There have always been disasters: environmental, man-made. Over the past hundred years, a lot of them have happened.
Major disasters on the water
People have been crossing seas and oceans for hundreds of years. During this time, there have been many shipwrecks.
So, for example, in 1915, a German submarine fired a torpedo and blew up a British passenger liner. It happened not far from the Irish coast. The vessel sank to the bottom in a matter of minutes. About 1200 people died.
In 1944, the catastrophe happened right in the Bombay port. During the unloading of the steamer, a powerful explosion occurred. The cargo ship contained explosives, gold bars, sulfur, timber and cotton. It was the burning cotton, scattered within a radius of one kilometer, that caused the fire of all ships in the port, warehouses and even many city objects. The city burned for two weeks. 1,300 people died, more than 2,000 were injured. The port entered its operating mode only 7 months after the disaster.
The most famous and large-scale disaster on the water is the wreck of the famous "Titanic". He went under water during his maiden voyage. The giant was unable to change course when an iceberg appeared directly in front of him. The liner sank, and with it one and a half thousand people.
At the end of 1917 there was a collision of the French and Norwegian ships - "Mont Blanc" and "Imo". The French ship was fully loaded with explosives. A powerful explosion, along with the port, destroyed part of the city of Halifax. The consequences of this explosion on human lives: 2000 dead and 9000 injured. This explosion is considered the most powerful until it appears. nuclear weapons.
In 1916, the Germans torpedoed a French ship. 3130 people died. After the attack on the German hospital, General Steuben left afloat 3,600 people.
At the beginning of 1945, a submarine under the command of Marinesko fired a torpedo into the German liner Wilhelm Gustlov, which was carrying passengers. At least 9,000 people died.
Major catastrophes in Russia
Several catastrophes have occurred on the territory of our country, which in terms of their scale are considered the largest in the history of the state. These include an accident at railroad near Ufa. An accident occurred on the pipeline, which was located next to the railway track. As a result of the fuel mixture accumulated in the air at the moment when the passenger trains met, an explosion thundered. 654 people were killed and about 1000 were injured.
The largest environmental disaster not only in the country, but throughout the world also occurred on the territory of Russia. We are talking about the Aral Sea, which has practically dried up. This was facilitated by many factors, including social and soil. The Aral Sea was gone for some half a century. In the 60s of the last century fresh water tributaries of the Aral Sea were used in many areas in agriculture... By the way, the Aral Sea was considered one of the largest lakes in the world. Now its place is taken by land.
Another indelible mark on the history of the fatherland was left by the flood in 2012 in the city of Krymsk, Krasnodar Territory. Then, in two days, as much precipitation fell as it does in 5 months. Due to the natural disaster, 179 people died, and 34 thousand local residents suffered.
Largest nuclear disaster
The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 went down in history not only Soviet Unionbut the whole world. The power block of the station exploded. The result was a powerful release of radiation into the atmosphere. Until now, within a radius of 30 km from the epicenter of the explosion, it is considered an exclusion zone. There is still no exact data on the consequences of this terrible disaster.
Also nuclear explosion occurred in 2011, when the nuclear reactor at Fukushima-1 failed. It happened because of strong earthquake in Japan. A huge amount of radiation entered the atmosphere.
The largest disasters in the history of mankind
In 2010, an oil platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. After a stunning fire, the platform quickly went under water, but oil poured into the ocean for another 152 days. According to scientists, the area covered by the oil film was 75 thousand square kilometers.
The worst global disaster in terms of the number of deaths was the explosion of a chemical plant. It happened in the Indian city of Bhapol in 1984. Killed 18 thousand people, a large number of people received radiation.
In 1666, a fire broke out in London, which is still considered the most powerful fire in history. The fire wiped out 70 thousand houses and killed 80 thousand residents of the city. It took 4 days to eliminate the fire.
It is terrible to realize how much evil a person has done to himself and the planet on which he lives. Most of the harm was done by large industrial corporations that do not think about the level of danger of their activities, seeking to make a profit. And it is especially scary that the catastrophes occurred as a result of tests of various types of weapons, including nuclear ones. We offer 15 of the biggest human-caused disasters in the world.
