- History is an important topic that we all learn in school.
Either from our teacher or from that y'know big metal TV
cart that they use to roll into class.
It made us all so happy.
You know what I'm talking about.
But what if I told you that some of the things you learned
about history are rather inaccurate.
This is Myths You Still Believe,
the series all about explaining the truth behind todays
most commenly believed myths.
Today we're going to look far back into the past
and reveal the truth about some of the newly found lies
about the oldest of times.
This is seven historical myths you still believe.
Edison invented the light bulb.
For over a century,
Thomas Edison has been praised for his
incredible inventions.
In fact, with over 1093 patents to his name,
it shouldn't be surprising that some inventions have been
credited to him unfairly.
One of the biggest being the thing that we use everyday,
the lightbulb.
Over 40 years before Edison was even born,
the light bulb was invented by an English scientist
named Sir Humphry Davy yet Edison is the one
who receives all the credit to this day.
This is mostly because Davy's bulb could only last
around 12 hours before the filament broke.
Edison, or more specifically his lab technicians,
found the right filament that would burn for days
which granted was a great achievement.
It's just that the light bulb itself was not his invention,
he simply improved upon it.
Napolean was a dwarf.
Napoleon Bonaparte,
a military strategist and political figure,
rose to power and became a leader for France
during the French Revolution.
Despite his many victories and legendary leadership,
it was widely believe, even to this day,
that he was a little person.
Well, this myth can actually be traced back
to several sources however,
the main one being British propaganda and his nickname
which he acquired early in his military career,
named The Little Corporal.
Suprisingly, this title actually has nothing to do
with his size but instead mocked his low rank when
he was the first to successfully lead units into victory.
In truth,
Napoleon stood about five feet, six inches,
which is in no way considered a dwarf.
Now, that being said of course he wasn't the tallest
of generals but definitely not the shortest.
George Washington was America's first president.
Woo, this one's going to blow some of your minds.
See, while Napoleon was leading
a revolution to liberate France,
the man most consider to be the first
President of the United States was making it well known
that America was not going to get involoved.
However, and get ready for this one,
George Washington was technically not the first president.
(explosion noise)
No. In fact,
the United States in Congress assembled,
appointed Peyton Randolf the first president
during the American Revolution and Washington
was quickly made the Commander of
the new American Continental Army.
Eight years after General Washington's forces defeated
the British, he became America's first
popularly elected president.
The first president under the new Constitution,
yes, but in actuality he was the 15th president
to lead the United States.
Viking wore horned helmets.
The idea that Vikings,
a battle hardened group that practice
more strategy than you might think,
would wear such a ridiculous thing into battle is completely
false despite what most of us thought all of these years.
In reality,
horns on a helmet would simply give the enemy something
to aim for when trying to knock the head protection
off of the Viking or when trying to grab something
to pull the warrior down.
No, actually archaeological evidence indicates that
most Vikings went bare-headed or wore leather head gear,
sometimes reinforced with wood.
A probable source of this myth is found in romanticized
versions of Viking art work that appeared
around the mid 17th century to 18th century
and was popularized in the 19th century.
The USA became independent on July 4th, 1776.
Once again America,
get ready to have your world rattled.
When the night sky lights up next 4th of July,
remember what you're actually celebrating America.
Now while it is definitely true that the
Declaration of Independence was signed by the
Founding Fathers of the United States on July 4, 1776,
the war actually lasted another seven years.
The truth is,
independence was officially won from England
on September 3, 1783, when British King George III
and US leaders signed the definitive Treaty of Peace.
This truly marked the beginning of a free America
and what's celebrated on July 4th isn't the official day
of true freedom but instead the anniversary of
the Declaration of Independence being signed.
Witches were burned at the Salem Witch Trials.
Modern pop-culture has given life to this myth.
During the Salem Witch Trials of 1692,
over 150 people were arrested under the ignorant suspicion
of being a user of dark magic.
Of them,
31 were tried and 20 were executed.
Also, of the 31 who were tried,
six of them were actually men.
While movies and dark novels will tell you
about witches being tied to large trunks
and burned as they stood there screaming
this was actually not the method of execution.
The witches were actually all hanged,
except for one who was crushed to death with heavy rocks.
Ouchy!
Columbus first claimed that the Earth was round.
When Christopher Columbus set sail on the first of his
four voyages from Spain on August 3, 1492,
his intention was exploration,
not a science exposition to prove the shape of the Earth.
In fact,
it was the ancient Greeks who were among the first
to claim that the world was round,
so by the 15th century there was barely anyone who
still believed that the world was flat,
though Columbus actually believe it to be pear shaped
This myth was created by author Washington Irving,
over 500 years after the discovery of America.
Irving's biography of Columbus twisted the motives
for his journey in an attempt to prove to sceptical royalty
that they were wrong about the world being flat
and that falsehood is still widely believed to this day.
And now you're just a little bit smarter!
Take these to your history teacher.
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