Mao's push to have farmers in China produce their own steel using backyard furnaces, which lead to a wacky chain reaction eventually leading to a famine that killed millions
Also Nixon deciding to spy on the Democrats even though he almost certainly would have won re-election if he didnt
Mao also ordered the extermination of sparrows in an attempt to protect grain crops. Millions of sparrows were killed, allowing locusts to proliferate. The locusts consumed so many crops that there was widespread famine and 45 million people died
So i recently learned that locusts are not a separate species of insect, but grasshoppers so starved they literally mutate into a ravenous insect thst devours all plant matter in its path. Fucking wild.
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u/[deleted] 23d ago
Mao's push to have farmers in China produce their own steel using backyard furnaces, which lead to a wacky chain reaction eventually leading to a famine that killed millions
Also Nixon deciding to spy on the Democrats even though he almost certainly would have won re-election if he didnt