15. Castle Bravo (March 1, 1954)
The United States in March 1954 fired a nuclear weapon test in Bikini Atoll, near the Marshall Islands. It was a thousand times more powerful than the explosion at Hiroshima, Japan. This was part of a US government experiment. The damage caused by the explosion was catastrophic for the environment over an area of \u200b\u200b11,265.41 km2. 655 representatives of the fauna were destroyed.
14. The Seveso disaster (July 10, 1976)
An industrial disaster near Milan, Italy resulted from a blowout in environment toxic chemicals. During the production cycle, a hazardous cloud of harmful compounds was released into the atmosphere during the production of trichlorophenol. The release instantly affected the flora and fauna of the territory adjacent to the plant. The enterprise hid the fact of the leakage of chemicals for 10 days. The incidence of cancer has increased, which has been proven later by studies of dead animals. The inhabitants of the small town of Seveso began to experience frequent cases of heart pathologies, respiratory diseases.
The melting down of part of a nuclear reactor on Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, USA, released an unknown amount of radioactive gases and iodine into the environment. The accident was caused by a number of personnel errors and mechanical problems. There was a lot of debate about the scale of the pollution, but the authorities withheld specific numbers so as not to stir up panic. They argued that the release was insignificant and could not harm the flora and fauna. However, in 1997, the data was re-examined, and it was concluded that those who lived near the reactor had 10 times more symptoms of cancer and leukemia than others.
12. Oil release from the tanker Exxon Valdes (March 24, 1989)
An Exxon Valdez tanker accident spilled huge amounts of oil into the ocean off Alaska, contaminating 2,092.15 kilometers of the coastline. As a result, irreparable damage to the ecosystem was caused. And today it has not been restored. In 2010, the US government announced that 32 species of wildlife were harmed and only 13 species were restored. We were unable to restore the subspecies of killer whales and Pacific herring.
The explosion and flooding of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico at the Macondo field resulted in an oil and gas leak of 4.9 million barrels. According to scientists, this accident was the largest in US history and claimed 11 lives of platform workers. The ocean dweller was also damaged. Violations of the ecosystem of the bay are still noted.
10. Love Canal Disaster (1978)
In Niagara Falls, New York, about a hundred homes and a local school were built at an industrial and chemical dump site. Over time, chemicals seeped into the topsoil and water. People began to notice that some black swampy spots appeared near the houses. When they did the analysis, they found the content of eighty-two chemical compounds, eleven of which were carcinogenic. Among the diseases of the inhabitants of the Love Canal, such serious diseases as leukemia began to appear, and 98 families had children with serious pathologies ..
9. Anniston Chemical Pollution, Alabama (1929-1971)
In Anniston, in the area where the agricultural and biotech giant Monsanto first produced cancer-causing substances, they were inexplicably released into the Snow Creek River. Anniston's population suffered greatly. As a result of the impact, the percentage of diabetes and other pathologies has increased. In 2002, Monsanto paid $ 700 million in damage and rescue compensation.
During the military conflict in the Persian Gulf in Kuwait, Saddam Hussein set fire to 600 oil wells to create a poisonous smoke screen for as long as 10 months. It is believed that 600 to 800 tons of oil were burned daily. About five percent of Kuwait's territory was covered in soot, livestock was dying from lung disease, and cancer cases increased in the country.
7. Explosion at the Zilin chemical plant (November 13, 2005)
Several powerful explosions thundered at the Zilin chemical plant. A huge amount of benzene and nitrobenzene was released into the environment, which has a harmful toxic effect. The disaster left six people dead and seventy injured.
6. Times Beach Pollution, Missouri (December, 1982)
Spraying oil containing toxic dioxin led to the complete destruction of a small town in Missouri. The method was used as an alternative to irrigation to knock dust off the roads. The situation worsened when, as a result of the flooding of the city by the waters of the Meremek River, toxic oil spread throughout the coast. Residents were exposed to dioxin and reported immune and muscle problems.
