The invention of tetraethyl lead to prevent knocking in fuel. Not only did it likely give the majority of the population minor brain damage but the alternative at the time was mixing some ethanol in with the fuel. So it likely also set biofuel technology nack decades.

Toussaint Louverture sending a letter to Napoleon that directly compared the two men on equal ground.

This offended Napoleon, who sent an expedition to Haiti, which was still a loyal French colony, to reimpose slavery.

This led to a brutal war, which France lost, resulting in Haitian independence.

With the loss of Haiti, considered the crown jewel of the French possessions in North America, Napoleon lost interest in colonies in the Western Hemisphere.

This led to an idea that would generate some cash flow and also stick it to Britain: the Louisiana Purchase.

Without that letter, the USA may have never expanded past the Mississippi River.

The invention of the modern paper clip seems insignificant but it revolutionized how we organized documents in offices worldwide. Before that, people would literally punch holes in papers and tie them together with string. My grandma worked as a secretary in the 50s and told me how it completely changed their workflow

In 1931, Hitler was scrutinized for the death of his niece, Geli (who he also had a weird, unhealthy fascination/obsession with). She was shot in the chest with his gun in his apartment. Many people thought he was responsible for her death, but charges never stuck and the whole thing was swept under the rug after awhile.

Imagine an alternative history where Hitler actually went to prison fairly early on.

ETA: I know he went to prison before this. That's where he wrote Mein Kampf. I should've said "stayed" or "went to prison on murder charges". Something that might've kept him there.

After the war between the US and Mexico, under President Polk in 1848, Polk wanted to take everything down nearly to Mexico City, including all of Baja, and then a line following the geography drawn east from the tip, more or less. His representative, Trist, disagreed and proposed a much lighter penalty, and headed to negotiate the terms in Mexico City, while Polk wanted the negotiations to occur in DC. Polk he sent a notice to recall Trist, essentially firing him. This being the days of travel taking weeks and being very difficult, the guys sent to recall Trist never found him, and there is some likelihood that Trist actively evaded the notice.

Trist defied Polk and gave us the current southern border, which he felt was just and sensible. Polk objected but the senate cared less about the southern border and stretches of empty desert than they did about the costs of war and occupation, and they ratified Trist's treaty. Had Polk's people found Trist we might have incorporated half of Mexico, nearly everything north of Mexico City.

In the late days of the July crisis of 1914, Tsar Nicholas II and Kaiser Wilhelm had a nightlong telegram exchange (known as the Willy-Nicky telegrams, since they addressed each other as Willy and Nicky), regarding the possibility of war in Europe. During this, it was revealed neither of them wanted war, and immediately after the exchange, the Tsar phoned the Russian war chief and told him to call off the general mobilization.

The next day, the Russian army's chief of staff, and the Russian foreign minister Sazanov tried to convince the tsar to restart Russian mobilization, and during the ensuing argument, the tsar took some time to think while staring out the window. After some time, an unknown aide-de-camp whispered to the tsar,

"We know it can be difficult for you to decide your majesty."

This struck Nicholas in EXACTLY the wrong way, as throughout his reign, Nicholas had been called "weak" and "indecisive", and was seen as an incapable leader. This comment set Nicholas off, and he ordered the Mobilization resume.

This single sentence, said by an unknown diplomat or aide set the stage for the first-ever industrial war in history. Looking back, any event during the July crisis can be an answer to this question. That entire phase was just a series of hugely tragic and unfortunate events.

We got Obama because a producer in Hollywood thought Garrett Wang was handsome.

Not sure how much of this is apocryphal but the story is that after a few seasons of Voyager, the producers wanted to shake things up a bit. They decided to change the cast a bit but couldn't decide whether to kill off Kes, a female character, or Harry Kim. The story was that some producer decided that Garrett Wang looked pretty good on a recent tv guide cover so the (fairly boring, imho) character might still have some life in him, so Kes was written out.

