› added 8 years ago

339

TIL that Belgian fort Eben-Emael was thought to be impregnable before WW2. The world’s largest fortress was designed to stop a German invasion and take months to break. It was so large … that in May 1940 the Luftwaffe landed gliders on its roof, and captured Eben-Emael from the top in 30 hours.

Read more historynet.com

via reddit.com

NgJ6 TIL there’s a place in Mongolia that was declared sacred by Genghis Khan. The only people allowed to enter were the Mongol Royal Family and a tribe of elite warriors, the darkhat, whose job it was to guard it, punishment for entering being death. They carried out their task for 697 yrs, until 1924.
a09o TIL General Motors deliberately destroyed streetcars as a strategy to push the United States into automobile dependency.
vPyO7 TIL on a sunny day, the top of Eiffel Tower moves in a circular motion measuring approximately 15 centimeters in diameter
nvxo TIL the US and Australia are geographically almost the same size
yrLe TIL that a woman accidentally dropped her engagement ring into a homeless man’s change cup. The man, Billy Ray Harris, returned the ring to the woman. A fund was started by the woman and her husband to raise money for Harris. Three months later they had raised over $190,000.