100 Mistakes That Changed History

• Sometimes, a mistake, even one that changes history, comes from ignorance, not stupidity or bad judgment. But even with that said, in this case, the difference between intent and ignorance does not make the consequences less disastrous.

• Some great thinkers are years ahead of their time, whereas others are millennia ahead of theirs.

• If you have everything to lose and winning will not win the war, accept any peace you can get.

• Had Carthage survived as a major economic presence in the Mediterranean, the city might well have slowed or changed the expansion of Rome. Certainly its mercantile philosophy and family-centered social structure would have been more present in today’s Western culture as opposed to the patriotic and state-centered ideal that we have all inherited from Rome.

Destroying Your Own Economy

This mistake is one made over and over by great nations and empires. It is hoped that our current leaders have learned from history. The mistake here is using inflation to pay the bills. Now, before the use of paper money, which was introduced hundreds of years ago by Muslim rulers to great success, all money was in coins. Today when we work with coins, the pureness is guaranteed and enforced, but it is easy to forget that this was not always the case. This is a mistake that history has seen time and time again. Perhaps the temptation is just too great. Recently Zimbabwe printed itself into a situation in which there were days when the value of its currency would halve every hour. The Weimar Republic, in post-World War I Germany, created hyperinflation by just printing all the money they needed and hence decreasing the deutschemark until it was effectively valueless. Weimar’s government was voted out of office, and the Nazis were voted in on the promise to fix the economy. We all paid a high price for that inflationary spiral. The caliphs made this same error, and it crippled Islam, ending its most vibrant and expansive period. But if you go even further back, you will find that this mistake was yet another factor that brought down both the original and later the Eastern Roman empires.

Josephus

Josephus, along with forty of his men, took refuge in a cave. When their position was revealed to the Romans, Josephus decided to surrender; however, his companions did not allow it. So, Josephus had another idea. Every third man would kill his closest neighbor. When the last two men were left standing, they would draw lots to decide which man would kill the other. The last man would kill himself. This meant that only one man would break Jewish law by committing suicide. Of course, Josephus was one of the last of two men left alive. He stated in his writing that it was God’s will, but it could have simply been the result of someone who could perform simple mathematics. Josephus was taken prisoner but was later released. He lived out the rest of his life in Rome.

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, during much of the Dark Ages and Renaissance, was always short on money. Or perhaps more accurately, for most of that period before the riches of the New World poured in, most of Europe was always short of hard currency, and that was all there was. There was no paper money. The Church needed to support the clergy, the buildings, the Papal States (including their army), and its charities.

The Catholic Church used all of the tools it had to help raise money. One of these was its power to forgive sins or even decide if something was a sin. The really interesting part was that the Church could forgive sins before they were made. This led to the widespread sale of dispensations by the clergy. These were absolutions, or forgiveness, sometimes even in advance, for sinning. You paid your money in, and your sin was forgiven. These dispensations were one of the reasons for the Protestant Reformation. But at this time, if you were rich and important enough, you could get a dispensation for something as serious as murder. Even then, the Roman Catholic Church was working to reform itself. It was under pressure from the Protestants and just as much pressure from the reformers internally. Nevertheless, at the start of the 1500s, if the matter was serious enough and the donation (bribe) was large enough, a dispensation could still be bought. This was particularly true when kings and thrones were involved. As it had been for several centuries, the Catholic Church was very much both a political and a spiritual entity.

The Black Death and the Revenge of the Cats

The Black Death was one of the worst pandemics in human history. It led to one of the most self-defeating slaughters in history. Cats were rumored to be the source of the plague. In those panicky times, no more than a rumor was needed. All over Europe the house cats were slain. Cat lovers today can take consolation in the slaughter along with the ghosts of murdered cats. They had their revenge in the form of millions of additional Europeans succumbing to a horrific death.

