In this episode of History 10s, we discover 10 animals that changed world history. It’s not just humans that have affected world history. Animals have played a key role as well.
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In the premiere episode of The History 10s, host Andrew Baldwin names 10 animal species that have played a role in creating the world as we know it today. Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!
10. Bees
While important for the planet, many (including myself) have a deep-seated fear of bees. And why not? Who wants to be stung by a bee, let alone chased by a swarm of them? In fact, bees have been used as weapons over the course of world history.
In the first century B.C., the Heptakometes were able to defeat a Roman army by poisoning jars of honey and placing them strategically along the army’s marching route. Starving and low on supplies, the Roman soldiers ate the honey. Upon becoming violently ill, the Romans were immediately attacked.
Bees have also been used in the siege of castles. Can you imagine being trapped in a castle while active beehives are catapulted through open windows?
At the battle of Antietam, part of the Union army had to retreat from a strategic position after attacks from Confederate artillery disturbed several nearby hives, causing the bees to swarm around the soldiers.
Even as recently as the Vietnam war, nests of wasps and hornets were used as weapons against American soldiers.
9. Pigeons
Before the age of communication, pigeons were integral parts of military comms, sending messages across battle fields and even conducting aerial reconnaissance. Pigeons fly fast, at a high altitude, and have homing abilities — making them the perfect military aide as far back as the time of Cyrus the Great.
During the First World War, military units depended on carrier pigeons delivering messages, many times in life or death situations.
A pigeon named Cher Ami (“dear friend” in French) saved the Lost Battalion of the 77th division of the US Army in the battle of the Argonne Forest in 1918. During the battle, the Lost Battalion became surrounded by German forces. Nearby US artillery units began firing upon the unit, mistaking them for German forces as well.
Cher Ami was dispatched to notify the US forces of the presence of the Lost Battalion. During the flight, Cher Ami was shot and hit multiple times by German forces. Even so, the pigeon was able to deliver the message, ultimately allowing the Lost Battalion to hold their position until reinforcements arrived to help drive back the German forces.
Today, Cher Ami is taxidermied and memorialized at the Smithsonian institute in Washington, DC.
8. Fleas
Fleas have contributed to some of the most deadly diseases in human history. The biggest example? The Black Death.
The Black Death occurred in the mid-fourteenth century. A form of the bubonic plague and carried by rats, the disease eventually spread to humans through the bites of fleas. It’s believe to have killed 1 out of every 3 people in Europe during that time – about 25 million people.
In addition to the sheer death toll, the Black Plague caused sweeping social, economic, and political change. Those who survived the terrible disease, notably the most poor, were able to reap some economic benefit due to the lost labor. They suddenly become much more valuable as there was no one else left to work. They could demand better living conditions and pay.
7. Dolphins
In recent times, dolphins have begun to be used in the military as what’s being dubbed ‘marine soldiers’. Over the last century, scientists have started researching the underwater sonar abilities of dolphins, to try and understand how dolphins can quickly locate items in deep, dark conditions – and use this information to try and train dolphins to do repeatable tasks in military situations.
They’ve been trained to accomplish tasks like delivering equipment to divers, finding lost equipment, guarding ships & submarines, and even underwater reconnaissance while fitted with cameras. More recently, we’ve even been able to train dolphins to detect, find, and mark underwater mines.
But even before modern times, dolphins have been a part of world history. You may have heard of stories where dolphins have pushed people back to land who have drifted out to sea. One of these people? The famous Dick Van Dyke, who was struggling to paddle back to shore after falling asleep on his surfboard.
6. Elephants
Ever fight an elephant in hand-to-hand combat? You have a spear in your hand, and across the field from you is a herd of elephants charging your way. From around 1000 B.C. to about the ninth century, this wasn’t as uncommon of an occurrence as you may think. Man used elephants like ‘living tanks’ – giant living weapons of war. Alexander the Great, Hannibal, forces from Champa, and Timur, all notably made use of elephants in their military pursuits.
But elephants are not only used as weapons of war. Peaceful by nature, elephants are the subjects of various religious beliefs, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and spirituality in African tribes. They’re also used as working animals in Asia and Africa as a means of transportation, and a way to haul heavy loads for construction and forestry work. They’re even used to help make coffee!
