Unknown life of famous people. Future Emperor Nicholas III

Today, November 7 (October 25, old style), the Great October socialist revolution. The Bolshevik coup took place in the Russian Empire in 1917, becoming one of the most grandiose events of the 20th century.

Despite the fact that there is a lot of historical evidence about the October Revolution, this stage Russian history still not fully understood, and there are many mysteries and misconceptions regarding this event. It's no secret that history as a science is constantly under pressure from the current political forces, and therefore does not always objectively reflect the facts that took place in reality. After the former Soviet idols and leaders left the political arena, information began to surface that caused bewilderment and protest among some, while others made them laugh. We will talk about the most interesting details and the myths of the October Revolution, which were hushed up for a long time.

With the collapse of the USSR, a version of the course of the revolution took root in the minds of the majority, which is just as not quite reliable, just as the facts offered by Soviet propaganda. In particular, now it is said that Germany threw the Bolsheviks into Russia in a sealed wagon. In fact, Lenin and other revolutionaries arrived in the Russian Empire in 1917 from neutral Switzerland. In itself, a sealed wagon is not something mysterious - even now in rail transportation this is a common occurrence.

The proposal to travel through German territory in exchange for the return of interned German soldiers was put forward at a meeting on March 19, 1917, not by Lenin, but by the leader of the Mensheviks, Julius Martov. Lenin, however, until the last moment did not know exactly about the decision of the German authorities regarding the planned transfer. The head of the Bolsheviks was ready to sneak into the country illegally, under the guise of a deaf-mute Swede. Contacts with subjects of the German Empire were excluded, which is why the car was sealed. The only obligation of the emigrants towards the German authorities was to agitate in Russia for the exchange and send the interned Germans to Germany. In addition to the Bolsheviks, there were also Socialist-Revolutionaries and representatives of the Jewish Social Democratic Party Bund in the carriage. Thus, everything that happened was not a special operation to send a sabotage group of oppositionists into the Russian Empire. Of course, the German side made a certain bet on the destabilization of the state of affairs in Russia by left-wing radicals, but Lenin was not notified about this. Among other things, the Russian state itself at that moment resembled a vivid illustration of the “falling - push” rule.

About the current state Russian economy it is necessary to tell in more detail, since this aspect has also become the subject of various discussions among historians. AT this moment There is a version that the Russian Empire on the eve of the revolution was the most industrialized country in the world. Despite certain arguments that speak of the truth of such a statement, there are good reasons doubt the undeniable well-being Russian state. Thus, the rate of economic growth in the first decade of the 20th century could not be called impressive, war time(1914-1918) they became completely modest. Supporters of the Soviet regime insist that two decades after the October coup Soviet Union became the second largest industrial power in the world. Opponents parry this statement, saying that such a result was achieved through, among other things, terror and inhumane actions against the people of the Soviet state.

The same supporters of the anti-Soviet position declare that the Bolsheviks, after coming to power in literally ruined big country, many territories were lost. However, there are also specific facts that impartially indicate that the Russian Empire may be to blame for the loss of such a large amount of land. Suffice it to mention that in 1915 Poland was lost during the German and Austro-Hungarian offensive, in February 1917 Russia lost control over Lithuania and Latvia.

Rooted in the minds of the masses and the point of view that Vladimir Lenin directly ordered the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and members of his family. Nevertheless, there is evidence that the destruction of the most august persons was the initiative of the Ural Council, which at that time included, in addition to the Bolsheviks, also the Socialist-Revolutionaries. It is the data political forces could wish to kill the daughters of the Russian Tsar - this measure was a provocation in order to prevent the conclusion of peace with the Germans. Lenin was supposedly going to extradite German princesses the German side, this was part of the arrangements.

What's up Soviet myths distributed among the population at the initiative of the ruling circles for the sake of maintaining the faith of the working people in their bright future? First of all, it becomes unclear why in the Civil War of 1917-1923 the "proletarian" government won, because in the territory modern Russia and some CIS countries, there were more intelligentsia and nobles than proletarians. This was well expressed by the character of the novel by A.N. Ostrovsky “How the Steel Was Tempered” Pavka Korchagin: “we were red, and someone else sympathized with us. And there were whites and those who sympathized with them. And then 80% of the population, which has always been with the winners ... "

Soviet historians did not mention the offensive of Denikin's troops on Moscow and its successful completion for the Whites, they were silent about the help of the Muslims, which they provided in the defeat of Denikin's army. The anarchist army of Father Makhno also took part in that battle. By order of the “tops”, Eisenstein’s talented film “October” appeared, shots from which many still consider to be a reflection of real events. In fact, about two thousand Red Guards and Baltic sailors took part in the "large-scale" storming of the Winter Palace. During the assault, both sides suffered a total loss of seven people.

Another scene from the film, when Lenin, standing on an armored car, delivers a speech that later became “ April theses”, to soldiers and workers, is real. However, the point of view is erroneous, according to which the "Leninist armored car" was allegedly located near the Marble Palace in Leningrad. Herself October Revolution in this moment It is considered more of an indicative act, since after the bourgeois-democratic revolution that took place in February, the “bloody tsarist regime” was overthrown. However, controversy on this issue has not subsided so far.

