The more the lie spreads, the more bizarre it becomes. —Ovid, the ancient Roman poet
The three of them become tigers, and no matter how ordinary the story is, it will become more and more outrageous, and after a long time, it may be regarded as the so-called "history".
For various reasons, some Chinese are full of "yearning" for the West, and regard the "rumors" deliberately fabricated by some Westerners as historical truth, which are widely disseminated in China......
Inventory of the 4 major rumors that have been widely spread in Western history, but there are still some Chinese people who believe it, how many do you know?
300 Spartan warriors resisted 500,000 Persian troops
"Spartan 300 Warriors", released in 2007, is considered by many to be the "best ancient war" movie.
The movie tells the story of the famous Battle of Hot Springs, in which the Spartan warriors are powerful, handsome, bronzed skin and 8-pack abs, with 300 people and 500,000 Persian troops, which perfectly interprets what a macho man should look like.
Thus, the Spartan warrior became almost synonymous with "warrior".
However, the extremely brave Spartan warriors in the film are actually only the result of artistic processing in later generations, and the Spartan warriors in history are far less "fierce" than in the film.
The so-called 300 men to kill 20,000 people is very watery, and an average of 66 enemies have to be eliminated by one person.
What is the concept?
In China's thousands of years of history, there are only dozens of people who have clearly recorded the "100 people beheaded", including Xiang Yu, Ran Min, Yang Zaixing, Wen Yang, Fu Youde and others, all of whom are famous top generals.
If the 300 people of Sparta really had "100 people killed" per capita, the Greek city-states would have been unified long ago.
In fact, the Greeks were the main force against Persia, and the Battle of Thermopylae was fought by 6,400 Greek allies and 300 Spartans.
The reason why the Persians paid such heavy casualties was that the terrain of Thermopoya Pass was narrow, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the large army could not be deployed, so they could only adopt the "refueling tactic".
Later Alexander the Great could not make a single bronze armor for each soldier
Historically, all the Spartans who participated in the war were killed and did their duty, but it was not necessary to boast that they were the "gods of war".
Alexander conquered the East by force
Alexander is considered the greatest military genius in the history of the West, there is no one.
He spanned 13 years, starting with 47,000 people, unifying Greece, occupying Egypt, destroying Persia, all the way to the Ganges Valley in India, and establishing a great empire across Asia, Europe and Africa.
Alexander's life was full of legends, and he died at the age of 33, and is considered the most influential figure in human history.
But is Alexander's story really true?
Alexander's experience is too "legendary", or rather "magical".
Such a powerful "ancestor", the Europeans actually did not know at first.
The Macedonian spear is 7 meters long, and the actual combat effect is doubtful
The earliest record of Alexander is the Persian epic poem The Book of Kings, which records Alexander as the half-brother of King Darius III of Persia.
It was not until after the Renaissance in the 17th century, when Europeans finally studied "Ancient Greece", that the story of "Alexander the Great" began to appear on a large scale at this time.
At that time, bronze smelting technology was not developed in Europe, and the soldiers were mainly leather armor
Relying on 47,000 men, Alexander fought to India in 10 years.
What is the concept?
In the 13th century, the Mongol cavalry roamed the world, riding horses for 8 years to fight from Central Asia to Eastern Europe;
Alexander's 40,000 infantry, walking to India for 10 years, can still be invincible, it is really incredible.
And the credibility of the documentary account of Alexandria is questionable.
Alexander's Crusade in the British Museum, which records Alexander's conquest of China and the surrender of the King of Qin on an elephant......
This is completely apocryphal.
In addition, the so-called "Alexander's Empire" actually inherited the main territory of the Persian Empire.
The Persian Empire was a loose alliance at the time, and after Alexander defeated the Persian king, he took his place as the "leader", and the rest of the territory recognized Alexander's position and did not resist by force on a large scale.
As a result, the gold content of Alexander's crusade was greatly reduced, and there were few hard battles.