Black Ivory Coffee is known as the most expensive coffee in the world. The caviar of coffee. How do elephants help? In Thailand, they pick the coffee cherries and mix them with the elephants favorite foods. The elephant eats the food and nature takes its coarse. The coffee cherries are removed from the elephant excrement, washed, dried, and used to make the coffee! For about $1100 per kilogram, you too can taste what is considered the smoothest and best tasting coffee in the world.
5. Mosquitos
Every year over 725,000 people die due to diseases transmitted to them by a mosquito bite. Malaria is the most common, but other include yellow fever, west nile virus, zika, and dengue fever. Diseases transmitted by mosquitos wreak havoc all over the world, across the centuries, including the building of the Panama Canal, the Spanish-American war, and even the American Revolution. One could argue, in fact, that mosquitos may have even played a part in helping America to win it’s independence.
4. Cattle
Humanity could not exist in the capacity that it does today if it wasn’t for cattle. They’ve been used for thousands of year for meat, dairy, work, leather, manure & fertilizer and more. They’ve been used throughout history as currency, religious symbols and also as signs of heraldry throughout the west.
There are even some accounts across history where individual cows have caused great havoc. In 1871, a cow belonging to Catherine O’Leary is said to have caused the Great Chicago Fire. It is said that the cow tipped over a kerosine lamp, lighting the barn on fire and eventually spreading throughout the city and killing up to 300 people. (Note that it is widely debated whether or not these are the actual circumstances that started the fire).
3. Horses
The connection between man and horse stretches back 50,000 years to when the animal was strictly a source of meat. Around 4,000 BC, the horse became domesticated and opened the possibility of long distance travel and making a tremendous difference in society. Cultures were able to interact in a way that was never before possible, allowing man-kind to progress forward at a rapid pace.
Not only strong and fast – horses are extremely intelligent and social. Farmers were able to herd cattle faster, goods were hauled more easily between locations – and of course, they were used for war.
The greatest horsemen in history were the Mongols. Practically born in the saddle, Mongols were almost unbeatable on the battlefield due to their ability to out-maneuver all others during horse-back fighting. Eventually they would become one of the greatest conquering civilizations in all of world history.
2. Dogs
Man’s Best Friend. Dogs affect all of us personally and have played an enormous role in the evolution of man. Research has shown a symbiotic, and even a possible genetic bond, between dogs and humans.
There are countless ways that dogs have been used throughout human history. Not just as a pet, but for things like hunting, tracking, herding, guarding — the list is almost endless.
Here are three individual dogs who have impacted world history:
Laika
Laika was the Siberian husky the rode aboard Sputnik II, a Soviet-launched satellite in 1957 – helping to pave the way for humans to eventually travel in space as well. Laika was the first living being to orbit the earth. Unfortunately this story is not all happy, as this was a one-way trip for Laika. Developments in space technology had not advanced to the point where a return trip was possible. There is now a simple memorial for Laika in Moscow.
Unknown
A Newfoundland (whose name has been lost to history) is credited with saving the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. As Napoleon was fleeing the island of Elba in 1815, he fell overboard from his ship in choppy waters. The dog jumped overboard and assisted in keeping Napoleon afloat until his was able to be hauled back onto the ship. The impact of this event is huge on history if true, as he then went on to fight the battle of Waterloo.
Cairo
Cairo is the military working dog that participated in Operation Neptune Spear. This is the operation done by the CIA and the United States special forces to find and kill Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. Cairo’s team was tasked with tracking any escapees, alert special forces to approaching troops, and to look for hidden areas in the compound where enemy combatants might be hiding. Cairo was later honored by president Barack Obama.
1. Monkeys
Monkeys, similar to elephants, are known to have religious significance. They’ve also been used for research and have been closely studies for their intellect and ability to process social interactions.
Why are monkeys number one on our list? We round out our first History 10s list with one simple story that is perhaps the all-time record for a single animal having the greatest impact on world history.
October, 1920 – a monkey bite kills a monarch, king Alexander of Greece. While walking through a garden, Alexander is attacked by a group of monkeys, including one that bites him on the leg and torso. Weeks later, Alexander dies of infection and sepsis from the bite.
Why is this so important? The untimely demise of Alexander results in the formerly deposed Constantine I coming back to power. He had been deposed because of his pro German sympathies during the first world war. After coming back into power, Constantine put into action several political changes that resulted in the allied powers withdrawing their support from Greece. At the time, Greece was in a war with Turkey, and as a result Greece was left to fight alone against Turkey ultimately losing in what is now called the Greek Genocide.
It is truly amazing to think about how just one animal can result in such sweeping changes in world history.
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