Once again, we want to invite you to combine business with pleasure and learn a lot of new and interesting things during the breaks caused by the most different reasons. Fill the time of forced waiting with reading easy and at the same time useful information for broadening one's horizons. This time, the most incredible and little-known facts from world history are offered to your attention. Thanks to its convenient design, the book can be used in almost any environment.

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The following excerpt from the book Required reading. 1000 new interesting facts for the mind and entertainment (E. Mirochnik, 2014) provided by our book partner - the company LitRes.

Chapter 2 Incredible Facts from the life of great people

Great Losers

Beethoven's teacher considered him a completely mediocre student. The great composer, until the end of his life, never mastered such a mathematical action as multiplication.

Darwin, who had abandoned medicine, was bitterly reproached by his father: “You are not interested in anything but catching dogs and rats!”

Walt Disney was fired from the paper for lack of ideas.

Edison's mentor said of him that he was stupid and could not learn anything.

Einstein did not speak until the age of four. His teacher described him as mentally retarded.

The father of Rodin, the great sculptor, said: “My son is an idiot. He failed three times in art school.”

Mozart, one of the most brilliant composers, Emperor Ferdinand said that in his "The Marriage of Figaro" "too little noise and too many notes."

Our compatriot Mendeleev had a triple in chemistry.

When we look at Ford cars, we mean that their creator, Henry Ford, has always been a wealthy, successful businessman. We see this huge empire that has been living for more than a hundred years. But few of us know that before achieving financial success, Ford declared himself bankrupt several times, went bankrupt clean - a man who changed the course of history, putting the world on wheels.

Henry Ford never had a driver's license.

When Guglielmo Marconi invented the radio and told his friends that he would transmit words over a distance through the air, they thought he was crazy and took him to a psychiatrist. But within a few months, his radio saved the lives of many sailors.

Nikolai Gogol, oddly enough, wrote rather mediocre compositions at school. Some progress he noted only in Russian literature and drawing. In addition, Nikolai Vasilyevich was extremely shy person: for example, if a stranger appeared in the company, Gogol simply quietly left the room.

The great silent film actor Charlie Chaplin learned to read much later than he got his first role in the theater. He was terribly afraid that someone would discover his illiteracy, so he avoided situations in every possible way where he could be forced to read excerpts from the role.

The eminent politician Winston Churchill was an excellent orator. But as a child, he stuttered and lisped, and only thanks to a good speech therapist, speech defects were corrected.

In addition, Churchill literally hated the school. He was the worst student in the class and often received cuffs from teachers. When the father noticed that his son was fond of toy soldiers, he suggested that he enter the military academy. Churchill entered there ... on the third attempt.

The famous storyteller Hans Christian Andersen wrote with grammatical and spelling errors until the end of his life. He had particular difficulties with punctuation marks. Therefore, a lot of money was spent on paying for the work of people who rewrote his works before they get to the publishing house.

Alexander Pushkin, as we know, was a lyceum graduate. But he got into it by pull - his uncle attached him there. And when the lists of graduates were prepared for the graduation party, Pushkin was listed second in his academic performance ... from the bottom.

The author of the law of universal gravitation, Isaac Newton, was a member of the House of Lords. We must give him his due - he attended all meetings of the chamber regularly, but for many years he did not utter a word there. And then one day he still asked to give him the opportunity to speak. Everyone literally froze, waiting landmark speech great scientist. And in absolute silence, Newton said: “Gentlemen! I ask you to close the window, otherwise I may catch a cold! And that's it! This was his only performance.

In the certificate of graduation from the university of the German philosopher Georg Hegel, it was indicated: "A young man with sound judgments, but did not differ in eloquence and did not show himself in philosophy in any way."

Little is known about the biography of Sylvester Stallone to a wide range of viewers who admire their favorite hero on the screen, and meanwhile the future action star was known at the school where he studied as a real bandit! His teachers unanimously insisted that Stallone would definitely kill someone and end his life in prison, with a life sentence, or be executed! Probably for this reason, young Sylvester changed several schools every year, of which there were 15 in the end!

Colombian singer Shakira was kicked out of her school choir at the age of 10 because her teacher didn't like her voice. Then she practically abandoned her dream of a musical career.

A woman with outstanding forms, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez at one time simply could not pass the very first selection in her life for filming in television commercials. The fact is that the experts who evaluated the contenders for the role of the girl who will advertise the jeans unanimously declared that Lopez simply would not fit into them.

The strangest deeds and habits of great people

The 16th-century astronomer Tycho Brahe, whose research helped Sir Isaac Newton create the theory of universal gravitation, took an untimely farewell to life because he did not go to the toilet on time. In those days, to leave the table before the end of the feast meant to inflict a grave insult on the owner of the house. Being a courteous man, Brahe did not dare to ask permission to leave the table. His bladder burst, and after suffering for 11 days, the astronomer died.

