Historical events with misleading names?
November 30, 2022 7:53 AM Subscribe
The Holy Roman Empire. The Glorious Revolution. What other historical things have wildly misleading or overpromising names?
The "discovery" of any place by colonial powers.
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:57 AM on November 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:57 AM on November 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
Best answer: The Great Leap Forward comes to mind.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:58 AM on November 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by kevinbelt at 7:58 AM on November 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
The Depression wasn't so Great if you lived through it.
The New World wasn't.
Taking various historical rulers' recorded titles at face value is often wildly misleading.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:58 AM on November 30, 2022
The New World wasn't.
Taking various historical rulers' recorded titles at face value is often wildly misleading.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:58 AM on November 30, 2022
Best answer: The Era of Good Feelings
posted by General Malaise at 8:01 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by General Malaise at 8:01 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Morning in America!
posted by Frowner at 8:03 AM on November 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Frowner at 8:03 AM on November 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Battle of Bunker Hill (which was actually fought at Breeds Hill)
posted by alex1965 at 8:09 AM on November 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by alex1965 at 8:09 AM on November 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
The Summer of Love.
posted by box at 8:21 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 8:21 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Dark Ages is now a mostly obsolete term with historians due to it being misleading and inaccurate.
posted by castlebravo at 8:54 AM on November 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by castlebravo at 8:54 AM on November 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
The Diet of Worms.
(No, I know that’s different, sorry.)
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 8:55 AM on November 30, 2022 [10 favorites]
(No, I know that’s different, sorry.)
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 8:55 AM on November 30, 2022 [10 favorites]
The Boston Massacre.
posted by Melismata at 9:09 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Melismata at 9:09 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
The 1000 year Reich. Let's all be glad that didn't work out.
posted by sohalt at 9:12 AM on November 30, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by sohalt at 9:12 AM on November 30, 2022 [5 favorites]
The Hundred Years' War.
posted by misteraitch at 9:20 AM on November 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by misteraitch at 9:20 AM on November 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
The Cold War - ignores all the very not "cold" proxy wars.
Really, given that events are more often than not named by politicians or other elites with an agenda, I'd say it's pretty uncommon for names to not be misleading.
posted by coffeecat at 9:34 AM on November 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
Really, given that events are more often than not named by politicians or other elites with an agenda, I'd say it's pretty uncommon for names to not be misleading.
posted by coffeecat at 9:34 AM on November 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
"The recent unpleasantness," used by southerners to refer to the Civil War after it ended.
"The Emergency," used in the Republic of Ireland to refer to World War II.
A "peculiar institution," to refer to slavery in the U.S.
posted by jgirl at 9:40 AM on November 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
"The Emergency," used in the Republic of Ireland to refer to World War II.
A "peculiar institution," to refer to slavery in the U.S.
posted by jgirl at 9:40 AM on November 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Gunfight at the OK Corral
posted by SPrintF at 9:43 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by SPrintF at 9:43 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
The historian Jill Lepore commented that people often think that the Great Migration has that name because it was awesome, rather than just referencing the huge number of African Americans who relocated out of the South starting around World War I. (Spoiler alert: things were often still terrible in the new locations).
posted by TwoStride at 9:45 AM on November 30, 2022
posted by TwoStride at 9:45 AM on November 30, 2022
Putin's "Special Military Operation", which would more accurately be termed genocide.
posted by forthright at 9:58 AM on November 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by forthright at 9:58 AM on November 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
The Great Leap Forward comes to mind.
Plus the subsequent Cultural Revolution.
posted by Rash at 10:04 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Plus the subsequent Cultural Revolution.
posted by Rash at 10:04 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
The number one fact about the Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands is that it only lasted 68 years, since it had a 12 year truce in the middle.
posted by snusmumrik at 10:18 AM on November 30, 2022
posted by snusmumrik at 10:18 AM on November 30, 2022
The Renaissance -- a term invented centuries later; overlooks earlier "renaissances" in Europe; and based on the faulty premise that the knowledge of the Greeks/Romans had been lost and rediscovered, when in truth it was only lost in Europe and brought back to them largely by the Islamic scholars who had kept the knowledge alive for centuries. Also premised to some extent on the idea of a "Dark Ages," which as mentioned above is no longer considered accurate by historians.
Similarly: The Enlightenment.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:30 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Similarly: The Enlightenment.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:30 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Cuba's Special Period.
posted by dr. boludo at 10:41 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by dr. boludo at 10:41 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also, The War of the Roses was actually fought between humans, so...
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:47 AM on November 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:47 AM on November 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
The Great Society?
The Big Society?
The War on Drugs/Poverty/Etc.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:51 AM on November 30, 2022
The Big Society?
The War on Drugs/Poverty/Etc.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:51 AM on November 30, 2022
Oh and also, "The War of Northern Aggression," used by Confederacy stans to describe the (US) Civil War.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:58 AM on November 30, 2022
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:58 AM on November 30, 2022
There was a recent Allusionist episode about the use of the word "emergency" by the British Empire to refer to the Anti–British National Liberation War in Malaya: [Episode] [Transcript]
posted by esker at 11:52 AM on November 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by esker at 11:52 AM on November 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
The War to End All Wars aka The Great War.
posted by gingerbeer at 12:11 PM on November 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by gingerbeer at 12:11 PM on November 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
Best answer: The Glorious First of June 1794. Not so glorious for the Brits who lost 1,000 killed and failed to capture any of the French supply convoy. French lost 7,000 = 10% of their able seamen and 7 ships. Maverick captains, poor training, inadequate planning and confusing signalling were not Glorious. Better use the work-a-day Fourth Battle of Ushant or Bataille du 13 prairial an 2.
At least The Glorious Revolution 1688 was written by the clear victors.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:10 PM on November 30, 2022
At least The Glorious Revolution 1688 was written by the clear victors.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:10 PM on November 30, 2022
So many military things. Operation Iraqi Freedom and The Malayan Emergency are a couple that spring to mind.
posted by pompomtom at 4:14 PM on November 30, 2022
posted by pompomtom at 4:14 PM on November 30, 2022
Best answer: The Hundred Flowers Campaign, from whence came the phrase “let 100 flowers bloom.” A brief period during Maoist China where the government encouraged intellectuals to openly voice dissenting opinions, only to later crack down on the people who had essentially just outed themselves as dissenters.
The phrase came from a poem :
Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend.
It is still debated whether the campaign was merely a policy gone wrong, or else an elaborate ruse to get dissident thinkers to out themselves.
posted by panama joe at 7:02 PM on November 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
The phrase came from a poem :
Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend.
It is still debated whether the campaign was merely a policy gone wrong, or else an elaborate ruse to get dissident thinkers to out themselves.
posted by panama joe at 7:02 PM on November 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks all! Really great answers, and I've learned some new history!
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:37 PM on November 30, 2022
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:37 PM on November 30, 2022
In the vein of the Hundred Flowers Campaign, there's also H.W. Bush's far more banal "Thousand Points of Light."
posted by Saxon Kane at 8:54 AM on December 1, 2022
posted by Saxon Kane at 8:54 AM on December 1, 2022
For some definitions of "historical": Make America Great Again".
posted by fish tick at 4:14 PM on December 1, 2022
posted by fish tick at 4:14 PM on December 1, 2022
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Any “civil” war
posted by librosegretti at 7:55 AM on November 30, 2022 [8 favorites]