Battle of the clowns with fire, riots due to ass and other stupid rebellions from history

It is well known that a bloody war can start with some trifle, for example, over a stolen bucket. Rebellions can also be caused by ridiculous nonsense, but then result in serious upheaval for society. We have collected the history of the most stupid, in our opinion, riots in the history of mankind, the cause of which is puzzling.

From 48 to 52 years BC, just after the infamous Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judea was Koeman. During these four years, entrusted to him by the Emperor of the province three times any uprising against the Romans. The first and most serious was started because of the antics of one of the legionaries, which insulted the religious feelings of the Jews.

It happened on Easter, right next to the temple in Jerusalem. The description of this case is left to posterity the historian and General Josephus. He wrote that, as usual, during the big holidays, on one of the galleries of the temple have placed a Roman cohort, which was supposed to keep order.

The Jews did not tolerate such sacrilege in the temple, and the legionaries threw stones. The townspeople demanded that the polluter of the feast gave them to the violence, but the Romans refused to give a fellow soldier to death. Then near the temple and the surrounding streets began rioting against the arrogant infidels.

Koeman was very scared by the scale of the insurgency and called for reinforcements from neighboring cities. Troops advancing from several directions in the city centre caused panic in the ranks of the rebels, who rushed in all directions. In the resulting stampede, according to Josephus, killed about 10 thousand people, but the rebellion was suppressed. The Procurator was overthrown four years later and he, having fallen out of favor to the Emperor, spent the rest of his days in exile.

In 1354, the English University town of Oxford swept the largest in the history of student unrest. As a result of slaughter, the University burned to the ground, killing 63 students and professors, but to pacify the rebels had to ask for help to the king.

It all started in one of the taverns of Oxford, the feast of St. Scholastica — student holiday. Youth did not like school wine and they started a fight, which is then transported to the streets of the city. I must say that the residents of Oxford fed by incoming students, but fiercely hated them.

Students of the renowned University of the Kingdom was constantly drinking, had fights and duels, raping women and stealing everything that is bad. This time the troublemakers, taking the opportunity, decided to recall all the insults. The townspeople went to the dormitories and set them on fire, and all who knew the student, mercilessly killed.

At the same time and went to the teachers who are always looking at the antics of the wards through his fingers. Dead and wounded were thrown into the latrines were hung on poles and trees, let the flow of the Thames. The University desperately defended, but the odds were on the side of the local.

The city could be razed to the ground, but the local authorities saw that the situation got out of control, sent a messenger to the king. Edward III, by a happy chance, was with the army nearby and immediately rushed to Oxford. The rebellion was eliminated, and fault admitted... citizens.

To punish the inhabitants of Oxford, the king ordered that every year on the day of St. Scholastica to hold in memory of the dead students mourning procession of citizens headed by the mayor and most distinguished citizens bareheaded. After the procession, the city government in full force had to defend the service and then to pay the Treasury a penalty of 1 penny for every dead scholar.

The British honor the traditions, so a custom suit of mourning and to pay the penalty lasted for 470 years, until the 19th century. He himself, a Royal decree annulled only in the 20th century, in 1955.

July 11, 1864, the pioneer of British Aeronautics Henry Coxwell was planning to try his next creation — a balloon. To launch the device he chose the city of Leicester, on the field near which a large crowd of locals and visitors. Coxwell planned to organize a real triumph of technical progress and impress everyone with your child.

On a flight, he invited two brave ladies to show that his idea is perfectly safe. But things did not go as planned by the inventor. 50 thousand people arrived to contemplate flight, waiting for a miracle was bored and a had "a beer" whisky and gin.

When Coxwell with his ball and assistants finally appeared in front of a crowd, someone started the rumor that he is an impostor, and the ball is not real. In the brave Henry and his companions flew insults and debris, after which the police intervened. In the crush one of the constables accidentally kicked the fallen girl and this event was the detonator of the present rebellion.

While some of those present fought with the police, the other, more progressive approaches to the balloonist and began to demand that he immediately took off. The present stuck to the basket and pulled the snap-in from different directions. The refusal of Coxwell to take off from hanging on the gondola drunkards were perceived as an insult and the crowd overran the ball, his owner and companions.

Expensive balloon was completely destroyed, and Henry and his two assistants almost killed. Undercover police aeronauts managed to escape from the field in one of the nearby houses. From another window Coxwell tearfully watched as his balloon was torn to pieces by crowd of drunk rednecks.

The canadian city of Toronto in the mid-19th century was a wild place, populated by different shady characters. 40 thousand people there and had several hundred pubs and brothels, which are never empty. It is in this place came with a tour of the "Star troupe menagerie of S. B. Hovis" US.

Circus group was quite disparate, but everything from acrobats, and ending with clowns and freaks were people skilled and very desperate. Giving a few very successful performances, the clowns of the troupe decided to celebrate a full house with booze and prostitutes in a local brothel, located at the intersection of kings and Jarvis street.

But the circus did not know that the institution is not the first year is considered a Guild — it was chosen after the righteous works fire company, the Hook & Ladder. When the artists failed in the brothel, it was already full of drunken firefighters. Saw the door of the clowns, the fire started to go against them jokes and making fun of their profession.

But the losers did not want to live with shame and the next day, taking with him reinforcements from among the citizens, came to circus town. The crowd attacked the circus, threw stones and broke their vans. Someone opened the cages with the animals and the slaughter was running the lions, monkeys and a giraffe. Circus performers, despite the numerical superiority of the enemy, was not going to give up and the fight was delayed.

To stop a big brawl to the circus there has arrived the mayor of Toronto. They say that the mayor even managed to save the life of one of the clowns to escape from the hands of an angry fire axe listed for the decisive blow. The rebellion was able to subdue, but the circus was completely destroyed, and artists were brutally beaten.

This case went to the city for good — he started the police reform, which has made Toronto a much safer and more pleasant city.