History facts and facts about histories, from the Random Facts shelf.
23 facts on this shelf
Walter Payton had the flu when he broke the NFL record with 275 rushing yards when Chicago played Minn 11/20/77.
Corey Dillon broke this record in 2000 rushing for 278 yards Cincinnati vs Denver (10-22-2000)
The record was then broken by Jamal Lewis in 2003 (295), and again in 2007 by Adrian Peterson (296) against the San Diego (and LaDainian Tomlinson) amazingly in his rookie season.
Augustus Caesar became the emperor of Rome in 27 BC, and he ruled the empire for over forty years. This period of history became known as the time of the "Great Roman Peace" ... In A.D. 80 the Colosseum was finished where battles were reenacted, where gladiators fought, and where crowds were entertained by savage violence entertained by the spectacle of Christians being eaten by lions.
Sometime between 407-411 Constantine III legalized Christianity. Check out this list, it was easier than you think to be emperor, the hard part is staying emperor. http://www.roman-emperors.org/impindex.htm
n AD 404 a tragic event finally put an end to the gladiators. A Christian monk named Telemachus entered the arena in Rome and tried to separate two combatants. The crowd went berserk, climbed over the walls into the arena and tore the monk limb from limb. The Emperor Honorius permanently banned all gladiator contests.
The Romans were also known to sentencing Christians to death by play. In a live play, when it came time for a death scene, the real actor would be replaced by the accused and the execution would be performed live on stage.
yikes
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David; Clubs - Alexander the Great; Hearts - Charlemagne; and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
The Battle of Normandy was the decisive battle of World War II fought in the summer of 1944 between the Allied nations and German forces. The Normandy Invasion, or D-Day, is the largest ocean-based invasions in history with nearly three million troops participating. The battle stretched from the English Channel to Normandy, France in German-occupied Western Europe.
In 1803 the US bought the Louisiana Territory from France for about $15 million. The deal roughly doubled the size of the country.
About 642 million people voted in India's 2024 general election, making it the largest democratic election in human history.
Japan's Kongō Gumi, a temple construction company founded in 578 CE, is one of the oldest continuously operating companies in history.
The Magna Carta, sealed by King John of England in 1215, established the idea that even the king had to obey the law.
France's national holiday on July 14 marks the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789, a key early moment of the French Revolution.
Italy did not become a single unified country until 1861. Before that it was a patchwork of separate kingdoms and states.
Despite the name, the French Bulldog's story starts in England, where lace workers in Nottingham kept toy-sized bulldogs. When many of those workers moved to France during the Industrial Revolution, they brought the dogs along, and the breed was refined into the Frenchie in France.
The American Kennel Club officially recognized the French Bulldog in 1898, so the breed has been part of AKC history for more than a century.
English aristocrats, especially the Earls of Malmesbury and the Dukes of Buccleuch, imported dogs from Newfoundland in the 1800s and developed them into the Labrador Retriever. Their breeding programs essentially saved the breed after the original St. John's water dog died out.
The Golden Retriever traces back to an 1868 pairing of a yellow wavy-coated retriever named Nous and a Tweed Water Spaniel named Belle. Their puppies became the foundation of the breed.
The German Shepherd Dog was created by German cavalry officer Captain Max von Stephanitz. In 1899 he registered a dog named Horand von Grafrath as the first official German Shepherd.
Snoopy, the famous dog from Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" comic strip, is a Beagle, which makes him probably the most famous Beagle in history.
Queen Elizabeth I of England kept tiny "pocket beagles" or "glove beagles," hunting dogs so small they could supposedly fit inside a saddlebag or a gloved hand.
Rottweilers were once called "Rottweil butcher's dogs" because they drove cattle to market and pulled carts loaded with meat for butchers.
German cattle merchants reportedly tied their money purses around their Rottweilers' necks, figuring no thief would be brave enough to try stealing from such an intimidating dog.
The Rottweiler nearly died out in the late 1800s when railroads replaced cattle drives and the dogs lost their main job. Their new careers as police and guard dogs helped save the breed.
The German Shorthaired Pointer was developed by mixing older German bird dogs and tracking hounds with the English Pointer, which added speed, elegance, and a sharper pointing instinct.
Prince Albrecht zu Solms-Braunfels of Germany is credited with helping develop the German Shorthaired Pointer in the 1800s by encouraging breeders to focus on versatility and hunting ability.
The Bulldog was originally bred in England for bull-baiting, a brutal blood sport. After England banned it with the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1835, breeders reshaped the Bulldog into the gentle companion it is today.