For five days, smoke from coal burning and factory emissions covered London in a dense layer. The fact is that cold weather set in and the residents began to heat the stoves with coal to warm their homes. A combination of industrial and public air emissions resulted in thick fog and poor visibility, and 12,000 people died from inhaling toxic fumes.
4. Poisoning of Minamata Bay, Japan (1950s)
In 37 years of plastics production, the petrochemical company Chisso Corporation dumped 27 tons of mercury into the waters of Minamata Bay. Since the inhabitants used it for fishing without knowing about the plums of chemicals, the mercury-poisoned fish caused serious damage to the health of babies born to mothers who ate fish from Minamata, and killed more than 900 people in the region.
3. The Bhopal disaster (December 2, 1984)
The whole world knows about radiation contamination as a result of a nuclear reactor accident and a fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. It has been called the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history. Nearly a million people have died from the aftermath of a nuclear disaster, mainly from cancer and exposure to high level radiation.
After a 9-point earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility was left without power and lost the ability to cool nuclear reactors. This led to radioactive contamination large territory and water area. About two hundred thousand residents were evacuated for fear of serious illnesses as a result of radiation. The disaster once again made scientists think about the dangers of atomic energy and the need to develop
Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens. There are probably no right words to describe them, and God forbid to be in such situations.
We present to your attention the most terrible disasters the world.
Worst plane crash ever
The rating "The worst plane crashes" is topped by Tenerife. The fatal collision of 2 Boeing-747 aircraft belonging to different companies (Boeing-747-206B - the brainchild of KLM airline, performed another flight KL4805 and Boeing-747 - property of Pan American, operated flight 1736), happened on 03/27/1977 on the island of the Canary group , Tenerife, on the runway of Los Rodeo airport. Many people died - 583 people who were in these two planes. What exactly caused such a devastating accident? The paradox is that the imposition of unfavorable circumstances on each other played a cruel joke. 
Los Rodeos Airport was overwhelmed on that ill-fated Sunday spring day. Both aircraft performed maneuvers on a narrow runway, including difficult turns of 135-180 degrees. Interference in radio communications with the controller and between pilots, poor weather and visibility, misinterpretation of commands by the air traffic controller, the controller's strong Spanish accent - all this inevitably led to disaster. The Boeing KLM commander did not understand the controller's command to interrupt the takeoff, while the Boeing commander reports that their huge plane is still moving along the runway. Fourteen seconds later, an inevitable collision occurred, the Pan American Boeing's fuselage was severely damaged, gaps formed in some places, and some passengers escaped through them. Boeing KLM without a tail and with damaged wings fell into the runway 150 meters from the point of collision and drove along the runway for another 300 meters. Both of the affected aircraft ignited.
All 248 people from the Boeing KLM plane were killed. The second plane killed 326 passengers and nine crew members. In this most terrible plane crash, the American Playboy star, actress and model Yves Meyer, also died.
The worst man-made disaster
The worst disaster in the history of oil production is the explosion on the Piper Alpha oil platform, built in 1976. It happened on 07/06/1988. Experts estimate that this terrible accident cost US $ 3.4 billion and killed 167 people. Piper Alpha is the only burned-out oil platform on Earth owned by the American oil company Occidental Petroleum. There was a huge gas leak and, as a result, a colossal explosion. This happened as a result of ill-considered actions of the maintenance personnel - pipelines from the platform fed the general oil pipeline network, the supply of oil products was not stopped immediately after the disaster, waiting for a command from the higher authorities. Therefore, the fire continued due to the burning of gas and oil in the pipes, the fire engulfed even residential complexes. And those who were able to survive after the first explosion were surrounded by flames. Those who jumped into the water escaped.