Jean-Baptiste Lully, 17th-century composer who wrote music on commission french king, died from an excess of devotion to his work. Once, during the rehearsal of the next concert, he got so excited that, knocking his cane on the floor, he broke his own leg and died from blood poisoning.

The great illusionist Harry Houdini died after being punched in the stomach by a fan. Houdini let people hit him, demonstrating the wonders of impenetrable abs. He died in the hospital from internal injuries.

The twelfth president of the United States, Zachary Taylor, after a ceremony on a particularly hot day on July 4, 1850, ate too much ice cream, fell ill with indigestion and died five days later, having been president for only 16 months.

Jack Daniel, the father of the famous Jack Daniel's whiskey, died of blood poisoning after suffering a leg injury: he broke his finger kicking his safe, to which he forgot the combination.

Vincent van Gogh painted for days, drank absinthe in buckets, cut off his left ear and painted a self-portrait in this form, and at the age of 37 he committed suicide. After his death, by the way, more than 150 medical diagnoses were made public by doctors, which were made to the great painter during his lifetime.

Gustave Flaubert, while working, groaned along with the characters he portrayed, wept and laughed, big steps quickly walked around the office and loudly chanted words.

Honore de Balzac was afraid of getting married more than anything. For many years he was in love with Countess Evelina Hanska. Balzac resisted for another eight years, but still the countess insisted on the wedding. From fear, the writer fell ill and even wrote to his bride: they say, my health is such that you would rather accompany me to the cemetery than have time to try on my name. But the wedding took place. True, Honore was taken down the aisle in an armchair, since he himself could not walk.

french artist Henri Matisse, before starting to paint, had an acute desire to strangle someone.

Voltaire drank up to 50 cups of coffee a day.

Ivan Krylov had an inexplicable mania: he loved to look at the fires and tried not to miss a single fire in St. Petersburg.

When the blues attacked Ivan Turgenev, he put a high cap on his head and put himself in a corner. And he stood there until the longing passed.

Anton Chekhov liked to talk unusual compliments: “dog”, “actress”, “snake”, “crocodile of my soul”.

William Burroughs at one of the parties wanted to surprise the guests. The writer planned to repeat the act of the archer William Tell, who hit an apple standing on the head of his own son. Burroughs placed the glass on the head of his wife, Joan Vollmer, and fired his pistol. The wife died from a bullet in the head.

Ivan the Terrible in the mornings and evenings personally rang the bells on the main belfry of Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. Thus, they say, he tried to drown out mental suffering.

Lord Byron came to extreme degree irritation at the sight of a salt-cellar with salt.

Charles Dickens always washed down a sip of hot water every 50 lines of writing.

Johannes Brahms "for inspiration" constantly unnecessarily cleaned shoes.

Isaac Newton once welded a pocket watch while holding an egg and looking at it.

Ludwig van Beethoven went constantly unshaven, believing that shaving hinders creative inspiration. And before sitting down to write music, the composer poured a bucket over his head cold water: this, in his opinion, should have been very stimulating for the brain.

Alexander Pushkin was very fond of shooting in the bathhouse. They say that in the village of Mikhailovskoye, almost nothing authentic since the time of the poet has been properly preserved, but the wall that Pushkin shot at, surprisingly remained intact.

Fyodor Dostoevsky could not work without strong tea. When he wrote his novels at night, there was always a glass of tea on his desk, and the samovar was always kept hot in the dining room.

Johann Goethe worked only in a hermetically sealed room, without the slightest access to fresh air.

Commander Alexander Suvorov was famous for his strange antics: an unusual daily routine - he went to bed at six o'clock in the evening, and woke up at two in the morning, an unusual awakening - he drenched cold water and loudly shouted “ku-ka-re-ku!” With an unusual bed for a commander - with all ranks, he slept in the hay. Preferring to walk in old boots, he could easily go out to meet high officials in a sleeping cap and underwear.

He also gave the signal to attack to his beloved “ku-ka-re-ku!”, And, they say, after he was promoted to field marshal, he began to jump over chairs and say: “And I jumped over this one, and through this - then!"

Suvorov was very fond of marrying his serfs, guided by a very peculiar principle - he lined them up in a row, selected those who were suitable for their height, and then married 20 couples at a time.

Emperor Nicholas I did not like music and, as a punishment for officers, gave them a choice between a guardhouse and listening to Glinka's operas.

Emperor Nicholas I ordered to hang portraits of his ancestors in the toilet. difficult moment he is pleased to feel the support of relatives. In addition, Nikolai Pavlovich transferred his library to the closet.

Arthur Schopenhauer was famous for his excellent appetite and ate for two; if someone made a remark to him on this score, he answered that he thought for two.

He used to pay for two seats so that no one could sit down at his table.

At dinner, he used to talk loudly with his poodle Atman, and at the same time every time he addressed him as "you" and "sir" if he behaved well, and "you" and "man" if he was a master in something upset.

Sigmund Freud hated music. He threw away his sister's piano and did not go to restaurants with an orchestra.

