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TIL the largest action of the American War of Independence was actually the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779-1783) by a combined French & Spanish force, showing how the Thirteen Colonies were merely one theatre of a much wider war.

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D1Gpe TIL that John Smith, the Jamestown colonist rescued by Pocahontas, spent his early life as a mercenary and pirate. He was eventually captured by the Ottomans and sold into slavery. He made his way back to England and became a colonist after escaping into Russia.
5V9Pk TIL about the Swiss Guard's Last Stand. In 1527 Over 20k troops of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, rebelled after not being paid for months, marched on Rome and sacked the city, killing thousands. Fearing for his life, Pope Clement VII fled and 142 Swiss Guard held off the mob, none survived.
gMmP7 TIL The term “scientist” was coined in the 1830s to describe Mary Somerville. A woman. Because the usual term “man of science” didn’t apply and she wasn’t just a physicist, geologist, or chemist - she was all three.
N78e8 TIL Gymnasium is ultimately derived from gymnos meaning naked, by way of the related verb gymnazo, whose meaning is "to train naked".
6aaw TIL There is an old English unit of volume called a “butt”, approx 477L. There is such a thing as a “butt load”.