10 Things History Got Wrong, Part Drei!

A Brief History

On August 4, 1693, the monk Dom Peringnon is traditionally believed to have invented Champagne. This belief is not the case, but many people still believe he did, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Many historical “facts” believed by the general public are simply not accurate. On July 23 and July 24, 2014, we listed 10 such errors. Here we list 10 more common misunderstandings.

Digging Deeper

10. General Short and Admiral Kimmel were scapegoats.

The Pearl Harbor debacle was blamed on the Army and Navy commanders of the U.S. forces in Hawaii, although many people have repeated the idea that President Roosevelt somehow allowed the attack to happen and kept the military in the dark so that the U.S. would be forced to enter the war. In reality there is neither evidence of a conspiracy to allow U.S. forces to be devastated nor any indication that the 2 commanders were denied information; they were simply ill-prepared and negligent.

9. Dom Perignon invented Champagne.

The sparkling wine we know and love may have been invented by a monk, but not by Dom Perignon. As early as 1531, Benedictine monks had documented production of “Champagne,” although Dom Perignon does deserve credit for making improvements in the quality of the wine and its production methods.

8. The M-1 Rifle is the “greatest battle implement ever devised.”

That is what General George Patton said, but that does not make it true. If it were true, why do we not use this weapon today? The answer? Because better ones have been made in them meantime. The M-1 Garand certainly was an improvement over the bolt action rifles used by Germany and our Allies, but its lack of a detachable box magazine kept it from being used longer.

7. Hitler did not use poison gas because he was gassed in World War I.

Although Adolf Hitler was indeed gassed in World War I, how can anyone seriously believe the guy that gassed millions of people in concentration camps was morally opposed to gas weapons? Of course he would have used poison gas, especially against the Russians (Soviets) if he did not fear retaliation in kind. Even the Allies seriously considered using poison gas in both the European and Pacific theaters.

6. The Viet Nam War was fought by draftees.

Well, kind of. Only about 25% of those who fought for the United States in Viet Nam were draftees. On the flip side of that, in World War II (WWII), over 66% of Americans in the military were initially draftees, so the common perception that WWII was somehow a more patriotic time is not quite accurate.

5. Charles Lindbergh was the first to fly across the Atlantic.

No, he was not. What he did accomplish was to fly solo, non-stop, from west to east across the Atlantic in 1927. The previous Atlantic crossings that took place in 1919 had included a non-stop flight in a British Vickers bomber and a flight in an RAF rigid airship, the R34.

4. Thomas Edison invented the record player.

Well, he did invent the phonograph, which used a cylinder covered in tinfoil, but the man that invented the flat disc record player that became the music-playing standard for many years (about 100) was Emile Berliner in 1890. Berliner was a German-American and founded record (gramophone) companies in the U.S., UK, Canada and Germany.

3. George Washington’s wooden teeth.

Washington was perhaps the richest man in the 13 colonies, and wooden teeth would have been ridiculous for such a rich man. His dentures were actually made of ivory and real teeth held in place by gold wires. The ivory? That came from hippopotamus teeth! Oh, he did not cut down a cherry tree, either.

2. African slaves were captured by white slavers.

Black Africans were sold to white slavers by other black Africans. The vision of white Europeans hunting down slaves like animals is false. (The atrocities committed by white slave dealers and owners happened after they bought the slaves.) Black Africans had long kept other Black Africans as slaves before Europeans started buying slaves from them. Additionally, whites have kept other whites as slaves throughout recorded history, and Muslims have historically been the largest holder of slaves, both white and black. Fact is, almost all people have ancestors that were slaves at one point or another.

1. Knights in armor could barely move.

The combination of chainmail and plate armor used by the heavily armed and armored medieval knights of Europe was made to be as light as possible and still be effective. Additionally, the ingenious way it was designed and individually fitted made the mobility of the armored knight surprisingly agile. Demonstrations of modern people dressed up in armor doing cartwheels and other gymnastic moves prove that even when dismounted from his horse and on the ground, an armored knight was not terribly hindered by his armor.

Question for students (and subscribers): Which other historical mistakes would you add to the list? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.

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