40 Animals that Changed History

2. A pig killed King Philip of France, and his successor launched the disastrous Second Crusade

King Philip (1116-31) ruled France with his father, Louis the Fat (c.1081-1137). Like many teenagers, he refused to listen to his dad, or anyone else, really. One day, as he rode his horse along the River Seine in Paris, a little black pig ran out from a dung heap. Philip’s horse tripped over it and crashed to the ground. Philip hit his head, and never regained consciousness. Louis VII succeeded Philip and helped launch the Second Crusade, in which many thousands of people died horribly. If only that ruddy pig had stayed put in the dung heap…

1. The Asian Honey Bee helped the Vietcong fight off the US invasion in the Vietnam War

The Asian Honey Bee is the stuff of nightmares. Measuring up to 2cm long, they are notoriously aggressive. As well as having a painful sting, they can also cause bowel gangrene and even death. During the Vietnam War, US soldiers found them a menace that only compounded the horrific conditions in the jungle. Bee attacks were so common rumours spread that the Vietcong were moving hives to routes taken by US infantry. Whether they did or not, the bees in their own way helped to fight the war, lowering US morale and making life even tougher for the beleaguered troops.

Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

Chaline, Eric. Fifty Animals That Changed the Course of History. Richmond, ON: Firefly, 2011.

Coren, Stanley. The Pawprints of History: Dogs and the Course of Human Events. New York: Free Press, 2002.

Hambler, Clive. Conservation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Lee, Mackenzi. The History of the World in Fifty Dogs. New York: Abrams Image, 2019.

Lemish, Michael G. War Dogs: Canines in Combat. London: Brassey’s, 1996.

Lockwood, Jeffrey A. Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Roberts, Alice M. Tamed: Ten Species that Changed our World. London: Hutchinson, 2017.