They say history repeats itself. Which means that all of the glorious bravery and stories are constantly serving as examples. It’s why it’s important to learn from history, as they help us navigate our lives, and our civilization. But history also has a darker side… it shows us the mistakes that don’t bear repeating. Those horrible decisions, those stupid mistakes, those idiotic moves that should never be repeated. Learn from these 25 examples, and be wiser for it.
25. Alexander the Great not naming an heir which led directly to the fall of his empire.
24. The 12 book publishers who turned down Harry Potter.
23. Faulty construction leading to the meltdown of the Chernobyl Reactor, the consequences of which are still being counted to this day.
22. The Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor when not a single US aircraft carrier was in port.
21. Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s driver making a wrong turn that led right to the feet of his assassin, Gavrilo Princip. Two World Wars that could have been at least postponed by a Garmin.
20. 14th century China abandoning its navy and pursuing a policy of isolationism. It arguably could have been much more influential than any European power.
19. Some random fool who left the door open to Constantinople, allowing the Turks to conquer easily.
18. Filling the Hindenburg with hydrogen.
17. Falling for the Trojan Horse (if it actually ever existed).
16. Inca ruler Atahualpa agreeing to meet Conquistador Fransisco Pizarro during which 200 Spanish horseman ambushed and defeated 80,000 Inca warriors.
15. Russia selling Alaska to the US for 2 cents an acre because they thought it was a useless tundra.
14. The Dutch discovering Australia 100 years before the British but ignoring it because they thought it was a useless desert.
13. The Persians sending Genghis Khan’s ambassador back to Genghis Khan without a head and bringing the wrath of Mongolia down on themselves.
12. Napolean thinking he could invade Russia in winter.
11. Hitler thinking he could do better than Napoleon.
10. NASA loses a Mars orbiter because part of the team used metric units and the other half used English.
9. Decca Records turning down the Beatles because they weren’t sellable.
8. Not having enough life boats on the Titanic because it was “unsinkable.”
7. It took 177 years to build the Tower of Pisa and only 10 years for it to start leaning.
6. NASA accidentally taping over the moonlanding. In fact, there are no known original recordings of the event.
5. Assassinating Caesar in order to save the Republic and not realizing that the assassination would all but ensure its demise.
4. Thinking that the West Indies was Southeast Asia.
3. Although nobody knows who was responsible, the burning of the library of Alexandria was potentially the world’s single greatest loss of knowledge ever.
2. Not giving Hannibal siege equipment, which lead to Hannibal basically ignoring Rome, which led to Rome basically destroying Hannibal.
1. In 1788 the Austrian army accidentally attacked itself and lost 10,000 men.
Can you believe the one about NASA??? I remember watching that special on Fox a million years ago about how “NASA faked the Moon landing” but never gave it much credit. Let’s just hope we learn from our mistakes when we land on Mars… or maybe have a few extra DVRs running 😉 Source: List 25
