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TIL an epidemic in 1872 affecting horses was a key moment in the animal rights movement as the founder of the ASPCA would stand in the street to block horse-drawn trolleys to insist that sick horses be returned to the stables instead of being worked to death

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NXVWb TIL that a riot broke out on St Scholastica Day, 10 February 1355, when two students from the University of Oxford complained about the quality of wine served to them in the Swindlestock Tavern. Around 30 townsfolk were killed, as were up to 63 members of the university.
94RB TIL that cheetahs were almost wiped out by the last ice-age, and all modern cheetahs are descended from a small portion of the surviving cats that interbred to maintain their species. Because of this, cheetahs are practically genetic clones of one another.
jN1Ej TIL that Ernest “Boots” Thomas, one of the U.S. Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima, was able to enlist in spite of being color blind by memorizing the results of another man’s test.
b98VQ TIL about Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor who was committed to the asylum for recommending people to wash hands. He later died from the blows of his guards.
JYwL1 TIL in 1940 Soviet secret police executed 22,000 Poles. After the war, Germany was blamed for the massacre and several German servicemen were falsely convicted at Allied trials after forced confessions. The real details of the executions did not come to light until 1989.