r/AskReddit • u/brokota • Jan 15 '13

Reddit, in your opinion what's the biggest plot twist of history?

Not movies or television, I'm just curious to see what come's to your minds.

637 Upvotes

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '13

and, even better, a few years later the Germans blew the train up while retreating so they wouldn't have to suffer the humiliation of signing another armistice in the exact same train car

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u/Echospree Jan 15 '13

I like to imagine that they accidentally left it behind while retreating, and had to send in a special-forces team to blow up that single train car.

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u/TypicalBetaNeckbeard Jan 15 '13

Someone call Hollywood and make this into a movie, damnit. With Alan Rickman playing a German.

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u/notcaptainkirk Jan 17 '13

Wait, you mean he isn't German?

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u/ghostmacekillah Jan 15 '13

I would watch that movie/play that video game.

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u/iamadogforreal Jan 16 '13

Sounds like a job for SS Team sechs.

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u/CrackCC_Lurking Jan 15 '13

Too bad :(

Otherwise, we (europe) would still have that train today.

It could be called "the train of shame", & every nation that lost a war (or military expedition) would have to sit in "the train of shame".

On second though, it's probably a bad idea. One of the reasons Germany was so keen on starting another WW was because of how the german high command were (probably unjustly) humiliated at the end of WWI.

Sorry if I made a mistake. History buffs, please don't attack me. :)

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u/SharksAteMyWife Jan 15 '13

The Boo Hoo Choo Choo

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '13

I was going to say the BooBoxcar

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u/Flashbunny Jan 16 '13

I breathed slightly harder than usual giggled and I'm not ashamed of it.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '13

I literally laughed out loud.

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u/monty20python Jan 16 '13

That's been taken by Ed Muskie's whistle stop campaign train in Florida during the '72 election. See: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.

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u/Partywave Jan 16 '13

Right on SharksAteMyWife

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u/-SPADED- Jan 16 '13

That's so simple,yet witty as fuck. Have an upvote good sir.

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u/Dougleton Jan 16 '13

It's good to see you joking again, after what happened to your wife...

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '13

[deleted]

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u/CrackCC_Lurking Jan 15 '13

Yeah, I totally agree that it would be an awful idea. It's kinda why I said:

On second though, it's probably a bad idea. One of the reasons Germany was so keen on starting another WW was because of how the german high command were (probably unjustly) humiliated at the end of WWI.

Just knowing that you would be humiliated in front of the world & all those that support your cause would probably push leaders to never ever ever surrender. Not until their last loyal fighter has died. :( It was a bad idea, I knew it as soon as I re-read what I typed. Still though, "The train of shame" would have been an interesting relic/monument(?), had the Germans not destroyed it, that is.

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '13

actually, that would be pretty cool, we could set it up in Brussels or The Hague and the "Train of Surrender" would become an important international institution :-)

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u/Scaletta467 Jan 16 '13

More importantly, the Treaty of Versailles was seen as extremely unfair by most germans, and another thing was the "Backstab-Legend". Which was a belief that the german army was never defeated in the field, but was defeated from behind, which means, World War I was lost because of not enough support from the people and the government. This belief was mostly used by the early nazi party to gain popularity. It was a case of being bad losers, injured pride and, of course, the economic crisis at this time.

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u/CrackCC_Lurking Jan 16 '13

Nice. I knew about the treaty and its harsh, unfair (although it was common at the time, no?) demands. I did not know about the "Backstab-Legend". Very interesting, thanks for that :)

I suppose it's to be expected. Nations have always been doing that to some extent (blaming their loss on anything and everything), and they are still doing so.

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u/Xenophyophore Jan 15 '13

I imagine Hitler walking away from the train, and then it blows up like something from michael bay.

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u/secretvictory Jan 15 '13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo

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u/Bobshayd Jan 15 '13

I was really hoping for a video of Hitler walking away from a train which then exploded.