The killing of tens of thousands of cats during this time, encouraged primarily by the Catholic Church, caused the flea-infested rodent population in Europe to soar. Those rats most likely carried the bubonic plague, passing it on to humans through fleas that had been on the host rat, become infected, and then bitten humans. There were no insect sprays and no protection. Fleas and other pests were everywhere in the newly growing cities all over the continent. It is estimated that perhaps half of the population in Europe succumbed to this horrendous death from 1348 to 1352.

The bubonic plague was the most common type of infection seen during the Black Death. It was characterized by black spots on the chest and black swelling under the armpits and at the tops of the legs. The buboes, or swollen lymph nodes, turned black, oozed pus, and bled. Of those contracting the disease, four out of five died within eight days. The second most common type of infection seen at this time was the pneumonic plague, which affected the lungs, causing the victims to choke to death on their own blood. This type of plague had about a 95 percent mortality rate. The plague struck and then killed so quickly that the Italian writer Boccaccio said its victims often “ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise.” It is no wonder that even the hint of the plague caused a panic. Not only did cats suffer, but often Jews and other minorities were blamed and murdered.

Now, cats were not always considered the “diabolical creatures” that Pope Gregory IX declared them to be in a papal letter in 1232. The ancient Egyptians had developed elaborate ways to store large amounts of grain and other food. Rats and mice were attracted and could damage much of the crop. The Egyptians found that cats were natural predators of the rats and could be used to protect the stores of food. Cats eventually moved into Egyptian households, and they became thought of as godlike and were revered and worshiped. Eventually in Egypt killing a cat was considered an extremely serious offense, punishable by death. The Romans were introduced to cats by the Egyptians, and they were the first European group to keep cats primarily as pets. But the animals were still valued for their ability to keep rodent populations down.

The Black Plague first surfaced in Mongolia, spread to China, and was brought over to Europe on merchant ships. During the early thirteenth century, cats began to be looked at with suspicion. The pagan Egyptians had venerated them and the pagan Romans valued cats. The Catholic Church was determined to root out heretics and eliminate paganism in Europe. “. In medieval society, cats were already somewhat misunderstood for their aloofness and independent nature. If you do not handle kittens, they become quite feral as adults. That makes them good hunters, but wary of humans. Pope Gregory IX first made an association between cats and the devil. The Church focused on the Albigensians, a group the Church leadership suspected of worshiping the devil. During Satanic masses, it was alleged that the devil took the form of a black cat. It was said that the Albigensians were required by Satan to kiss the back side of the black cat during the mass. The concept of “a familiar” also coincided with the persecution of the Albigensians and other heretical groups during this time. A familiar was a supernatural being who could take many shapes, and it was believed to be something Satan gave to witches and other devil worshipers to facilitate evil acts. Cats were thought of as a common familiar. In fact, manuals that were developed to help authorities hunt witches often cited that ownership of a cat was compelling evidence that the cat’s owner was actually a witch.

During this time, if a person was declared a witch, he “or she was condemned to burn at the stake. If this happened, the cat was burned along with its owner. Many commoners became afraid of being accused of witchcraft, so they killed or got rid of their own cats. Cats were slaughtered by the tens of thousands in cities and villages across Europe, and the domestic cat population came close to being eliminated.
Some in the aristocratic class were less vulnerable to the superstitions wracking Christianity. They kept their cats exactly because of the animals’ ability to reduce or eliminate the rat population in and around their homes. Of course, they had no idea that the rats actually carried disease, but having some of those cats in the homes of the aristocracy certainly helped keep the plague from wiping out many in the upper classes. The mass killing of cats preceded the arrival of the infected rodents, greatly compromising the barrier between humans and the rats.

Many people during that time believed that the devil granted to witches the power to exact revenge for any slight or threat. This made them, and their familiars, a source of fear. It was thought that a witch’s revenge could devastate large portionsof a country. So when things went wrong, the witches and their cats took the blame. Between 1300 and 1700, persecution of witches was at its peak in Europe. It is not surprising that this persecution coincided with successive waves of plague, which wracked the continent.

