10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About World War II

10 things you weren't taught at school about the most significant years of the 20th century...

By Michael Thompson /

In hindsight the 20th century was an exciting, but dangerous time to live. It was pock marked by wars and change. The early 1900s still saw gunslingers ruling the Wild West and now you can read all about them on your smart phone. World War II was a cataclysmic event, which shaped the modern world in ways not yet fully realized. What makes the war so interesting is if you pick away at the surface of its major events you will find a massive subterranean of weirdness you could spend an entire life researching and never completely understand. The three largest contributing factors to this were the Nazi's insane leadership and obsession with the Occult, Britain's brave if not eclectic use of espionage, and the indomitable will of the Japanese discipline. Also the American general George S. Patton, who believed in reincarnation and took time to visit several ancient battlefields in Europe he had fought at in previous lifetimes. When Patton reached Nuremburg he was the only general to demand to see Hitler's secret treasure bunker in Blacksmith Alley so he could hold the infamous Spear of Destiny. When the ancient weapon (dated back to the ninth century) was in his hands Patton gave a long speech to all in attendance how the bomb dropped recently on Japan marked an end to the age of the individual warrior. He then gave the spear back and a shortly later died in a car crash. Yeah, it was a weird war.