‘What’s an overlooked moment in history that changed the course of the world?’ – 18 revolutionary events you might have missed

History has shaped the world we live in, whether that’s massive events like the extinction of the dinosaurs, or small events which still make an impact like the proverbial beatings of a butterfly’s wings.

And while most of us are familiar with history’s big hitters like Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s car taking a wrong turn, certain events don’t get the attention they rightfully deserve.

It’s an injustice which Jfocii felt the need to correct, and they did so by throwing out this question to r/AskReddit:

‘What’s one tiny, overlooked moment in history that you think changed the course of the world?’

So buckle up for some history lessons as people share their obscure answers…

1.
‘The invention of the modern paper clip seems insignificant but it revolutionized how we organized documents in offices worldwide.

‘Before that, people would literally punch holes in papers and tie them together with string. My grandma worked as a secretary in the 50s and told me how it completely changed their workflow.’
-Curvy-Flower

2.
‘Toussaint Louverture sending a letter to Napoleon that directly compared the two men on equal ground.
This offended Napoleon, who sent an expedition to Haiti, which was still a loyal French colony, to reimpose slavery.

‘This led to a brutal war, which France lost, resulting in Haitian independence.

‘With the loss of Haiti, considered the crown jewel of the French possessions in North America, Napoleon lost interest in colonies in the Western Hemisphere.

‘This led to an idea that would generate some cash flow and also stick it to Britain: the Louisiana Purchase.
Without that letter, the USA may have never expanded past the Mississippi River.’
-AverageJoeDynamo

3.
‘The invention of tetraethyllead to prevent knocking in fuel. Not only did it likely give the majority of the population minor brain damage but the alternative at the time was mixing some ethanol in with the fuel. So it likely also set biofuel technology back decades.’
-Prasiatko

4.
‘Mansa Musa went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and spent so much money (in gold) that he altered the North African and Mediterranean economies for decades.’
-stateofyou

5.
‘Not sure it would be considered “overlooked”, but that Russian radar guy in the Cold War. He saw on his screen multiple objects that could’ve been US nuclear missiles, and if he had reported it, the Soviets could have launched theirs at us.

‘He kept watching, convinced it must be a mistake, and it turned out to be a glitch or something.’
-Narrow-Palpitation22

6.
‘Anthony Weiner sending dick pics to those teenagers. It reopened the Hillary Clinton email case and now here we are.’
-TooOfEverything

7.
‘At the Battle of Midway, the Japanese destroyer Arashi stayed behind to continue to try and sink the submarine USS Nautilus, which had been harassing the Japanese fleet all morning, while the rest of the fleet sailed on ahead.

‘At around 10am the Arashi broke off the attack and started racing to catch up with the main fleet that was now 30 miles away. She was soon spotted by a large squadron of US dive bombers from the carrier USS Enterprise that had miscalculated their original course and were on the edge of having to return to their ships without engaging the enemy.

‘The bombers used her to point the way to the main Japanese force and, in conjunction with a squadron from the carrier USS Yorktown that arrived over the Japanese fleet at the same time, the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu just as they were getting ready to launch a major strike.

‘Even though a 4th carrier, Hiryu, did survive this attack and was able to launch a much reduced counter strike that caused major damage to the Yorktown which led to her being sunk 3 days later, Hiryu was eventually hunted down and destroyed by dive bombers later on that day, completely eliminating the entire 4 carrier strike force.

‘If that destroyer doesn’t stay behind, the Enterprise dive bombers don’t find the Japanese carriers in time and they manage to launch a devastating attack on the US fleet and the entirety of the Pacific War is completely altered.’
-SeaEmergency7911

8.
‘The discovery of the potato directly led to the rise of the working class and multiple revolutions across Europe.’
-frustratedpolarbear

9.

‘If Obama hadn’t roasted Trump at the White House correspondents dinner, we’d likely never had a President Trump.’
-SilverSteele69