The Black Death was certainly the most devastating of all of these plagues. Not only did it decimate the population, but it also was the catalyst for profound social and economic changes. In western Europe, landlords had to compete for peasant labor, providing increased wages or even freedom for the peasants. When peasants demanded higher wages, and the landlords refused, revolts broke out in England, Italy, Belgium, and France. Many historians have suggested that the roots of capitalism took hold at that time. The disease also had a profound effect on the Catholic Church. So many believers had prayed for deliverance from the plague and killed their cats. When those prayers weren’t answered, the power of the Church and its numbers declined, and a new period of philosophical questioning emerged. The resulting social upheaval started an era of contemplation and concentration on the arts, music, and literature. The Renaissance had begun.

If it weren’t for the domestic cat’s existence in Europe and the sheltering of those cats by the aristocracy there, even more than half of the population could have been wiped out when the Black Death peaked between 1348 and 1350. The disease had enormous social, economic, and religious consequences, including the end of feudalism and the rise of the Renaissance. It took Europe’s population several hundred years to recover from the devastating impact of the disease. And the severity of this loss could have been dramatically reduced had it not been for the fear-mongering of religious leadership at the time.

Some superstitions about cats, which started in the panic seven centuries ago, still remain. These include such baseless notions as crossing the path of a black cat bringing you bad luck, cats being a threat to newborns, and cats being familiars to devil worshipers. It is no coincidence that the more cats were demonized and the more their owners were viewed as possible witches and heretics, the more widespread the Black Death became. Cats were the first line of defense against the real carrier of the plague.

Fear of Success

China is responsible for many of the world’s grand innovations—the Great Wall, the block press, and gunpowder, just to name a few. Although the entire known world has heard of these, the greatest achievement in China’s history was without a doubt the development of Zheng He’s navy. Years before Magellan and Columbus set sail, the majestic fleet made its way to the east coast of Africa and beyond. Unfortunately, its days of glory came and went, leaving only whispers of its existence.
The navy came about in 1403, a year after Zhu Di came into power. This emperor was different from his predecessor. 

He wanted to create an empire devoted to invention and exploration. He funded great building projects, such as the extension of the Great Wall, and he encouraged invention. To create an air of change, he moved the capital to Peking and founded the Forbidden City. He wanted to spread the gift of knowledge, so he employed scribes to accumulate all the information they could gather. The resulting data was collected and used to compile an 11,000-volume encyclopedia. In addition to these marvelous achievements, he ordered the construction of a massive navy. It became the greatest construction project since the building of the Great Wall.

At the head of this project he appointed the eunuch, Zheng He. Zheng He was the emperor’s confidant and had played a large role in seizing control from the previous leadership. He envisioned a grand navy, the likes of which had never been seen. To see his dream come to fruition, Zheng He hired 20,000 of the finest craftsmen. Not only did they build ships, but they also built the dry docks needed to house the ships. The dry docks were bigger than any used in the past and are still comparable to any in use today. Although Europeans did not use dry docks until around 1495, the Chinese had been using them for 600 years. The craftsmen engineered special features in the dock. When a ship was ready for launch, the bays could be filled with water, allowing the ship to float out into the Yangzi River. And this was just what the craftsmen accomplished in the dry dock area. What they were able to achieve with shipbuilding is nothing short of miraculous.

Upon its completion, the fleet was larger and more powerful than all the combined fleets of Europe during the age of explorers. It consisted of Fuchuan warships, patrol boats, supply ships, troop transporters, water tankers, and, largest of all, the treasure ships. These colossal vessels were a marvel in engineering. They were more than 120 meters long. (That’s longer than a football field.) And, in order to ensure that the ships would still be maneuverable, they were built with a shallow hull. This hull was wide and contained sixteen watertight bulkheads. The use of watertight bulkheads was not perfected in Europe until the nineteenth century.