French writer Guy de Maupassant was one of those who annoyed the Eiffel Tower. Nevertheless, he dined daily at her restaurant, explaining that this was the only place in Paris where the tower was not visible.

Hunter Thompson came to the set before filming the film adaptation of his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The role of Raoul Duke was played by Johnny Depp. The writer, being intoxicated, personally cut the movie star's hair, making a huge bald patch on Depp's head.

The third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, independently designed his tombstone and wrote the text for it, which did not indicate that he was president.

The sixteenth US President Abraham Lincoln always wore a tall black top hat on his head, inside which he kept letters, financial papers, bills and notes.

Chinese state and political figure XX century Mao Zedong never brushed his teeth. And to the words that it was unhygienic, he answered: “Have you ever seen a tiger brush his teeth?”

English footballer David Beckham can't stand mess. The surrounding objects must be carefully selected in color, shape and size, and their number must be a multiple of two.

Funny incidents from life famous people

Once, Albert Einstein was riding a tram in Leipzig. And in this very tram there was a conductor. The conductor approached the physicist and asked him to pay the fare. Einstein quite calmly counted out the required amount and handed it to the conductor. He counted the money and said that another 5 pfennigs were missing.

- I carefully considered! It can't be! Einstein objected.

Galileo Galilei spent his wedding night reading a book. Noticing that it was already dawn, he went to the bedroom, but immediately went out and asked the servant: “Who is lying in my bed?” “Your wife, sir,” replied the servant. Galileo completely forgot that he was married.

Once Voltaire was invited to a dinner party. When everyone was seated, it turned out that the maestro found himself between two grumpy gentlemen. Having drunk well, Voltaire's neighbors began to argue how to properly address the servants: "Bring me some water!" or "Give me water!". Voltaire unwittingly found himself right at the epicenter of this dispute. Finally, tired of this disgrace, the maestro could not stand it and said:

- Gentlemen, both of these expressions are inapplicable to you! Both of you should say: "Take me to the watering hole!"

Once Vladimir Mayakovsky had to speak in front of a whole hall of writers. This was not uncommon for him, but that performance of the proletarian poet became special. While he was reading his poems on the podium, one of the poet's ill-wishers, who were enough in those years, shouted:

I don't understand your poetry! They are kind of stupid!

“It's okay, your children will understand,” Vladimir Vladimirovich answered.

- And my children will not understand your poems! - continued the ill-wisher.

“Well, why are you talking about your children right away,” the poet replied with a grin. “Maybe their mother is smart, maybe they will follow her.

Somehow, speaking in polytechnic institute in a debate about proletarian internationalism, Vladimir Mayakovsky said:

- Among Russians I feel like a Russian, among Georgians - a Georgian ...

What about fools? Suddenly, someone shouted from the hall.

“And for the first time among fools,” Mayakovsky replied instantly.

Traveling in France, Mark Twain traveled by train to the city of Dijon. The train was passing, and he asked to wake him up in time. At the same time, the writer said to the conductor:

- I sleep very soundly. When you wake me up, maybe I will scream. So ignore it and be sure to drop me off at Dijon.

When Mark Twain woke up, it was already morning and the train was approaching Paris. The writer realized that Dijon had passed and became very angry. He ran to the conductor and began to reprimand him.

“I have never been as angry as I am now!” he shouted.

"You're not as angry as the American I dropped off at Dijon last night," replied the guide.

Mark Twain, being a newspaper editor, once printed a devastating denunciation of a certain N. It contained the phrase: "Mr. N does not even deserve a spit in the face." This gentleman sued, which ordered the newspaper to publish a refutation, and Mark Twain showed himself to be a "law-abiding" citizen: in the next issue of his newspaper it was printed: "Mr. N deserves a spit in the face."

End of introductory segment.

The history of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was rich in different kinds events. In 1914, the First World War began, which, in fact, became one of the main causes of all subsequent troubles and misfortunes that hit the country. The February Revolution, followed by the October Revolution, the Civil War and, finally, the establishment Soviet power, the emergence of a new totalitarian state. Some of these events largely determined further move world history.

Causes of the October Revolution.

After the events of February 1917, the power of the country was in the hands of the Provisional Government. Here it is definitely worth saying that the councils of workers' and peasants' deputies actively interfered with his work.

The composition of the Provisional Government was not constant, the ministers replaced each other every now and then. Meanwhile, the situation in the country worsened. The economy went into complete decline. The financial crisis that hit Russia has reached unprecedented proportions. The treasury, of course, was full, but not in money, but in unpaid bills. Inflation reduced the price of the ruble to 7 pre-revolutionary kopecks. There were problems with the supply of cities, queues at shops. It became restless, more and more rallies and strikes took place. Each put forward their own demands. The villages began peasant uprisings which the authorities were unable to resist. There were certain prerequisites for a change of power and new upheavals.

How was the October Socialist Revolution prepared?

At the end of August 1917, the leadership of the Soviets in major cities passed into the hands of the Bolsheviks. The party is gaining strength and is beginning to grow in numbers. Under her, the Red Guard was formed, which constitutes a power fist political struggle. The main demands of the party are the resignation of the Provisional Government and the formation of a new government from representatives of the revolutionary proletariat and peasantry.