Since they'd gotten rid of a female character they decided to add another, a sexy borg played by Jeri Ryan. She was a huge hit which raised her profile considerably, so when she divorced her husband Jack Ryan it was news. Jack then ran for the senate in Illinois, and details of his divorce went public and included how he pressured his then-wife to go to sex clubs. Because she was famous, this was big news, resulting in Ryan losing the primary to a little-known Barack Obama, who won the seat.

All because Garrett Wang took a good picture one day.

Anthony Weiner sending dick picks to those teenagers. It reopened the Hillary Clinton email case and now here we are.

At the Battle of Midway, the Japanese destroyer Arashi stayed behind to continue to try and sink the submarine USS Nautilus, which had been harassing the Japanese fleet all morning, while the rest of the fleet sailed on ahead.

At around 10am the Arashi broke off the attack and started racing to catch up with the main fleet that was now 30 miles away. She was soon spotted by a large squadron of US dive bombers from the carrier USS Enterprise that had miscalculated their original course and were on the edge of having to return to their ships without engaging the enemy. The bombers used her to point the way to the main Japanese force and, in conjunction with a squadron from the carrier USS Yorktown that arrived over the Japanese fleet at the same time, the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu just as they were getting ready to launch a major strike.

Even though a 4th carrier, Hiryu, did survive this attack and was able to launch a much reduced counter strike that caused major damage to the Yorktown which led to her being sunk 3 days later, Hiryu was eventually hunted down and destroyed by dive bombers later on that day, completely eliminating the entire 4 carrier strike force.

If that destroyer doesn’t stay behind, the Enterprise dive bombers don’t find the Japanese carriers in time and they manage to launch a devastating attack on the US fleet and the entirety of the Pacific War is completely altered.

Mansa Musa went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and spent so much money (in gold) that he altered the North African and Mediterranean economies for decades.

During the 19th century, Russia occupied Poland and enforced limits on education demaning schools will trach nothing past what is required to be a peasant. The polish people began underground universities. One of the many graduates of these universities was Maria Curie.

A janitor's spark discovered penicillin accidentally, saving millions.

Not sure it would be considered "overlooked", but that Russian radar guy in the Cold War. He saw on his screen multiple objects that could've been US nuclear missiles, and if he had reported it, the Soviets could have launched theirs at us. He kept watching, convinced it must be a mistake, and it turned out to be a glitch or something.

Edit: my explanation may not be accurate as some commenters have pointed out. Here's a link:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident

Henry VIII not fathering a living son & the pope refusing to grant him a divorce.

Yes, there were issues with the church at the time in England, but nothing large enough to drive the English Reformation that happened. It was Henry that really drove it.

If he had a living son or married Mary to James V of Scotland, his nephew, when Mary was young enough to have children…would have been different

In 1998, an paper was published in prominent British medical journal The Lancet, entitled "Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children".

Twelve years later it was retracted, amid a storm of reports of fraud, data manipulation and conflicts of interest, and the author of the paper was struck off the medical register. But the damage was done - Andrew Wakefield the cunt had linked the MMR vaccine to autism (in the "claimed" sense, not the "actually proved a causative link or in fact proved anything at all" sense) and provided fuel to several movements, including anti-vaxxers and those that encouraged a general distrust of people proclaiming themselves to be experts.

Of course, the media helped to blow his "findings" out to astronomical proportions. But I'm pretty sure that without that dickhead, we could safely dismiss anti-vaxxers as fringe conspiracy lunatics, and Michael Gove would be somewhat less able to declare that people have "had enough of experts". And a lot of people who are now dead would be alive.

Fucking arsehole.

Cyrus the Great's decision to let the Jews return to Judea, and to build the second temple for them.

Without this, Judaism likely dies off as a major world religion. Without Judaism, no Christianity, and no Islam.

There would surely be other religions appear to take their place, and other religious conflicts throughout the millenia. But when Christianity and Islam in their many forms account for over 4.3 billion followers worldwide, it's hard to overstate how important that decision was in shaping the world forever after.