In addition to being large, the treasure ships had a carrying capacity of 3,600 tons. Two anchors were used to weigh the ship in harbor. Each one measured more than two meters long. Rudders, which could be as long as eleven meters, steered the ship on its journey. So the sailors could make the best use of the wind, craftsmen designed triangular-shaped sails that pivoted around the masts. In the case of the treasure ships, there could be as many as nine masts. Unlike later European ships, Zheng He’s vessels did not lose proficiency if the wind was not at their backs.

Another unique feature of the Chinese fleet was that it was completely self-sufficient. Tankers supplied much-needed water, while cattle ships kept the crews in beef. Poor diet often posed problems for crews. Without vitamin C-enriched foods, crew members suffered from scurvy. Zheng He came up with a solution to the problem. Certain supply ships came equipped with growing beds, which the crews used to raise soy. Not only is soy rich in vitamin C; it also yields a big crop in a small amount of space. Because of the constant supply of sprouts, crew members no longer fell prey to the agonizing effects of scurvy. Zheng He managed to solve the age-old affliction of seafarers, which would continue to plague European sailors until the voyages of Captain Cook some three and a half centuries later.

The fleet itself consisted of 300 ships and 28,000 crew members. Although the ships were large enough to house settlers, the emperor had no interest in colonization. He wanted trade. In particular, the Chinese wanted pepper and frankincense. In exchange for these goods, they offered silk and porcelain. The Silk Road had been closed to them by the Mongols, so the Chinese became masters of the waterways. They raised money for their expeditions by intimidating countries into paying tribute. Most did not refuse because of the great size of the navy. When countries did offer objections, they were met with force and easily defeated by the well-equipped Chinese ships, which used cannons, flame throwers, grenade launchers, water mines, and crossbows that could fire twenty arrows every fifteen seconds. This immense strength coupled with Zheng He’s own diplomatic skill ensured his place as king of the high seas. Zheng He used his powerful position for other things besides trade. He brought back medical cures from the Arabic world as well as exotic animals; the most important of these being the Arabian horse, which proved more maneuverable than the Chinese horse.

Despite the improvements made to society, conservative followers of the teachings of Confucius felt that the navy was becoming too costly. They also believed that tradition was far more important and better for the country than trying to attain knowledge from the outside world. These beliefs spread throughout court. The imperial court split into two separate factions; the traditionalists who wanted isolation and those who wanted all the world could provide. The matter soon settled itself.

In 1424 Emperor Zhu Di died. Conservatives wasted no time seizing control of the throne. The new emperor immediately implemented changes that would ensure China’s centralization. He ordered that all naval voyages to the outside world cease. He also stopped all construction of naval vessels. None were to be built or repaired. Before long, the ships fell into disrepair. By 1503 the navy was one-tenth its former size. Conservatives destroyed the ship logs and any other evidence they could find of the navy’s voyages.

Zheng He did not wish for his greatest work to die without recognition. He erected a monument in honor of the goddess who he claimed protected him during his perilous journeys. Along with praises and exaltation, the monument included detailed accounts of where the navy had traveled. According to the writings, the navy sailed to Sumatra, Taiwan, Java, Ceylon, India, Persia, the Persian Gulf, Arabia, the Red Sea, and the African east coast. There is also modern evidence suggesting that the Chinese navy made it all the way to the Americas.

If this is true, then the Chinese could have easily gone on to be the world’s first superpower. With a strong naval presence in China, it is doubtful that the Portuguese would have established ports on the Chinese coast. The same is true for the rest of the Europeans. They may never have branched out as far as they did had the Chinese already established themselves firmly in India and the Persian Gulf. Centuries later, Japan would have thought twice before invading such a powerful nation. These are mere speculations and it is difficult to gauge what might have happened had the Chinese maintained a strong naval presence. However, one thing is certain: A country that once looked outward and led the world through technology and exploration turned in on itself, leaving only hints of its former glory.

