The Greatest Lucky Break In World History

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Wyatt Burp

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For a couple centuries or whatever it was Spain (my ancestors on my dad's side) sent men in search of fabled lost cities of gold traveling the southwest and Mexico. Then in 1848 after winning the Mexican American War we pay off Mexico and assumed their debt. Then at that very moment a guy named James Marshall finds something glistening in the South Fork of the American River about an hour from where I'm at right now. A gold rush ensures bringing mass wealth to the U.S. Not to mention silver discoveries in Nevada Territory. This bizarre timing of this lucky twist of fate always amazed me.
 
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No greater feat than Dr. John Williamson finding a diamond in South Africa that led to the digging of the famed Kimberly mine.

Frankly, I think the British got an incredibly lucky break when Hitler didn't press his advantage after Dunkirk and invade the UK.

And Cortes was remarkably fortunate in overcoming the Aztecs.
I've read the only first person account of that venture and what the Spaniards achieved was astounding.

And I've had a few possibly miraculous escapes, myself.

Oh: someone just won the huge Powerball payoff.
 
Texas Star said:
Frankly, I think the British got an incredibly lucky break when Hitler didn't press his advantage after Dunkirk and invade the UK.
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The Germans would have drowned in the Channel if they had attempted it in 1940. But don't take my word for it; the British and Germans gamed it out in 1974 at Sandhurst and decided that it would have resulted in a devastating defeat for the Germans. See
(can't get the URL to work not sure why. Google "Operation Sea lion wargame" and it will be the first option.)
 
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sheepdawg said:
Luckiest break ever. It happened to Ringo Starr when he replaced Pete Best as drummer for the Beatles
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Which brings a story to mind. Someone asked Paul McCartney if he though Ringo was the best drummer in rock and roll and McCartney replied "He wasn't the best drummer in the Beatles". Ouch! :eek:
 
I'm probably butchering history here doing this by memory, and feel free to correct me. If Napoleon had Preparation H, his hemorrhoids would not have made him stop and rest a day which caused his men to get bogged down in mud from the rains they would have avoided. Causing him to meet his "Waterloo" at Waterloo. A sore (enter unmentionable orifice here) handed victory to the U.K.
 
Yeah, but.....

NYlakesider said:
I have always considered history (at least up till now) to be the winners version of what happened!
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It may take a while to get the details, but a snafu like Operation Tiger shows that things go really bad on anybody's side.

I don't know if the Zimmerman Telegram would be considered 'luck' because the Brits worked like hell to extract ANY tidbit of intelligence.
 
It may not have beeh....

Wyatt Burp said:
I'm probably butchering history here doing this by memory, and feel free to correct me. If Napoleon had Preparation H, his hemorrhoids would not have made him stop and rest a day which caused his men to get bogged down in mud from the rains they would have avoided. Causing him to meet his "Waterloo" at Waterloo. A sore (enter unmentionable orifice here) handed victory to the U.K.
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It may not as been the MAIN cause but it definitely was a factor.

I always thought it a bit of luck that Rommel was in Germany on D-Day.

The HMS Hood should have been able to take few hits and let off some shots, too, but one lone shell penetrated to the magazine.
 
One lucky (or unlucky) break was that in 1943 some underling of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of the Imperial Navy sent an unauthorized message to the Japanese commander at Bougainville advising him to expect a visit from Yamamoto who wanted to make an inspection and morale-building visit to the Japanese troops in the Solomon Islands. Of course, that message was intercepted and decoded, resulting in Admiral Halsey being able to send out a squadron of Army P-38 Lightnings to assassinate Yamamoto en route from his HQ at Rabaul. Without that blunder by some unknown underling, the Pacific War might well have turned out much differently.
 
Going back a little earlier President Jefferson did a pretty good job sending Lewis and Clark out west, the Louisiana Purchase was also pretty sweet, he did some great stuff but looking back there was plenty of opportunity for a man with vision.
My G.G.G. Grandfather was Lt. Governor of the Territory of New Mexico and a personal friend of Kit Carson. He was a military man but not in favor with war with Mexico, considering it an outright act of aggression and major land grab. He had fought in the Blackhawk Indian Wars, its rumored that he fought along with Lincoln and travelled to the Mexican war from Pike County, Illinois with his regiment to fight in the war. He kept a correspondence with the local paper, it is a treasure of what common life was like. He lost more men due to disease and illness than during the war itself. He later died at Chicamauga, shot off his horse rallying his men to charge up Snodgrass Hill.
 
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