The worst disaster on the water
If you remember the biggest catastrophes on the water, then you immediately remember the pictures from the movie "Titanic", which is based on the real events of 1912. But the sinking of the Titanic is not the most big disaster... The greatest naval disaster - the sinking of the German motor ship "Wilhelm Gustlov" by a Soviet military submarine on January 30, 1945. There were almost 9 thousand people on board the ship: 3,700 of them graduated from elite training as military submariners, 3-4 thousand representatives of the military elite who were evacuated from Danzig. The tourist excursion ship was built in 1938. It was, as it seemed, an unsinkable 9-deck ocean liner, designed according to the latest technologies of the time.
Dance floors, 2 theaters, swimming pools, a church, a gym, restaurants, cafes with a winter garden and climate control, comfortable cabins and personal apartments of Hitler himself. With a length of 208 meters, it could travel half the world without refueling. He could not sink a priori. But fate decreed otherwise. Under the command of A.I. Marinesko, the crew of the Soviet submarine S-13 carried out a military operation to destroy the enemy ship. Three torpedoes fired pierced the Wilhelm Gustlov. He immediately sank in the Baltic Sea. Until now, no one all over the world can forget the most terrible catastrophe.
The biggest environmental disaster
The most terrible catastrophe from an ecological point of view of ecology is considered the death of the Aral Sea, which before the beginning of drying up scientists called the fourth lake by world standards. Although the sea is located on the territory the former USSR, the disaster affected the entire world. Water was taken from it in uncontrolled volumes for irrigation of fields and orchards to ensure the fulfillment of political ambitions and unreasonable plans of the Soviet leaders. 
Over time, the coastline moved so deep into the lake that many species of fish and animals died, more than 60,000 people lost their jobs, shipping stopped, the climate changed - droughts became more frequent.
The worst nuclear disaster
A huge number of people are exposed to nuclear disasters. So in April 1986, one of the power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Radioactive substances that got into the atmosphere settled on nearby villages and cities. This accident is one of the most devastating of its kind. Hundreds of thousands of people took part in the liquidation of the accident. Several hundred people were killed or injured. A thirty-kilometer exclusion zone has been formed around the NPP. The scale of the disaster has not yet been clarified.
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Human history has always been bloody, rich in large-scale destruction and human sacrifice. However, some events stand out from others for their unimaginable catastrophic consequences.
1. The slave trade across the Atlantic. The death toll - 15 million
The Atlantic (or transatlantic) slave trade began in the 16th century, peaked in the 17th century, until it was finally abolished in the 19th century. The main driving force behind this trade was the Europeans' need to establish themselves in the New World. Thus, European and American settlers began using slaves from West Africa to meet the enormous labor needs of their plantations. There are very different estimates of the number of slaves who died during this period. But it is believed that out of ten slaves trapped in the hold of the ship, at least four died from abuse.
2. End of the Yuan War and transition to the Ming Dynasty. The death toll - 30 million
The Yuan Dynasty was founded by Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, around 1260. This dynasty turned out to be the most short-lived in the history of China. Its representatives ruled for one century, and in 1368 everything collapsed, and chaos began. Warring clans began to fight for the land, crime increased, and then famine began among the population. Then the Ming dynasty took control. The Ming Dynasty has been described by some historians as "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history."
3. The Lushan Uprising. The death toll - 36 million
About 500 years before the Yuan Dynasty, China was controlled by the Tang Dynasty. Lushan, a general from northern China, decided to seize power and declared himself emperor (creation of the Yang Dynasty). The Lushan rebellion lasted from 755 to 763, and the Yang Dynasty was eventually defeated by the Tang Empire. Ancient wars have always been a very bloody affair, and this uprising was no exception. Millions of people died and the Tang dynasty never recovered from the aftermath of that war.
4. The Taiping Uprising. The death toll - 40 million
Hong Xiuquan / © www.flickr.com Move forward a thousand years and see the Chinese again. But this time the French and British help them a little. In 1850, China was under the control of the Qing Dynasty. This dynasty had serious problems even before the uprising, due to natural and economic disasters that caused chaos. It is also worth mentioning that it was during this period that Europeans began to import opium into China. It was then that Hong Xiuquan entered the historical stage, who, among other things, claimed that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. Hong created the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and began the slaughter. The Taiping uprising happened at about the same time as the American civil War, although the latter was much less bloody.