Perhaps the Bolsheviks could have arranged "October" earlier. The actions of party members were affected by the absence of their leader, Lenin, in Russia. Vladimir Ilyich hid in Finland, from where he sent his directives and instructions to Petrograd. Opinion within the party was divided. Who believed that power should be taken right now, someone suggested to delay - only workers and soldiers are for us, ”we will not stand.

Meanwhile, Lenin continued to send letters to the city of Peter I, in which he spoke of the need to prepare an uprising and seize power. He believed that if the people were suddenly raised in Moscow and Petrograd, the current government would not stand. October 7 Lenin returns to Russia. Revolution becomes inevitable.

The revolution was well prepared. On the 12th, Trotsky, who headed the Petrograd Soviet, established the Military Revolutionary Committee. On the 22nd, agitators from the Bolsheviks went to all the military units of Petrograd. The October Revolution began on October 25, 1917. There were fierce street battles in Petrograd and Moscow. The number of victims of those events is difficult to calculate. Bandits and criminals, of which the Red Guard was predominantly formed, were opposed by beardless Cadets. On the night of the 26th, the rebels managed to capture the Winter Palace. The ministers of the Provisional Government were imprisoned.

Interesting Facts about the October Revolution.

1. On the night when bloody battles were going on in the streets of Petrograd, Lenin reached Smolny with a wig on his head, a bandaged cheek and a fake passport, at five o'clock in the morning, when the fighting was already over. But on his way there were numerous Cossack and Junker cordons. How it happened is a big mystery. Trotsky led the actions of the rebels during the absence of the leader.

2. Lenin immediately issued the "Decree on the Land." Share and distribute. And Vladimir Ilyich was not at all embarrassed that this document completely copied the agrarian program of the Socialist-Revolutionaries.

3. The soldiers did not want to go to the front at all. Lenin sensitively felt the mood of the people. "A world without indemnities!". Yep, we agree. It just didn't work. Civil War, War with Poland, infamous Brest Peace. Here you are, soldiers and "A world without indemnities", you just bring me to power on bayonets.

4. The myth that the Bolsheviks were the main driving force the events of those days. The Socialist-Revolutionaries had great influence in the army, and the anarchists in the navy. Without them, the rebellion would have failed.

5. Detachments of the Red Guard were formed from former criminals and deserters. The fighters received allowance from the Bolsheviks, and those in turn from Germany

