Christianity. A small Jewish cult replacing the ancient Roman pantheon and then becoming the world’s number one religion? Whoa. Didn’t see that coming.
The English language. An obscure Germanic mongrel tongue from some insignificant island developing into the world’s lingua franca? Boy, did I lose out. I had all my money on Latin and Greek.
Got any other historical developments (big or small) that look like they came out of left field?
No, not really. England was hardly insignificant. As far back as Claudius, it was recognized as a relatively rich island, and kept that status at various times during the entirety of the Medieval period. It’s unusual that it became so important as a language, but not for that reason.
The real interesting fact is that English, and not Spanish (slash-Portuguese) or French has taken over so effectively. Spanish was probably the most widely spoken tongue as a first language and second for a couple centuries and often used by early explorers, colonists, and traders throughout the world’s coastal regions. French was widely successful as an international language of literature and diplomacy into the late 19th century.
The “official” most common languages numbers don’t necessarily make sense to me, as they separate languages that are mutually intelligence and group others (most notably Mandarin) that really aren’t. So your numbers may vary on what’s most common.
Australia still amazes me. From the outer edge of utter nowhere to a modern industrialized democracy, economic powerhouse, and well ahead of the U.S. (and WAY ahead of Great Britain) on at least one quality of life survey. And all in record time.
Stone the crows. Australia?
There was this one time that I… oh, you said shots!
Billy Dixon. Adobe Walls #2.
theFacebook.
Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
What would be the odds that an ugly histrionic Canadian would ascend to become President of the USA?
About the same that a homeless Austrian would become Chancellor and President of industrialized and educated Germany.
Who else but Hitler? Mayne the most improbable longshot of all time.
Well, not really. The chances of the first scenario happening are zero, if I understand the US constitution correctly. Only natural-born citizens can become president of the US.
That was not the case in Germany – Hitler renounced his Austrian citizenship in 1925 and obtained German citizenship in 1932 (during those 7 years he was stateless). As soon as he became German, he was eligible to office, although he was not born in Germany.
A Canadian could also be a natural-born citizen of the U.S., so the scenario is possible. (John McCain might be a dual American/Panamanian citizen, and Barack Obama might be a dual American/Kenyan citizen, if Panama or Kenya allowed it, from birth – though I think n practice they didn’t claim those citizenships.)
OK, but to make the hypothetical case identical to the situation with Hitler, the Canadian in question would have had to be born in Canada. Thus becoming uneligible to be president of the US.
In 1969, a bunch of harassed drag queens in a Greenwich Village bar fought back for the first time. We’re still fighting the struggle they began.
Also, the original Boston Tea Party: They were angry because of a tax on tea.
And Helen Keller: Though blind and deaf, she became an author, public speaker and activist.
I suppose the American Revolution. Some upstart colonies successfully breaking away from the greatest empire in the world? Crazy.
Even crazier, the Haitian revolution. A tiny island of ex-slaves winning its independence from Napoleonic France - amazing.
Also, the conquering of the Aztec Empire by Hernan Cortes and his followers was incredibly unlikely. Read “The History of the Conquest of Mexico” by William H. Prescott - it’s an amazing story.
You can throw a lot of accusations at Hitler (and I’m not a fan) but I don’t think he was physically ugly or even unattractive (in fact someone posted a colour photo of him once and it showed that he had strikingly blue eyes), he wasn’t a movie star by modern standards, but then who is.
Sorry, just felt like commenting on that aspect of your post. 
The rise of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. A bunch of steppe-dwelling pony-riding tribal nomads run roughshod over an entire continent and stamp all over China, Russia and Persia? Pfft, preposterous.
Germany’s performance in WWII. From hyperinflation and losing the First World War, puts the shits up an entire continent and holds off the simultaneous might of the British Empire, USSR and USA (and others - the green section is on our side) for years?
On top of the fall of the Aztec Empire, the Incans on paper should have wiped out Pizarro’s handful of conquistadors, as opposed to the other way round.
The Mighty Ducks winning that game of hockey.
How about the Persian wars? A small bunch of bickering Greek city states against the might of the entire Persian empire… and they kick the Persians’ butts. Twice.
Not to mention Alexander. The Persian wars might be likened to Finland beating the Russians in the Winter War (hey, another example), but Alexander conquering Persia is like the Finns then going on to march on Moscow and winning.
Rome against Carthage, after Cannae. The Roman fans were pretty much all leaving the stadium early at that point, because the game was clearly over. Only Rome never got the memo and refused to talk terms. Then Hannibal didn’t march on Rome, the Romans raised a new army, the game went into overtime, and the rest is, well, history.
And then they redoubled and did it again to the Incan Empire.
How does one even begin to assess the “likelihood” of such events? Does the fact that it happened twice make it more likely…or more amazing?
(How many Spaniards from the Spanish Armada would actually have had to land in England to conquer it? On form a couple hundred could’a’ done it!)
I think blockade was a more likely goal other than destroying the British Fleet. But how often does a “Divine Wind” save a small Island Empire from a large powerful neighbor?
That the Jews would manage to regain control of the Holy Land back after 2,000 years of exile and being scattered to the winds. Hell back in the '40s it seemed pretty damn unlikely that would Israel still exist in 65 yrs, let alone having the both the highest standard of living and the strongest military in the region.