At that time, even iron weapons were not widely used in Europe
At present, many records of Alexander are mixed with legends and various historical materials, and because Westerners did not record history in ancient times, it is likely that other people's exploits were added to Alexander.
Alexander's story is more similar to "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", which has a certain historical basis, but the artistic component is not small.
Napoleon was a dwarf
All rumors are created with ulterior motives, either for their own benefit or to discredit others.
Napoleon was probably the biggest victim of rumors.
Napoleon was the most successful military strategist in Europe, and his tactical thinking, especially his understanding of artillery, surpassed all his contemporaries.
Battle of Austerlitz
He assessed the civil strife in France, defeated the anti-French alliance five times, conquered Spain and Italy, defeated Prussia, Austria, and Russia, blockaded Britain, and shocked the entire European continent.
According to Chinese history, Napoleon was the most likely ruler to unify Europe for two thousand years.
But with the intervention of the British, Napoleon failed and lost everything he had at Waterloo.
During the Napoleonic Wars, in order to discredit Napoleon, Britain spread negative news about Napoleon on a large scale, spreading rumors that he was a "dwarf" and a "monster of Corsica".
After a hundred years of feud between Britain and France, after Napoleon's defeat, Britain became the world's first power, and continued to purposefully smear Napoleon's image.
Battle of Waterloo
In fact, according to Napoleon's autopsy report, his height was 171.2 centimeters.
At that time, the average height of an adult male in France was only about 1.65 meters, which was similar in Britain and other European countries at that time.
So, the rumor that Napoleon was "short" was an outright rumor, at least at that time, his height was above average!
Sadly, history is written by the victors.
To this day, "Shorty" is still a label that Napoleon can't shake off, because he lost to England that year.
Newton was smashed by an apple
"Heaven does not give birth to Newton, and eternity is like a long night".
Whether it is the ranking of the greatest scientists or the ranking of the most influential Englishmen, Newton deserves to be the first.
Newton's contribution to mankind was enormous, he proposed the law of gravitation, the three laws of motion, invented calculus, and laid the foundation for the development of science in later generations.
Legend has it that while resting under an apple tree, Newton was hit on the head by a falling apple, and began to wonder why the apple fell, and eventually discovered the law of universal gravitation.
Chinese believe in "flash of inspiration" and believe that great people behave differently in childhood, and foreigners are no different.
As a result, the story of "Newton was smashed by an apple" has become the most widely circulated inspirational story in the world.
But unfortunately, this matter is most likely fake.
The original version of the story was that Newton happened to see the whereabouts of the apple.
It was first proposed by Newton's good friend archaeologist William Strickley, who also wrote a biography of Newton, so the possibility of compilation is not ruled out.
Another theory is that the story was first proposed by the French philosopher Voltaire, who in turn listened to his niece of Newton.
But either way, Newton was not "smashed" by an apple.
Newton's greatness is undeniable, and it doesn't need to be spiced up with inspirational stories like "the apple smashed to the head".
There are many other famous rumors in the West, such as Cleopatra's affair, the use of Trojan horses to break cities, and even the authenticity of the American moon landing is full of controversy.
In ancient times, there was no tradition of serious historical records in the West, and the "epics" of secondary literary processing were widely circulated, and the credibility should actually be marked with a big sign, and we cannot believe in this without brains.
Do you know about those famous rumors in the West? Welcome to leave a message to discuss.
Reference Sources:
[1] Xiaoxiang Morning News, "Did Newton Get Hit on the Head by an Apple?" 》2022.12.23
[2] Chinanews.com, "Napoleon is not short in height, 1.68 meters is poisoned by arsenic, or it is not credible", 2015.04.09
[3] Upstream News "The Myth and Mystery of the Three Hundred Warriors of Sparta: What Really Happened in the Battle of Hot Springs?" 》
However, in order to improve the readability of the article, there may be polishing of the details, please read sensibly, for reference only!
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