1. Napoleon was 26 years old when he captured Italy.

2. Baghdad University appropriated Uday - the eldest son of Saddam Hussein - degree the doctors political science. Although he did not even have a secondary education. His dissertation was titled “The Decline of American Power by 2016.”
3. In 1938, Time magazine named Hitler "Person of the Year."
4. During his service in the KGB, Vladimir Putin had the nickname "Moth".
5. Hitler was a vegetarian.
6. The Egyptian queen Cleopatra tested the effectiveness of her poisons by forcing her slaves to take them.
7. Cleopatra married her own brother - Ptolemy.
8. Cleopatra was not an Egyptian. She had Macedonian, Iranian and Greek roots.
9. Lafayette became a general in the US Army at 19. His full name sounds like this: Mary Joseph Paul Yves Rocher Gilbert de Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.
10. The Minister of Culture of the RSFSR in the 50s, Alexei Popov, was a well-known swindler.
11. The Mongol conqueror Timur (1336-1405) played something like polo with the skulls of the people he killed. He created a pyramid of their severed heads 9 meters high.
12. At the time of Lenin's death, his brain was only a quarter of its normal size.
13. Napoleon was not born in France, but on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. His parents were Italian and they had eight children.
14. The national flag of Italy was designed by Napoleon.
15. One of Napoleon's drinking bowls was made from the skull of the famous Italian adventurer Cagliostro.
16. The founder of the theory of communism Karl Marx has never been to Russia.
17. The first American Chief Justice, John Jay, bought slaves to free them.
18. The first person in history to be hit by a train was British MP William Huskinson.
19. The ancestors of Winston Churchill on the maternal side were ... Indians.
20. US President Andrew Jackson believed the Earth was flat.
21. During the reign of Elizabeth I, there was a tax on men's beards. However, Peter the Great did not favor bearded men either.
22. Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar ordered the execution of her subjects if they appeared to her in dreams without her permission.
23. Queen Victoria was presented with a piece of cheese with a diameter of 3 meters and a weight of 500 kilograms at the wedding.
24. King of England Henry VIII executed two of his six wives.
25. President of Uganda and one of the most ruthless dictators in the world, Idi Amin, served in the British Army before coming to power.
26. British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston died in 1865 on a pool table where he was making love to his servants.
27. At the court of the King of Spain, Alfonso, there was a special position - a hymnal. The fact is that the king had no musical ear at all, and he himself could not distinguish the anthem from other music. The hymnal had to warn the king when the national anthem was played.
28. The Roman emperor Nero married a man - one of his slaves named Skorus.
29. The Roman emperor Nero forced his teacher philosopher Seneca to commit suicide.
30. The height of Peter the Great was approximately 213 cm. Despite the fact that in those days the average height of men was significantly lower than today.
31. Sir Winston Churchill smoked no more than 15 cigars a day.
32. Tom Cruise at the age of 14 went to study at the seminary to become a priest, but left it after a year.
33. At the French King Louis XIV there were 413 beds.
34. The Israeli king Solomon had about 700 wives and several thousand mistresses.
35. King Louis XIV of France, known as the "Sun King", had over 400 beds.
36. Napoleon had ailurophobia - fear of cats.
37. Winston Churchill was born in the women's room of the Blenheim family castle. During the ball, his mother felt unwell and soon gave birth.
38. Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr and his brother, renowned mathematician Harald Bohr, were football players. At the same time, Harald was a member of the Danish national team and even took second place at the 1905 Olympics.
39. The phrase “The king is dead, long live the king” was uttered by Catherine de Medici when she learned about the death of her son Charles IX.
40. Swedish King Charles VII, who was assassinated in 1167, was the first king of a state named Charles! Charles I, II, III, IV, V and VI never existed, and it is not clear where the prefix "seventh" came from. A couple of centuries later, King Charles VIII (1448-1457) appeared in Sweden.
41. Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, was an ophthalmologist by profession.
42. Attila the Barbarian died in 453 on his wedding night immediately after the wedding.
43. Beethoven always brewed coffee from 64 grains.
44. The British Queen Victoria (1819-1901), who ruled Britain for 64 years, spoke English with an accent. She had german roots.
45. In 1357, a dead woman was crowned Queen of Portugal. She became Princess Ines de Castro, the second wife of Pedro I. Two years earlier, her father-in-law, Alfonso "Proud", who hated her for being a commoner, secretly ordered his people to kill her and her children. When Pedro became king, he ordered the removal of Inés' body from the grave and forced the nobility to recognize her as Queen of Portugal.
46. ​​In 1849, Senator David Atchison became President of the United States for only 1 day, and most that day he… overslept.
47. The Grand Vizier of Persia, Abdul Kassim Ismail (who lived in the 10th century) never parted with his library. If he went somewhere, the library “followed” him. 117 thousand book volumes were transported by 400 camels. Moreover, the books (together with the camels) were arranged in alphabetical order.
48. The great Genghis Khan died while having sex.
49. Hannibal died in 183 BC. e. taking poison when he learned that the Romans had come to kill him.
50. Hans-Christian Andersen could not write almost a single word without errors.
51. Henry IV often flogged his son, the future Louis XIII.
52. The Danish king Frederick IV was a bigamist. He married twice while his wife Queen Louise was alive. His first lover died in childbirth, his second lover was only queen for 19 days after the death of Queen Louise. All the children from both of his mistresses either died at birth or in infancy, as he believed for his sinful life. He later became extremely religious.
53. Jack the Ripper, the most famous killer of the 19th century, always committed his crimes on weekends.
54. Dr. Alice Chase, who wrote the book " healthy eating and many books about proper nutrition died of malnutrition.
55. Once the merchant Krasnobryukhov turned to Alexander I with a request to change his surname, and he allowed him to be called ... Sinebryukhov. After that, the merchant went to Finland with grief and founded the famous Koff brewing company there.
56. When the Russian Queen Elizabeth I died in 1762, more than 15,000 dresses were found in her wardrobe.
57. Mozart started composing music at the age of 3.
58. There is not a single living descendant of William Shakespeare left on Earth.
