes beliefs and rituals that show respect for the dead. Vietnamese culture calls for a proper burial and it is believed that if this does not occur, the soul of the deceased continues to wander the earth thus becoming a "Wandering Soul," equivalent to a ghost or spirit. It is the Vietnamese belief that the dead must be buried in their homeland, or their soul will wander aimlessly in pain and suffering. Vietnamese feel that if a person is improperly buried, then their soul wanders constantly. They can sometimes be contacted on the anniversary of their death and near where they died. Vietnamese honor these dead souls on a holiday when they return to the site where they died. The U.S. used this to their advantage and tried to trick the Viet-Congs into leaving by playing the audio recording of their dead friends wandering around.
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#95 Roman-Chinese Relations Be Like:
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#96 The Difference Between Robbery And Murder
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#97 Every Time Someone Parots This, A Fairy Dies
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#98 You Got To Give The Us Credit For How Insanely Fast They Industrialized
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#99 Thor's Accomplishments Are Nothing To Laugh At, Especially Not The Cat
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#100 Based Cyrus
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#101 The Only Minority Protected By Imperial Japan (Context In Comments)
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#102 Imagine Being The Captain Of The Losing Team
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#103 But Tbh I Would Still Kinda Like To Go There
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#104 How To Outsmart Death, Classic Greek Mythology
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#105 Duality Of Man
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#106 He Literally Predicted Germany’s Fate
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#107 After Every War:
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#108 Truly Abhorrent What Humanity Is Willing To Do In The Name Of Science
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#109 Bad Century To Live In Russia
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#110 Fragging
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#111 Never Forget John Chapman
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#112 Resistance In Stalingrad Resistance Was Slightly Underestimated
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#113 5x5 Miles Island In The Pacific Be Like
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#114 The Nigerian Civil War Was Certainly One Of The Conflicts Of All Time
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#115 Very Different Meanings Across The Pond
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#116 Calling Your Biggest Supporter A Simpleton Might Not Be The Best Idea, Galileo
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#117 Never Knew Japanese Terrorists Existed
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