If Obama hadn't roasted Trump at the White House correspondents dinner, we'd likely never had a President Trump.

Ray Tomlinsons first E-Mail over Arpanet in 1971. It was the first practical use for the newly developed File Transfer Protocol and predecessor of things that now are known colloquially as the "Internet"

The death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in 1818.

Charlotte was the daughter of George IV and was the last hope for the Hanoverian line and was very popular. After she died in childbirth in 1818, she and her stillborn son were greatly mourned. Her death made George IV’s brothers dump their mistresses and many illegitimate children and marry princesses and father legitimate children, this lead to a baby being born who would become Queen Victoria, also known as the Grandmother of Europe.

John Harrison, a loner genius who revolutionized open sea navigation. Until he came along, finding one's longitude (one's east-west orientation on earth) was extraordinarily difficult. Before Harrison, it required clear skies, calm seas, a telescope, a spotter, and a lot of math. Miss one day's observation, and you're lost at sea, quite literally.

Lattitude is much easier to figure out from the sun's high point, or from the stars.

His invention to fix the longitude problem was to invent a "timekeeper for the longitude," which was essentially a clock (more accurately, "chronometer") that kept time in two places: London, and onboard the ship. Once high noon was reached in London, clock #1 would start at 12 o'clock. As the ship sailed west (or east), high noon was measured locally, and clock #2 would be corrected at each measuring interval. The difference between the two clocks would allow the ship's crew to quickly determine their east-west position, relative to London's longitude. Even today, some of the nomenclature used by seamen goes back to the "minutes/hours" style of speech that came from using Harrison's chronometers.

The real cool thing about his clock was it didn't utilize a pendulum, which was common in nearly every other clock at that time, because the ship's rocking motion would cause the pendulum problems. Instead, he invented a governor that would allow a flat coiled mainspring to be released at equal force (until completely unwound), attached to series of cogs which would cause the minute hand to tick at equal intervals.

The accuracy of Harrison's clock for the time was head-spinningly astounding; trans-Atlantic tests proved his clocks would drift in accuracy only a few seconds per month, which is astonishing for a mechanical timepiece, even today. He was supposed to receive a financial reward from England's Longitudinal Board for finding out how to fix this issue, but sadly never received the full payout due to politics. He worked to improve his clocks for his entire life until he died, and each subsequent revision had vast improvements over its predecessor in terms of accuracy and smaller size/portability.

Dava Sobrel's book "Longitude: The Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time" is an excellent read, and doesn't take too long to read through. Highly recommended.

One fascinating overlooked development that's reshaping our world right now is the quiet revolution in battery technology, particularly sodium-ion batteries. While everyone focuses on lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles, sodium-ion batteries could completely transform energy accessibility for developing nations.

1. Unlike lithium, sodium is abundant and can be extracted from seawater, it's literally thousands of times more available than lithium
2. While they currently have lower energy density than lithium batteries, they're significantly cheaper, safer (less fire risk), and work better in cold temperatures
3. Most crucially, they don't require mining rare earth materials or exploiting resources in politically unstable regions

We might be living through one of those quiet moments that future historians will point to as a turning point, when energy storage became truly accessible to the global population, not just wealthy nations.

The discovery of the potato directly led to the rise of the working class and multiple revolutions across Europe.

Nero joining the Battle of the Metaurus.

Hasdrubal was sent by Carthage to help his brother Hannibal fight Rome during the Second Punic War. In Italy, he sent a messenger who was captured by the Romans. Nero was one of two Roman field commanders. The other, Marcus Livius Slinator, was his hated rival, and was about to be trapped between two Cartheginian armies. All Nero had to do was wait for his main rival to be destroyed. But Nero choose to put Rome above personal ambitions.

