History of mankind is sprinkled with bloopers. Whether it was a simple curiosity that ‘killed the cat’ or extreme measure that backfired, epic fails have secured their own place in the history of mankind.
These 5 incidents bear witness to the epic ways fate trolls mankind – showing that even the most thought out plan can backfire on us.
1. The Trojan horse
This famous tale comes from ancient Greece. Even after trying for almost 10 years, the Greeks couldn’t invade the city of Troy, so they made a plan. In a huge statue of a horse, they hid a select army, left it outside of the city and made a show of sailing away; the Trojans brought the statue inside the city, claiming it as a trophy. Then at the night fell, thinking they are free of the Greek advances, the Trojans loosened their security and went to bed – the rest is history!
2. The death of Mithridates VI
Mithridates VI was the king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia, which is now Turkey, circa 120–63 BC. He was one of the most formidable and successful enemies of the Roman empire. Like any other king, his life was in constant danger; so to avoid being killed by poison, Mithridates had been taking small doses of poison to become immune against it. When he was defeated by Pompey, he tried to commit suicide, rather than get caught by the Romans, by taking poison, against which he had already built a strong immunity!
3. Operation Barbarossa
It is the code name of the futile German invasion of Russia during World War II. Despite the pact of allegiance signed between the two countries, Nazi army invaded Russia in 1941 and initially made some progress as well. But in the long run, their army was defeated, mostly by the harsh Russian winter.
4. The curious case of Captain Grimes
One of the prisoners of the Civil War of Missouri in America (1864-65), Captain Absalom Grimes, tried to escape from his prison repeatedly but got caught every time. As punishment, he whipped at stake publicly; in fact, the beating caused such injuries that his health deteriorated to the point where he was released with the Presidential pardon.
5. The USA’s ban on alcohol
In early 1920, alcohol was banned in the USA; the government hoped that issues from unemployment to domestic violence would solve automatically at the absence of alcohol. Little did they know that it would only fuel both the alcoholism and the alcohol smuggling industry! The plan backfired so badly that the ban was lifted in 1935.
And each time destiny had the last laugh!