Here is another example of a social catastrophe caused by an attempt to change the economic and social landscape of a huge state in a short period of time.
In the period from 1917 to 1953, millions of our country's inhabitants died: first the revolution, then - the civil war, famine, forced relocations, concentration camps. In a huge number of victims, the culprit is considered to be the too irrepressible desire of Secretary General Joseph Stalin to build a new, better future for our country at absolutely any cost, while maintaining his own total power.
6. The Great Chinese Famine. The death toll - 43 million
Move one more century, and here we are in communist China. The period from 1958 to 1961 is known as the Great Leap Forward period, and it is an object lesson in what can happen when a government tries to change a country too quickly.
Drought and bad weather led to famine. The real disaster, however, was the government's efforts to transform the country from an agricultural economy into a communist society. Chinese peasants describe this period as "three bitter years." And this is a bit of an understatement. And a few decades later, China's economy became the largest in the world. But the price was very high.
7. Mongol conquests. The death toll - 60 million
If there is a person about whom we can say that there is more blood on his hands than anyone else in history, then this is Genghis Khan. Under his leadership (and under the leadership of his sons after his death), the Mongol Empire became an empire the world has never seen before. At the peak of her power, she occupied 16% earth surface... The Mongol army took over Asia, and slaughtered enemies with incredible brutality that lasted two centuries. The death toll, of course, would have been much higher if the Mongols continued their advance to the West and to Europe. Nevertheless, despite all these murders during the Mongol rule, everything was not so bad: there was religious tolerance for a variety of confessions, and there were also tax incentives for the poor.
8. First World War. The death toll - 65 million
While other wars were also major, this one was truly global. The reasons for the "big war" are varied and quite complex, but it is worth mentioning that in 1914, when several European countries suddenly became crowded, they united in two large alliances and fought with each other for European domination. Europe was divided, and then it dragged other countries with it into a rapidly growing military conflict. During this war, outdated tactics were often used that were fatal to the soldiers: these young men were often ordered to march to their full height under enemy machine-gun fire. When it was over in 1918, Europe and the rest of the world began to count the death toll and the huge losses. Many then hoped that such madness would never happen again.
9. World War II. The death toll - 72 million
Taking a break for several years world War flared up again in 1939. During the short break between these wars, each country decided to build several new deadly vehicles, and more efficient vehicles were also developed, both sea and land. In addition, the soldiers now have automatic weapons. And as if all this was not enough, one of the countries decided to build a very large bomb. The Allies eventually won the war, but the losses were enormous.
10. Colonization of America. The death toll - 100 million
When Christopher Columbus, John Cabot and others discovered a new continent in the 15th century, it must have seemed to them the beginning of a new era. It was a new paradise that enterprising Europeans soon began to call their home. However, there was a problem: the indigenous population already lived on this land.
Over the next centuries, European seafarers regularly delivered death in what is today called North and South America.
Many people died as a result of the war, but in addition to this, the lack of immunity of the natives to European diseases led to huge casualties. By some estimates, roughly 80% of America's native population perished after European contact.
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We want to think that tragedies teach us at least something - for example, to help each other in difficult situations and work together to solve problems.
But sometimes, even when the catastrophe is over, the tragedy continues. People plunge into chaos and make the worst moments in human life even worse. As a result, the details of the darkest events become so gruesome that they tend to be omitted when writing history books.
1. Events in Tiananmen Square - China bills the families of the victims for the bullets spent
In 1989, after the death of controversial statesman and politician Hu Yaobang, Chinese students took to Tiananmen Square to try to bring about real change in China. They put forward a list of demands and went on a hunger strike in the hope of ending corruption and taking the first steps towards democracy.
However, their efforts were in vain, as the army intervened. By order of the government, soldiers and tanks moved to Tiananmen Square, which is located in the heart of Beijing. In that unequal battle at least 300 students were killed. According to some estimates, the death toll was as high as 2,700.
