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TIL A group of conspirators intending to assassinate Easter Roman Emperor Nikephoros Phokas entered his bedchamber at night disguised in women's clothing. Initially the got scared because he wasn't in his bed as expected: an ascetic army veteran, Nikephoros liked sleeping on the floor

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oBQRY TIL there are only 15 countries (sovereign states, not dependencies) in the world without official armed forces. Out of these, 12 are islands. Only Andorra, Vatican City, and Liechtenstein are located on mainland. The largest population is held by the Solomon Islands with a little over 650,000.
bXo9 TIL: Tanks were the brainchild of Winston Churchill and were named that way to disguise them as mobile water receptacles during development
Wkl5B TIL one of the best selling books of all time in Germany is "Winnetou", about a fictional American Indian and his sidekick Old Shatterhand. Since being released in 1875, it has sold around 200M copies and has had multiple movies and TV shows made.
dDred TIL the tallest mountain in Tahiti (Mont Orohena, 2241 metres) is taller than the tallest mountain in Australia (Mount Kosciuszko, 2228 metres). This is despite Tahiti's land area of just 1000 sq km (400 sq miles) compared to Australia's area of 7.6 million sq km (2.9 million sq miles)!
epVEJ TIL intercontinental ballistic missiles use celestial navigation to check and correct their course (initially set using internal gyroscopes) while flying outside the Earth's atmosphere.