A Math Error

In 1491, a noted Spanish ship’s captain and seaman made a math error when calculating the circumference of the earth. At the equator, a line drawn all the way around our planet is about 25,000 miles long. This has been known and verified by various forms of mathematics since the time of ancient Egypt. But Christopher Columbus was convinced based on his own calculations that this number was 15,000 miles.

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Believing his own math was vindicated, the captain called the native peoples “Indians” and called the islands he finally landed on the “Indies.” Columbus died poor and would be amazed at how he has been revered today. He also might be a little upset to find out just how wrong he was. This math error may have been for Spain and Europe the most serendipitous mistake of all time. It brought the Spanish crown two centuries of plundered wealth and power while opening two continents to Europe.

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus

In 458 BCE, when the consular army of Rome was besieged by the Aequins, the Senate declared a state of emergency so they might elect a dictator to save them from their peril. They chose Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus to take up this noble cause. He defeated the Aequins in one day, led a triumph through Rome, and shortly thereafter returned to his quiet, peaceful life as a farmer. Though most people today have not heard of Cincinnatus (aside from the city bearing his name), he had quite an important role to play in history. In the eyes of the Roman republic, he was the ideal citizen. He took command when the country needed him most, and he gave it up just as easily when the danger had passed.

Split Command

The problem that the Greeks found with dictators was that if you put control of the army, the navy, the administrators, and the treasury in the hands of one man, he may be reluctant to let go of all that power. What do you do with a man who has all the power and won’t let go? The answer was often that there was nothing anyone could do, and trying to get rid of a dictator could have fatal consequences.

So to avoid this trap, the Roman Senate created two equal consuls, who were effectively co-dictators, in the theory that they would counterbalance each other. When not together, the two consuls would separately command the legions with them. The problem and mistake was what happened when you united the entire Roman army into one force, such as was the case at Cannae.

You cannot have two commanders giving orders. But the Senate did not want one commander to become superior because he alone would control all of the legions. Then there was nothing to stop a victorious consul from marching on Rome at the head of his army and taking over. So the solution Rome used was to have the two consuls take turns being in command. One consul would be in charge, and then he turned over control of the entire army to the other consul the next day.

Lack of Planning

Of all the historical figures to have the identifier “the Great” tagged onto their names, Alexander the Great is one who really lived up to the title. No other leader has been able to cross cultural boundaries or capture the imaginations of world leaders like he has done. He has stood the test of time. His tactics are still taught in military academies all over the world. He has become the measuring stick by which all others have compared themselves. When Julius Caesar came across a statue of Alexander, he fell at its feet and wept, marking how the great conqueror had accomplished more by his death at the age of thirty-two than Caesar himself had at the time of viewing the statue. Why does Alexander still have this immortal grip on us? If he was so great, why did his empire collapse? For one simple reason . . . Alexander did not name a successor. The vast empire that he created fell apart because he was unwilling to pass on the gauntlet.

If...

If Aristagoras had not overreached himself, insulted his admiral, and then led a revolt to save his own hide, it is quite possible that Persia would not have paid much attention to the relatively poor and small Greek cities beyond that empire’s border. If Athens had not meddled in another country’s revolt, then the world would be most different. The mistakes Aristagoras made, from insulting his admiral to starting a self-serving and hopeless revolt, began the Greco-Persian wars that included the Battle of Marathon, the famous stand of the 300 Spartans, and eventually Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia. Without the impetus of the Persian threat, Philip of Macedon might never have been able to unite Greece. Western culture might never have been forced to grow to greatness. The much greater Persian empire could have continued to dominate the Western world for centuries longer than it did, and the world today would look very different. It would have been a world in which the Persian values of subservience to the state and a strong central ruler were more important than the Greek values involving personal rights and pride in individual accomplishments. The world is as it is as it is today all because a local Persian politician, ruling a city at the far edge of the empire, got too ambitious.