History is a fascinating subject. The history of us humans spans over 300,000 years, and it’s been marked by victories, tragedies, and all other kinds of drama.
But history happens all over the world, and some events capture the interest of history buffs more than others. Recently, enthusiasts shared their fixations after one netizen asked: “What is the one event in history you’re obsessed with and can’t stop researching?”
The answers ranged from events in 16th century England to the present decade. So, if you’re prone to going the rabbit hole of history, be warned: the entries in this thread might cause an involuntary obsession.
- Read More: 40 Historical Events That Are So Interesting People Read And Look Up Everything They Can About Them
#1
The persecution and extermination of native Americans, and the annexation of their lands by the US government. Probably the most shameful chapter of US history and most people don’t even know about it.
Image credits: KnittedParsnip
#2
The Bronze Age Collapse.
Around 1200 BC, every sophisticated culture around the Mediterrean fell apart. The Greeks, the Hittites, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, everyone. They were either completely wiped out or decimated to the point where it would take centuries to recover.
No one knows exactly what happened, but there are vague references to “sea people” and famines and droughts. The Iliad and the Exodus may both be a twisted race memory of this event.
Image credits: solo1y
#3
The last Russian royal family— Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexis. From incredible privilege to violent extinction, they were a loving but tragic family overtaken by extraordinary circumstances. There are so many family photos, written accounts (including their own letters) and official portraits to view, you really get a sense of them as people. I started reading about them in the 80s, long before their remains were found. It was one of the biggest historical mysteries back then. I always wonder why Nicholas didn’t at least get the girls out while there was still a chance.
Image credits: PinkRoseBouquet
#4
Might be a little too recent but January 6th and the massive parade of fraud and incompetence that lead to it and followed it.
I have no idea why it’s not a bigger deal to the average American. Also I can’t help but wonder what would have happened or where we’d be if one Democrat failed to evacuate.
Image credits: Mrchristopherrr
#5
Pompeii.
Image credits: RainyDaysareLovely
#6
As an ExMormon, Mormonism. I can’t believe how incorrect I was about what I claimed to believe for three decades.
Image credits: Strong_Attorney_8646
#7
Krakatoa eruption.. absolutely huge. One of the loudest sounds ever heard, massive Tsunamis, ash filled the sky around the world for years causing red sunsets and darkness. Global temperatures dropped.
Image credits: gatvolkak
#8
The disappearance of the Roanoake colony.
Delaneybuffett:
I just watched some history clips on YouTube saying they have solved what happened to the colony. I want to read up to see if what they say is true. They said the colony basically split up, part combined with a local Indian tribe on Croatoan island ( which is now known as Hatteras. Other members went inland. Supposedly they have found pottery and skeletal remains to confirm these theories. Again, not saying it’s 100% solved just interesting and something I want to read more on
Image credits: Blu_Spirit
#9
The story of the Uruguayan rugby team that crashed in the Andes and was stuck there for 2 months. The details are mind boggling.
Image credits: SallyMutz314
#10
Marburg virus originating from Kitum Cave in Kenya. 90% mortality rate virus you can just get from visiting a cave. Scary and intriguing.
Image credits: More-Beginning-3054
#11
Did some research on the history of snowmen after I learned that the earliest recorded piece regarding snowmen was from 1380, and I absolutely LOVE that it’s something that has continued and evolved with time. It’s such a cool little piece of history that you don’t think too much about, but has brought so much joy to people for hundreds of years.
Befor the 1950s, snowmen were more often on the elaborate side, created by artists as art for art’s sake, but also used for things like protesting (like the miracle of 1511). The man who sculpted Abraham Lincoln’s tomb created a stunning snow and ice statue in 1857 that became very famous. Art supplies have always been very difficult for many people to acquire through history and artists used whatever they could to create their art, and snow was something that was easily accessible for many, so it was its own special medium for awesome sculptures that people had access to, regardless of income or status. It wasn’t until the 1940s that snowmen became an activity that children took part in, and we have Ruth Herman’s book Snowy The Traveling Snowman to thank for what the western world now recognizes as a snowman.
Snow sculptures obviously didn’t last and people often put so much work and time into them regardless, and I feel like that is such a wonderful and human thing. The urge to create something special, even if it won’t last long.
Image credits: pablonerudaa
#12
The Christmas Truce in WW1. There is something so beautiful about it. Ignore what happened the next day.