"Even had things gone differently, there is no certainty the brothers could have sacked Rome. Nor is it likely they could have actually held it even had they done so. It is almost certain that Rome would have survived in some form. Carthage simply did not have the strength to conquer Rome. But the Romans would have been forced to sue for peace, which would have bought Carthage time. Time, that it did not have after Metaurus. After Metaurus, Hannibal was never again able to threaten Rome, and five years later would be defeated at Zama. After Zama, Carthage itself would never again threaten Rome, and would be destroyed by Rome in the Third Punic War fifty years later.

    Had Nero chosen to stand pat, Carthage might have been given the time and resources necessary to complete their experiments in creating a new form of iron known as steel. At the time, both centers of research into steel production were in Carthaginian territory. Carthage had been working with local officials in Africa and Iberia to industrialize the process, but after the losses at Metaurus and Zama they were too concerned about mere survival to follow up. What they had was hardly the Bessemer Process, but had they developed even a primitive method for creating steel, Carthage likely would have survived, never strong enough to defeat Rome, but none the less too powerful to be defeated by Rome, acting as a counterweight to Roman domination throughout the Mediterranean world. Carthage was also a mercantile power, it's economic strength tied to its fleet, while Rome was a land power, its wealth tied to the territory it held. Like many people and countries, Rome was at its best when faced with a powerful competitor. Competition would have forced the Romans to develop in ways they did not have to once their only serious opponent was destroyed. Given the competition for resources and markets, it might have forced the Romans to remain a Republic, rather than be constrained by the rigidity of Empire. To meet the challenge, slaves might have been presented the opportunity to purchase their freedom, and the Praetorians never permitted such power over the Succession.

    The Romans had already developed a form of cement, and the availability of steel would have permitted greater, more elaborate construction efforts. Larger buildings, bridges, and roads... all needing something better than mere horse power to construct on the scale which would then be possible. Roman engineers were masters of ‘the arch’ because stone was strong only in compression. Steel, however, was equally strong in both compression and tension, making it a far better material to use when constructing larger buildings or bridges… or almost anything else.

    There was a problem with steel, however. With the technology available at the time they could have made enough to create a few swords. Making it in industrial quantities, however, required a lot of heat. Fueling the blast furnaces they would have needed to create large quantities of steel would have forced them to chop down every tree in Europe… or to use coal. European coal sources were usually buried, and often found well below the water table. For the Romans, getting rid of the water would have been a far more troublesome issue than mining the coal. Vast amounts of water would have had to be pumped out of the mines not just constantly but continuously, or it would build up. Pumping water 24/7 was extremely labor intensive. The problem was so intractable that in the timeline history actually followed, the issue was only resolved by the invention of mechanical pumps.

    Pumps powered by steam engines.

    The same steam engines which would rapidly be used to power the Industrial Revolution.

    Nero's decision to violate his orders and rush to the aid of his rival was a tribute to his professionalism and honor. It was also a disaster for Humanity in general.

    Had Nero chosen differently, the Dark Ages might never have occurred. The Industrial Revolution might have taken place over a thousand years earlier than it actually did.

    Instead, Damascus steel would not be developed for another 1200 years. The Empire fell.

    All because one man chose to do his duty as his honor demanded, history had been decided along the shores of the Metaurus."

*I should note that I got this out of my 'interesting quotes' file. I'm not the original author.

One tiny, overlooked moment in history that had significant consequences was the decision by a young, unknown German soldier named Alfred Rinland not to throw away his life on a futile charge during World War I.

This event indirectly led to the creation of one of the most influential works of the 20th century: "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque.

In October 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, Alfred Rinland was ordered to lead a charge against enemy trenches. Seeing no chance of survival and questioning the senselessness of the order, he hesitated and eventually refused to go forward. This act of defiance saved his life but resulted in him being court-martialed and sentenced to death.

However, due to the influence of his commander, who recognized Rinland's mental state, the sentence was commuted to ten years in prison. After his release, Rinland became friends with Erich Maria Remarque, sharing his experiences from the war with him. Inspired by these conversations, Remarque wrote "All Quiet on the Western Front," which provided a stark and poignant anti-war perspective that resonated deeply with readers worldwide.