59. Before composing music, Beethoven poured a bucket of cold water on his head, believing that it stimulated the brain.
60. Thomas Edison wrote 40,000 pages while designing the light bulb.
61. “Dream in midsummer night” Felix Mendelssohn wrote at the age of 17. It became his most famous work.
62. Beria suffered from syphilis.
63. More than 100 descendants of Johann Sebastian Bach became organists.
64. In the ZZ Top group, only one member does not have a beard. And his name is Beard, which in English means ... "beard".
65. Since 1932, only Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush have not been elected to the United States for a second term as president.
66. Ilf and Petrov discarded ideas that came to both minds at once - in order to avoid clichés.
67. When Beethoven wrote the famous Ninth Symphony, he was completely deaf.
68. Composer Franz Liszt was the father-in-law of the German composer Richard Wagner.
69. Paul McCartney's mother was a midwife.
70. Writer Rudyard Kipling couldn't write in ink unless it was black.
71. Writer Charles Dickens wrote with his face to the north. He also always slept with his head to the north.
72. The Roman emperor Commodus gathered dwarfs, cripples and freaks from all over the Roman Empire to arrange fights between them in the Colosseum.
73. The Roman emperor Julius Caesar wore a laurel wreath on his head to hide his growing baldness.
74. Russian composer Alexander Borodin was also a well-known chemist in St. Petersburg.
75. The smallest of the American presidents is James Madison (1.62 m), and Abraham Lincoln is the tallest (1.93 m).
76. The shortest British monarch is Charles I. His height was 4 feet 9 inches (about 140 cm). After his head was cut off, his height became even smaller.
77. The body of Voltaire, who died in 1778, was stolen from the grave and was never found. The loss was discovered in 1864.
78. Balzac has whole book dedicated to ... a tie.
79. The British Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) had about 3,000 outfits.
80. American Pete Ruff knocks an apple off his own head with a boomerang.
81. American industrial tycoon and billionaire John Rockefeller donated over $550 million. to various foundations and institutions.
82. American President Benjamin Franklin advocated that the national bird of America was the turkey.
83. In 1856, the English chemist William Perkin, while trying to obtain quinine from aniline, invented the first artificial dye, mauveine.
84. In the village of Lobovskoye, Saratov Region. there lives a beekeeper who is able to withstand 40 hours in a hive with bees completely naked.
85. In the period from 1952 - 1966, 5 children were born in the family of Ralph and Carolyn Cummins and all of them have a birthday on February 20th.
86. Galileo Galilei was the first person to propose using a pendulum to measure time.
87. Hannibal died in 183 BC after taking poison when he learned that the Romans had come to kill him.
88. Grover Cleveland was the only US president to marry in the White House.
89. James Madison was the smallest of the American presidents (1.62 m), and Abraham Lincoln was the tallest (1.93 m).
90. Dr. Alice Chase, who wrote the book Healthy Eating and many books on proper nutrition, died of malnutrition.
91. For 35 years, Mozart created over 600 works. But after his death, the widow did not have money for a separate place in the cemetery
92. Famous 19th century bullfighter Lagarijo (born Rafael Molina) killed 4867 bulls.
93. When the German physicist A. Einstein died, his last words left with him. Nurse, former nearby did not understand German.
94. Maximum amount crosswords compiled by Andrian Bell. From January 1930 to 1980 he sent 4,520 crossword puzzles to The Times.
95. Robert Lincoln, son of President Lincoln, was rescued from a car accident by one Edwin Booth. As it turns out, Edwin is the brother of Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. The father tried to kill the father, and their children saved each other
96. The first American president to use the telephone was James Garfield.
97. Concept a negative number was first introduced by the Italian merchant Pisano in 1202, denoting his debts and losses.
98. The world's largest private collection of meteorites belongs to the American Robert Haag - from the age of 12 he collected 2 tons of heavenly stones.
99. Thomas Edison had a collection of birds in 5000 copies.
100. Frenchmen Jeanne Louise and Guy Bruty made a crossword puzzle on a sheet of paper 5 m long and 3 m wide, from 18 thousand words and 50 thousand cells.
101. Shakespeare mentioned roses more than 50 times in his poems.
102. Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, was the only president to make his own clothes.
103. Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day - February 12, 1809. The scientist lived almost 20 years longer than the politician.
104. Bill Clinton sent two emails during his entire presidency, one of which was a test to check that everything was working properly. I wonder who the second letter was to? Maybe Monica?
105. In 1759, Arthur Guinness leased St. Gate's brewery for 9,000 years at a rent of £45 a year. The famous Guinness beer was brewed there.
106. In 1981, Deborah Ann Fontan, Miss NY, was disqualified for excessive use of cotton stuffing in a swimsuit competition
107. George Washington did not shake hands when meeting - he preferred to bow
108. The only president of the United States, concurrently being the chairman of any union - Ronald Reagan, who heads the Screen Actors Guild
109. If you remember a little school physics course, then you know that there is a Richter temperature scale. So this same Charles Richter was a malicious nudist, because of which his wife left him
110. If you read the works of the writer Stephen King, you should notice that most of the actions of his stories take place in Maine. Paradoxically, this state has the lowest crime rate in the United States.
111. The founder of psychoanalysis has a lot of oddities. Freud was terrified of the number 62. He refused to book a hotel room with more than 62 rooms for fear of accidentally getting a room with the number 62. He used cocaine, like many of his contemporaries.
112. The famous entrepreneur Henry Ford preferred to hire people with physical disabilities - among the workers of his factories in 1919, there was one disabled person for four healthy people.
113. Research Louis Pasteur sponsored a beer factory. They also paid him a ticket to an international congress. When Pasteur was given the floor at the congress, the first thing he did was to hang advertising posters with beer on the stage. And he began his speech with the words that this beer is the best. And then he got down to business.
114. Madonna and Celine Dion are cousins ​​of Prince Charles's wife, Camilla
115. The father of the famous comedian Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun, etc.) served as a policeman in Canada, and his brother worked in the Canadian Parliament
116. The father of tennis player Andre Agassi represented Iran at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. He was... a boxer

