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Pilot Accidentally Lands in Enemy Airfield and Other Historic Mistakes

Khalid Elhassan October 5, 2020 31 min

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger - Focke-Wulf — Fw 190 dogfighting a Spitfire over the English Channel. Pintrest

9. Monkey Business Dooms a King

King Alexander of Greece’s greatest oops moment led to his death at the hands (and teeth) of a monkey. Not Alexander the Great, mind, but a more recent King Alexander (1893 – 1920). Less imposing than the ancient’ world’s great conqueror, this Alexander, who reigned from 1917 until killed by a monkey three years later, is better known for the undignified manner of his death than for anything he did in life.

Alexander ascended the throne during WWI, in 1917, after the Entente forced his father to abdicate because he was too pro-German. Once Alexander ascended the throne in his father’s place, the pro-Entente Eleutherios Venizelos became Greek premier. He dominated the young king and his government, and got Greece to join the war on the Entente’s side.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.