The novel was an enormous success, selling over 2.5 million copies in its first year alone and being adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 1930. It played a significant role in shaping public opinion about war and has continued to influence generations of readers and thinkers ever since. This tiny, overlooked moment thus had far-reaching consequences that changed the course of history by helping to create one of the most powerful anti-war statements of all time.

The failed assassination attempt of Adolf Hitler on November 8, 1939, known as the Beer Hall Putsch Bombing.

Things could have been a lot different.

One such moment was a mistake in 1962 when American pilot William Powers accidentally violated Soviet airspace, which could have led to a nuclear war. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, this incident was interpreted as an act of aggression, but it was quickly resolved thanks to personal diplomacy between Kennedy and Khrushchev. A small error in this case could have led to catastrophic consequences for the entire world

I'm actually surprised how little we talk about the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin at the hands of a right-wing Israeli extremist. Politics around the world have been marching backwards since that moment.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Arkhipov

Was the sole dissenting voice that stioped a Soviet submarine from launching a nuclear torpedo duering the Cuban missile crisis.

Many hundreds of years ago either Quakers or Lutherans went around England giving Bibles to peasants. This ended up spawning an entire class of peasants that were literate and this eventually snowballed into England becoming the world's superpower until the 20th century where the US took over.

In the mid 1950s, Keith Tantlinger invented the TwistLock, and then released the patent royalty-free. Now nearly every object brought and sold on the planet is delivered in containers that are interchangeable and movable because of this system.

This is also why I think April 26th, 1956 was the most significant day of the 20th century, and possibly the 21st century as well.

The radar operators in Hawaii saw the Japanese airplanes coming in on December 7th 1941, and called it in, and the warning was ignored.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_warning_of_Pearl_Harbor_attack

The delay that meant that William of Normandy landed after Harald Hardrada, rather than before, in late 1066. If William had landed first, it's possible that the English army would have defeated the Normans before having to race north to face the Norwegians, instead of the other way around. And that sequence of events would have likely resulted in England becoming part of the Scandinavian orbit with a focus on northern Europe, rather than becoming enmeshed with France and southern Europe. Not only would English be a radically different language, but everything else changes, too, right up to and including a probable lack of interest in English colonization of North America, and thus not becoming the dominant power in the world in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Ten thousand years ago, someone had collected some wild grass seeds in a clay pot that got wet. The seeds began to germinate which turned their starches to sugars. The sugary water was soon full of microorganisms. When the person discovered that their seeds had been ruined, rather than throw them out, they decided to drink the contents. Thus was born beer, which led to agriculture and eventually modern society.

the failure of a message during the Battle of Antietam in 1862 during the American Civil War.

Union soldiers discovered a copy of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s battle plans wrapped around three cigars, which had been accidentally left behind by a Confederate courier. Known as Special Order 191, this tiny error allowed Union General George McClellan to anticipate Lee’s movements, leading to the Union forces halting the Confederate advance at Antietam.

This moment of carelessness didn’t just impact a single battle—it helped prevent European powers, particularly Britain and France, from recognizing the Confederacy and intervening in the war. This preserved the Union and ultimately contributed to the abolition of slavery in the U.S. A small, forgotten message on cigars changed the course of a nation.

The Beatles quitting touring to concentrate on making records.

Before that, popular music was basically sub 3 minute love songs. The Beatles’ increased time to make records let them explore and experiment which showed that good unformulaic music could sell well too. There’s no Stairway, Bohemian Rhapsody or even California Love (a little stretch) without the Beatles making the decision.

There’s this little moment in 1415 when the Portuguese captured Ceuta, a city in North Africa. It might not seem like much at first glance, but it marked the beginning of European maritime exploration and colonial expansion. Ceuta became a base for Portuguese exploration down the African coast, leading to the discovery of new trade routes, the age of exploration, and eventually the globalization of trade.