This is usually where the story ends, but there is one little detail that makes it even worse. After the assassination, the Chinese government billed the victims' families for the bullets spent, according to some sources. The parents of the protesting students had to pay 27 cents (in modern money) for each bullet fired at their child.
The Chinese government has denied the accusations in its direction. However, there is every reason to believe that the above reports were true.
2. Massacre in Songmi - President Nixon pardoned the person responsible for the crime
The most horrific incident of the Vietnam War is considered to be the Song Mi massacre. In 1968, 350 South Vietnamese civilians were brutally killed by American soldiers. They raped women, maimed children - and did not receive any punishment for this.
Of all those involved in the murder, only one soldier was charged: William Colley. The court found Colley guilty of killing 22 civilians and sentenced him to life imprisonment. However, he never went to jail. He was put under house arrest, which, however, did not last long. Collie was under house arrest for only three years, and then President Richard Nixon pardoned him.
However, this story is not so simple. The man who reported the brutal murder to the American authorities and testified against the people who committed it was Hugh Thompson. He risked his own life trying to save as many Vietnamese as possible. For his courage and heroism, Thompson received death threats as a reward. Every morning unknown people left mutilated animals on the porch of his house. For the rest of his life, Thompson was forced to deal with PTSD.
3. Pompeii - It got so hot in the neighboring city that people's heads could not stand it and literally exploded
The fall of Pompeii is one of the most notorious natural disasters in human history. The entire city was submerged in a sea of \u200b\u200bvolcanic ash, which claimed the lives of thousands of people.
However, in comparison with Herculaneum, Pompeii, so to speak, got off easy. A man who witnessed the volcanic eruption that occurred in 79 AD described this terrible catastrophe as follows: "A huge black cloud descended on the land and sea, accompanied by bright flashes of flame."
This huge black cloud covered the whole of Herculaneum. It became incredibly hot on its streets - the air temperature reached more than 500 degrees Celsius. In such unbearable conditions, people's skin instantly burned, their bones turned black, and their heads could not stand it and literally exploded.
4. Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 - Radioactive fallout has led to an increase in the incidence of cancer and the number of car accidents
On September 11, 2001, when planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York, about 3,000 innocent people were killed. It was the worst terrorist attack in US history. However, over the next few years, the number of her victims increased significantly.
In the aftermath of the notorious events of September 11, 2001, people became afraid of flying, causing air ticket sales to drop 20 percent. Instead, everyone began to actively use cars, despite the fact that land transport is considered more dangerous than air. In the twelve months after the attack, about 1,600 Americans died in car accidents, just because they were afraid to fly.
But the worst of the consequences of the events of September 11, 2001 is the increase in the incidence of cancer. The Twin Towers were built from 400 tons of asbestos, which after the explosion turned into dust and spread throughout the city. According to some reports, more than 400 thousand people were affected by the asbestos cloud. As a result, cancer rates in New York City have risen significantly since the tragedy. In addition, over 70 percent of the people who helped recover from the explosion now suffer from lung problems.
5. Great Famine in Ireland - Queen Victoria forbade the Sultan to help her people
When there was famine in Ireland, Majid Abdul Khan, Sultan Ottoman Empirevolunteered to help the country. In 1847 he loaded the ships with food and offered Ireland £ 10,000 in financial aid to deal with the crisis.
Oddly enough, British diplomats rejected his offer. They explained this by the fact that, according to the royal protocol, the amount of foreign aid should not exceed the amount that Queen Victoria is willing to donate to save her people. At their request, the Sultan reduced his monetary donation to £ 1,000.
Be that as it may, the Irish were still delighted with his "gesture of great generosity." As a token of gratitude, they wrote to him: "For the first time in history, a Muslim ruler, representing a large Islamic population, shows warm sympathy for the Christian people."
6. Black Death - Plague led to genocide of Jews
The Black Death in the middle of the XIV century ruined the lives of 75 to 200 million people, destroying about a third of the population of Europe. It was a terrible tragedy, which, oddly enough, was blamed on the Jews.
