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Marie Antoinette's cake -

The last Queen of France never said "let them eat cake" after hearing that the starving French peasants had no bread.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau's words -

The French philospher included the quote in his autobiography, 'Confessions,' though he attributes it to an unspecified "great princess."

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Catherine the Great and the horse lover -

Contrary to the popular myth, the 18th-century Empress of Russia did not die from having sex with an animal, most commonly told to be a horse.

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Catherine the Great and the horse lover -

The truth is that Catherine suffered a stroke and died quietly in her bed a day later on November 17, 1796.

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Ninjas and their popular attire -

Ninjas didn't just wear black. In fact, they rarely ever wore black.

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Ninjas -

A ninja was basically a mercenary or a spy in feudal Japan. The ninja was hired to carry out a myriad of functions, including espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination, and guerrilla warfare. And thus, they often wore plainclothes in order to hide in plain sight.

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John Brown's mental health -

The American abolitionist helped kick off the Civil War when he led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry in modern-day West Virginia. However, he was not the wild-eyed, wild-haired fanatic that many have pegged him as.

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John Brown -

Because Brown advocated armed insurrection as the only way to overthrow slavery in the US, many have labeled him a terrorist, while many others argue that he was insane. However, as historian Paul Finkelman states, Brown "is a bad tactician, a bad strategist, he's a bad planner, he's not a very good general—but he's not crazy."

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Benjamin Franklin and the turkey -

Franklin didn't actually propose that the turkey be the national bird of the United States over the bald eagle.

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Benjamin Franklin and the turkey -

He did, however, expound on the merits of each bird in a letter to his daughter, in which he seems to favor the turkey: "[the Bald Eagle] is a Bird of bad moral Character" while "the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird."

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Hitler's troops and the Russian winter -

Did Hitler really get beat by the Russian weather? Well, history tends to be a bit more complex than that.

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Hitler's troops and the Russian winter -

While the freezing temperature and muddy terrain didn't help, Hitler's defeat was a result of a series of tactical mistakes that Stalin's troops took full advantage of.

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Sir Walter Raleigh's Cloak -

Sir Walter Raleigh did not lay his cloak over a mud puddle to keep Queen Elizabeth I from getting her feet wet.

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Sir Walter Raleigh's Cloak -

He was made captain in her guard two years after he urged her to conquer Ireland. But he fell from grace after having an affair with one of her maids of honor. The cloak story was probably the doing of historian Thomas Fuller, who was known for embellishing facts.

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The Great Wall of China from space -

The Great Wall isn't the only man-made structure seen from the moon. 

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The Great Wall of China from space -

In fact, being only 30 feet wide (around 9 m) and a similar color to its surroundings, the Wall is barely seen from the moon.

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American Indians' lifestyle -

The native peoples of the Americas were not all hunter and gatherers by the time Europeans arrived. 

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American Indians' lifestyle -

Though some were, the majority had already developed into agricultural societies.

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Who built the Egyptian pyramids? -

Evidence suggests that the pyramids were the work of slaves.

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Who built the Egyptian pyramids? -

Tombs discovered nearby the famous pyramids are believed to have belonged to the people who worked on the construction of the pyramids, suggesting that they weren't slaves after all.

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Middle Ages' life expectancy -

Medieval folks didn't die by the age of 30.

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Middle Ages' life expectancy -

The average person lived to be about 64, which is not that different from today. The numbers of the time were heavily skewed by the high infant mortality rates.

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Medieval folks and their chastity belts -

Those living in the Middle Ages most certainly did not use chastity belts.

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Medieval folks and their chastity belts -

There is no evidence to show that the infamous clothing item existed before the 15th century, during the Renaissance.

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Paul Revere -

The silversmith and early industrialist did not shout "the British are coming!" at the onset of the American Revolution.

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Paul Revere's midnight ride -

The term "American" wasn't popularized until after the revolution, as most American colonists still thought of themselves as British.

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George Washington's cherry tree -

The first President of the United States did not chop down his father's cherry tree when he was six years old and then refuse to lie about it. The story has been used to highlight the value of honesty for centuries.

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George Washington's cherry tree -

The legend was put forth by biographer Mason Locke Weems, who was ready to supply the demand of Americans eager to learn more about the Revolutionary War hero.

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Lady Godiva's infamous horse ride -

There is no evidence to support that Lady Godiva rode naked through Coventry to protest her husband's ruthless taxes.

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Lady Godiva's infamous horse ride -

Though she did plead with her husband Leofric, Earl of Mercia, to reduce taxes, it is unclear how the legend of the infamous horse ride came about.

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Abner Doubleday and baseball -

The American Civil War General most likely didn't invent baseball in Cooperstown, New York.

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Abner Doubleday and baseball -

Most modern baseball historians consider the claim to be false, but the myth nevertheless led to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's being located in Cooperstown.

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Salem Witch Trials -

Those accused of witchcraft were not burned at the stake as a result of the Salem Witch Trials.

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Salem Witch Trials -

Of the 20 people who were executed, 19 were hanged at the gallows, while another, an 81-year-old man, was pressed to death with heavy stones.

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Benjamin Franklin's kite -

The polymath Founding Father of the United States did not discover electricity.

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Benjamin Franklin's kite -

Electricity had been well-known at the time. Franklin was simply testing the electrical nature of lightning with his kite experiment.

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The Great Chicago Fire and the culprit cow -

The 1871 fire was not started by Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicking over a lamp.

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The Great Chicago Fire and the culprit cow -

The rumor started after local reporter Michael Ahern published a claim that the fire had started when a cow kicked over a lantern while it was being milked. Ahern later admitted he made up the story.

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Napoleon Bonaparte's height -

Napoleon Bonaparte was not particularly short.

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Napoleon Bonaparte's height -

He was approximately 5 ft 7 in (about 1,70 m), which was average at the time. The confusion likely arose as his height was listed at 5 ft 2 in, but there were differences between the French and British systems.

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Emperor Nero and the fiddle -

Did Emperor Nero really play the fiddle as Rome burned? No, he didn't.

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Emperor Nero and the fiddle -

In fact, the fiddle most likely hadn't even been invented until centuries later. But there is some support for the theory that Nero leveled the city on purpose.

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Columbus and the spherical globe -

Christopher Columbus did not prove the Earth was round.

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Columbus and the spherical globe -

Educated Europeans had known that the Earth was round since the time of Aristotle.

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Galileo Galilei and heliocentrism -

Galileo Galilei was not the first to theorize that the Earth revolved around the sun, and not other way around.

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Galileo Galilei and heliocentrism -

The notion was actually first put forth by Aristarchus of Samos in the third century BCE. The theory didn't gain traction until Nicolaus Copernicus's model in the 16th century.

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Vikings and their famed horned helmets -

What do the horns on the helmets of Vikings mean? Nothing, as they didn't wear them.

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Vikings and their famed horned helmets -

As the History channel puts it, "archaeologists have yet to uncover a Viking-era helmet embellished with horns." The popular image of the strapping Viking only came about in the 1800s, when Scandinavian artists popularized them through their fictitious portrayal of the raiders.

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Alexander the Great and his mighty empire -

Contrary to popular belief, Alexander the Great did not have the largest contiguous empire in history.

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Alexander the Great and his mighty empire -

The title goes to the Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries, which spanned from Central Asia to China, the Middle East, Korea, and Eastern Europe up to near Vienna, Austria. Alexander the Great's was the largest of the ancient world, however.

See also: Historic sites destroyed by terrorism

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