› added 4 years ago

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TIL that the battle of Dien Bien Phu fought by the French against the Vietnamese was ‘the only pitched battle to be lost by a European army in the history of decolonisation’ and it cost the French their Empire.

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via reddit.com

9wQoX TIL about the history of the Enigma machine, a cryptographic device used by the German military during World War II.
ep096 TIL that the founder of the Paneuropean Union, the oldest European unification movement, was the Austrian-Japanese politician, philosopher, and count Richard Nikolaus Eijiro. His wartime politics and adventures served as the real life basis for fictional Resistance hero Victor Laszlo.
eRa5 TIL Muhammad Ali called Michael J. Fox after his Parkinson’s diagnosis and said, “Now that you’re in the fight, we’ll win.”
8aRra TIL that Norways oil fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, boycotts investing in Wal-Mart, due to ethical reasons, among those "blocking workers' efforts to form unions"
JMnQ TIL that in 1990, the US gov’t authorized sending coca eating caterpillars to Peru to fight the drug problem. Their poop is nearly 100% cocaine.