The revolution of 1917 is certainly one of the most significant events not only the history of our country, but of the whole world.
It was she who changed the entire course of world history for the last 100 years.
Thousands of volumes of books have been written about this revolution, it has acquired myths and legends. I would like to talk about a few little known facts which are documented in one way or another.

The revolution of 1917 was being prepared for a long time and very thoroughly.
Huge for those times money (two hundred million dollars) in the preparation of the revolutionary situation were invested by American financial tycoons. Not without participation in this and the banking house of the Rothschilds.
Even then they had a dream to destroy Russia as a state. And destroy from within. Together with its economy, culture and mentality.
Money for this business came different ways, including through Europe and directly through the New York Stock Exchange.
With this money, subversive activities were carried out, newspapers and leaflets were published, weapons were purchased. Moreover, various parties and movements were financed. The largest, and at the same time the most important fighting force of that time, was the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, which until 1918 collaborated with the Bolshevik Party. By the time of the revolution, the Bolshevik Party had only 25,000 members.

There were rumors that the October Revolution was actively financed by Germany, and Lenin was a German spy.
But this is just a myth. Naturally, there was some funding, but small and from private sources.
They even came up with the legend of the "sealed wagon" in which Germany threw Bolshevik leaders into Russia.
But in fact, this car went from Switzerland, and not to Russia, but to the German station of Sassnitz, where the passengers boarded the ship to Stockholm.
In addition to the Bolsheviks, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and representatives of the Jewish Social Democratic Party "Bund" also rode in the car.
Importantly, all passengers paid for the fare out of their own pockets.
A prerequisite for the passage of the car through the territory of Germany was the agitation of passengers in Russia for the exchange and sending of interned Germans to Germany. The terms of this agreement were made public in the Swiss and Russian press.

That is, the main expenses for the preparation of the revolution still lay on the Americans.
First, they provoked the First World War with the hands of Germany and Japan for an external attack on Russia.
Then they also dealt an internal blow. By 1916, it was the henchmen of American financial circles who controlled many sectors of the Russian economy. Including the railroad and food supplies.
Which is what they used. As a result of their actions, the food trains that went to St. Petersburg and Moscow were stopped. Although warehouses, access roads and elevators were literally clogged with food, food shortages began in large cities, and their prices soared several times.
The revolutionary situation grew stronger and stronger. liberal press of that time, which, as now, was the mouthpiece of American moneybags, only warmed up and inflamed the situation.
As a result, there was an explosion of social protest, and the revolution was not long in coming.

Interestingly, the Soviet Union was destroyed in approximately the same way.
In the late 80s and early 90s, again, through the efforts of liberals, or rather the right liberal wing of the CPSU Central Committee under the leadership of Politburo members Yakovlev and Medvedev, a severe commodity deficit was artificially created in the country. Which literally in one day was allowed by the liberalization of prices according to Gaidar.
Approximately the same, and again through the efforts of the same liberals, this time by the economic bloc of the government, a deficit has been created today. But it is no longer commodity, but monetary.
The struggle with the country continues.

And then, in 1917, the February bourgeois revolution first happened, which did not bring the desired result for the organizers.
And then the October Revolution, which was prepared and carried out by the Bolsheviks.
And, by the way, well prepared. The success of the revolution was predetermined by the support of a significant part of the people, the inaction of the Provisional Government, the inability of the Mensheviks and Right Social Revolutionaries to offer a real alternative to Bolshevism.
As you know, the main leaders of that revolution were two people - Lenin and Trotsky.
What is curious is that, for example, Ulyanov-Lenin, at the age of seven, received the rank of real state councilor - for a moment this is a civil rank of the 4th class, corresponding to the military rank of major general. The rank gave the right to hereditary nobility.
And Trotsky, who was born into the family of a wealthy landowner, at the time of the revolution was generally a US citizen, and arrived in Russia after February Revolution. Having previously met with US President Woodrow Wilson and received $20 million in gold from American banker Jacob Schiff!

These two people were the main ideologists and engines of the October Revolution.
It is known that they considered each other competitors and therefore were not friends. Moreover, they did not like each other.
Lenin, in some of his articles, spoke of Trotsky in a very unflattering way. Trotsky, in turn, also poured dirt on Lenin and said that Lenin was a dishonorable and unprincipled person. Nevertheless, they organized the Revolution and won it.
At the time when Trotsky was leading the uprising, Lenin traveled to Smolny with forged documents, wearing a wig and with a bandaged cheek.
Lenin was generally a master of disguise. And he's not the only one. At the same time, fearing the reprisals of the Bolsheviks, the chairman of the Provisional Government, Kerensky, fled the Winter Palace, disguised as a sister of mercy. Such was the revolution.

The entire revolution lasted only three days, and the capture of the Winter Palace took four hours, with six casualties and almost no pogroms.
The only thing they did in the Winter Palace revolutionary sailors, so they just ransacked the wine cellar and got drunk.
A few hours later, an "Appeal to the People of Russia" sounded on the radio, in which the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee announced the transfer of power to the Soviets.

Already after the revolution, in the same 1917, Norway proposed to hand Lenin Nobel Prize peace.
In the submission to the Nobel Committee it was written:
"Until now, Lenin has done most of all for the triumph of the idea of ​​peace. He not only propagates peace with all his might, but also takes concrete measures to achieve it."
The application was rejected due to the deadline for accepting applications. At the same time, the Nobel Committee stated that it would not object to the award of the prize if peace was established in Russia. But the outbreak of the Civil War did not allow Lenin to become a Nobel laureate.
But that is another story...