The fact is that the Europeans considered the plague to be part of a Jewish conspiracy. They argued that Jews poisoned water in wells throughout the country to make the Christian people suffer. At first it was just a theory, which was later "confirmed". The Inquisition began to hunt down Jews; they were tortured until they agreed that they were responsible for the outbreak of the plague. After that, the people rebelled. They took children away from Jewish families. They tied Jews to poles and burned them alive. In one such incident, more than 2,000 people were killed.
The Black Death, of course, was not part of the Jewish conspiracy, but people believed otherwise. No one was spared by their revenge. The city of Strasbourg even passed a law that prohibited Jews from entering the city for 100 years.
7. Hurricane Katrina - Refusing to Help Refugees
When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, countless people were left homeless. In search of safer places, they were forced to flee to neighboring cities. The New Orleans police assisted them by pointing the way to the bridge that led to the city of Gretna.
However, on the bridge, these people encountered an obstacle in the form of four police cars, which blocked the road. Police officers stood next to them, holding shotguns. They drove the refugees away, shouting after them: "We don't need another Superdome here!" According to some reports, they even took food and water from people before chasing them away.
Arthur Lawson, Chief of Police for Gretna, confirmed the incident. "They don't belong here," he commented on his refusal to help refugees from New Orleans.
8. Wounded Knee Creek Massacre - Twenty Soldiers Awarded Medals of Honor
In 1890, American troops attacked the Lakota camp. The attack killed about 200 innocent men, women and children. The people who did this (this event went down in history as the Wounded Knee Massacre) were the real killers. Nevertheless, twenty of them were awarded the Medals of Honor. General Miles called it "an insult to the memory of the dead," but his protest came to nothing.
During the awarding ceremony, Sergeant Toy was said to receive a medal "for courage in the fight against hostile Indians." In fact, he was rewarded for shooting the fleeing Native Americans in the back who were unarmed. Another soldier, Lieutenant Garlington, received a medal for obstructing the escape of the victims. He forced them to hide in a ravine, where they were shot by Lieutenant Gresham.
Sergeant Loyd, one of those soldiers who were awarded the Medal of Honor for the massacre of unarmed Indians, committed suicide two years later - just days before the anniversary of the Wounded Knee massacre. What prompted him to commit suicide is not known. Perhaps it was conscience.
9. The Great Fire of London - The townspeople hanged a mentally retarded person
Everyone who knew Robert Hubert considered him "not a very healthy man." In all likelihood, he was mentally retarded or mentally ill. He could not utter a word in english languageand his limbs were paralyzed. But despite all this, he was accused of the Great Fire of London in 1666 and was hanged.
Hubert was out of town when the fire struck. He appeared two days later. The man wandered the streets, incessantly repeating the word "Yes!" In 1666, it didn't take much effort to prove a person's guilt. The crowd grabbed Hubert and dragged him to the police station.
There he answered everything that was asked of him with the word "Yes!" He even "confessed" that a Frenchman had paid him a shilling to set London on fire. Hubert agreed with every version, but he was hanged anyway.
Fifteen years later, the captain of the ship showed up and helped Hubert get to London. He told the townspeople that when the Great Fire occurred, the poor fellow was not in town. But by that time it was already too late.
10. "Titanic" - Invoices issued to families of the victims
The British shipping company White Star Line was very frugal. According to the contract, all the employees who were on board the ship were fired the very second the Titanic began to sink. The company did not want to pay the crew members money for the fact that they did not perform their immediate duties while the ship was sinking.
After the Titanic sank, the families of the victims were informed that they would have to pay the cost of the freight if they wanted to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones. Most of them could not afford it, so today many of those who died in the tragedy have memorials instead of graves.
For the musicians, things were even worse. Orchestra members, who desperately continued to play even as the ship sank, were registered as independent contractors. This meant that White Star Line was legally unrelated to them. The families of the other crew members received compensation for the loss of breadwinners, and the relatives of the perished musicians were not paid a dime. But they were billed for the "spoiled form".