Image credits: bleedblue4
#13
Tudors, specifically Anne Boleyn and other Tudor women.
Image credits: _burnthis_
#14
Hiroshima. I visited there a few weeks ago and as an American, it feels odd going to a place like that. The Peace Park Memorial is beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.
Image credits: loverbf_3019
#15
The Dance Epidemic. What was thaaat?!
FawkMyLyfe420:
The dancing plague of 1518, or dance epidemic of 1518 was apparently a case of dancing mania that occurred in Strasbourg, Alsace [now modern-day France] in the Holy Roman Empire from July 1518 to September 1518. Apparently somewhere between 50 and 400 people took to dancing for weeks. There’s too many theories behind what happened and the most popular one is a stress-induced mass hysteria… Other theories include ergot and there’s a lot of controversy about how many deaths there actually were.
Image credits: WhatINath
#16
Black Death or Bubonic Plague.
Image credits: Known_Masterpiece972
#17
The Maya and other Meso or South American cultures. Always new and interesting things being discovered. The event I used to be obsessed with was the “disappearance” of the Maya… except they didn’t disappear and there are millions of Maya alive today, big misconception.
I really like the work of Ed Barnhart after seeing a few of his series on The Great Courses.
He also has a fun Podcast called ArchaeoED.
Image credits: KingRilian
#18
The 2008 recession. Everything about that era explains , LIKE A MAP, how we got to this point in US history. I am obsessed with it.
Image credits: HumanistSockPuppet
#19
The end of the Soviet Union.
Image credits: So_Call_Me_Maddie
#20
Titanic.
Image credits: jsklmnop
#21
The Vietnam War for me. My dad was there. He’s told me things, but watching these documentaries is just mind blowing to me.
Image credits: Alarming_Artichoke91
#22
The Nanking event. It’s just so inhumane and atrocious I can’t stop thinking about those poor innocent people.
Image credits: Axient
#23
The Challenger disaster. I was three months old when the first Space Shuttle went up in April of ’81. I was 5 when Challenger and its crew were destroyed due to gross negligence.
Every time I find out something new, or someone makes a new video/documentary, I’m always interested in case there’s something else I didn’t know. Nothing can change it or change my mind about what happened and why it happened, but I just have to collect as much info as possible.
Always listen to the engineers, not the bureaucrats.
Image credits: Doombah
#24
The North American chestnut blight 🙁 the old growth forests in the north eastern part of what is now the u.s were surreal. Those ecosystems were what fairytales are made of. We can hardly imagine the world it would have been then, knowing what it is now… I think about it almost every day, it’s not healthy, lol. so much lost to the insatiable greed of colonial expansion, the chestnut trees not even the worst of it.
Image credits: SketchyGirlScout
#25
For me, it’s Italian organized crime in America from the formation of the five families and the commission by Lucky Luciano until the mob was gutted by RICO in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I’m just fascinated by the power these guys had at the turn of the century. Obviously, this isn’t a particular event, but I can’t get enough.
Image credits: EmperorDolan
#26
Khamar Daban incident. A group of hikers basically start bleeding from the eyes, clawing at their throat then turn feral and drop dead. Only one survived, reason range from everything to it was a lie/exaggerated to they came across a military testing location for nerve gas.
Basically reads like 28 days later but irl.
Image credits: CFO-Charles
#27
CANNAE…
The time and effort required to slaughter 50,000 men in one day….one at a time…without bombs or bullets or arrows Is unbelievable. The raw calories burned, the feeling of complete satisfaction Hannibal would have felt, the despair and chaos in Rome when news broke.
Eight hours of slaughter, unending. Soldiers would have had to stop for water breaks during. Leaving the front line to towel off and slurp water, then going back to the circle to continue stabbing, slashing and bludgeoning.
Just imagining the cost and resources required for 30,000+ Roman breastplates and swords and gear and helmets is incredible.
Hundreds of Millions of dollars lost, an entire city’s fighting population gone. A literal day of mourning was held because there was NO one in the city that wasn’t effected In one way or another.
And yet Somehow , Rome endured.
Image credits: SneeserSalad
#28
The dark ages. I know this has been debunked but that era still feels so eerie and dark to me. It comes right after the fall of the Roman empire and before modern history.
Image credits: KingTechnical48
#29
MH 370.
Image credits: Thin_Atmosphere_3327
#30
World War 2.
Image credits: Electrical_Toe_2567
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