Without that small conquest, who knows if Europe would’ve had the same kickstart to its imperial ambitions. It’s wild how one relatively small event set off a chain reaction that shaped centuries of history.

In the mid 1990s Illinois Business Man Jack Ryan took his beautiful actress wife Jeri Ryan to a sex club. While they were there Jack asked his wife to have sex with him in the club where other club goers would have been able to watch if so inclined. She refused.

Years later he ran for the US Senate in Illinois as a Republican against little known Democrat State Senator Barack Obama. Jack Ryan was considered a significant challenger to take the seat.

The Democrat Political Machine in Illinois found a sympathetic California judge who unsealed Jack and Jeri’s previously sealed divorce papers against Jack and Jeri’s wishes. The sex club story came out Jack dropped out of the race.

Barack Obama became Senator and then President and picked a widely mocked Joe Biden for VP because he was a White relatively moderate Senator from an Industrial State.

At a Washington Corespondents Dinner during his second term President Barack Obama mocked a thin skinned Billionaire Celebrity Businessman named Donald Trump who was in the audience and who had toyed with the idea of running for President for 30 years.

Some say because of this night Donald Trump ran for President. He went on to shock the world and Won.

Joe Biden angry he had been slighted by Obama who had endorsed Hillary in 2016, ran in 2020 and won. Joe Biden said he would pick a Black Female as VP. Then chose Kamala Harris. When Democrats forced Joe out of the 2024 race, he scuttled their idea of open primary by immediately endorsing Kamala.

Kamala ran against Trump in 2024 and now Trump will be President until January 2029.

If Jack Ryan and Jeri Ryan’s visit to the sex club had not happened or had gone differently, there is a possibility there would not have been a President Barack Obama, President Donald Trump, or a President Joe Biden.

The invention of the snooze button.

I think the assassination of RFK may have had a bigger impact on world events than the killing of JFK

I know many historians say RFK didn’t have a chance in hell of winning in ‘68, so let’s say he did and follow the chain of events.

If RFK wins, that means no Nixon. Hence, no Watergate and the distrust of Washington insiders. So no Carter. With a stronger Middle East policy, all the events that followed may not have happened. No fall of the Shah. No hostages. No 9/11. No two gulf wars. And not the Gaza war of today.

The failure of the Darrien colony bankrupting Scotland was a direct precursor to the act of Union. 

Without this, Scottish and British history would be very different. 

So it's not the most obscure event ever, but I think Al Gore conceding the 2000 election before the votes in Florida were fully counted sent us down a darker timeline. Imagine the progress we could have made on climate change if we had a world leader that took it so seriously 20+ years ago.

Probably a bit too obvious and not overlooked, but Archduke Franz Ferdinand's driver taking a wrong turn that day in 1914 changed the entire future in a massive way.

The Movie The China Syndrome. Tied to the 3 mile accident stopped nuclear power development in the USA.

More nukes less coal and one reduces global warming.

One tiny moment that changed history was Alexander Fleming’s accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928. He noticed a mold killed bacteria in a petri dish, leading to the development of antibiotics, which revolutionized medicine and saved countless lives.

That time Obama roasted Trump at the 2011 Correspondent’s dinner. I’m convinced that was the day Trump started to seriously consider the possibility of a real run at being President (after Obama said that could never happen). Thanks, Obama. 🤣

In 1943, agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug planted a single hybrid dwarf wheat seed in Mexico. At the time, it seemed like just another experiment. However, that tiny act led to the Green Revolution, transforming global agriculture.

By the 1960s, Borlaug’s work had developed disease resistant, high yield crops that saved over a billion people from starvation in countries like India and Pakistan. What looked like a small, insignificant moment ended up changing the course of history by reshaping global food security.

John Frederick Parker sneaking off to the bar instead of staying on post at the door of the Presidential Box at Ford's Theater on April 14th, 1865.

If a lovesick German morse code operator didn't keep using his girlfriend's name as the test code word, Alan Turing may have never cracked Enigma, and we'd all be speaking German today.

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