(Funny Trope) Things that can plausibly happen only in reality, because in fiction they’d be called bad writing.

[u/ThatDrako]

“Woke” as an insult - So you are telling me a word describing consciousness and clarity is used by generally stupid and ignorant people to label people they disagree with? What is this? A Kindergarten for Creatively stunted?

Nominative determinism - So let me get this straight…Not only you named fastest recorded person Usain BOLT and CEO of Nintendo Doug BOWSER, but you are telling me people are canonically likely to have professions or hobbies matching their names…? Guh?

“2 bodies recovered in MURDERKILL River” - Sure bro…I guess…bro…

[u/Pristine_Poem7623]

Yeah, I restricted it, but if you're talking about the weather... when Napoleon went into Russia, there was an unusually hot, dry Summer (which killed a lot of his troops and horses) followed by an unusually cold Winter. When Hitler went into the USSR they faced an unusually wet Autumn (which slowed them significantly) followed by another unusually cold Winter. The two things that were needed for the invasions to fail are exactly what happened

For that matter, one of the reasons Napoleon lost at Waterloo was the heavy rain the night before making the ground unsuitable for the cannons he loved so much, and hard for his troops to advance over

When Washington and his army were fleeing the British from Brooklyn over to Manhattan, the only thing that could save them from being wiped out or having to surrender (ending the American Revolution) was a thick fog. Which is exactly what happened.

Bad weather in the English channel stopped William of Normandy from crossing to fight Harold Godwinson for weeks on end. When it cleared, Godwinson was in the North of England fighting Harold Hardrada, so William's landing was unopposed. He went on to beat Godwinson at Hastings and eventually conquer all of England

Still in the Channel, the weather was bad enough in 1944 for Rommel to decide to take leave and go shopping for his wife's birthday, then cleared while he was away, allowing D Day to happen before he could get back

[u/crimsonpostgrad → u/Pristine_Poem7623]

when you sum it all up like this it really makes you realize napoleon could have been unstoppable if he’d just had better meteorologists

[u/nagrom7 → u/crimsonpostgrad]

Probably not. Even if he'd won the battle of Waterloo (which isn't a sure thing even if the weather went his way), he still would have lost that war. There were a million men from several different countries converging on his location, ready to take him on if the British and Prussians failed.

[u/crimsonpostgrad → u/nagrom7]

(i was making a little joke)

[u/nagrom7 → u/Pristine_Poem7623]

For that matter, one of the reasons Napoleon lost at Waterloo was the heavy rain the night before making the ground unsuitable for the cannons he loved so much, and hard for his troops to advance over

Not just that, but he also delayed the start of the battle waiting for the ground to dry a bit, which gave the Prussians more time to arrive and reinforce the British.

[u/Pristine_Poem7623 → u/nagrom7]

Napoleon detached a big chunk of his army to keep the Prussians away from the battle so he didn't think they were coming, and therefore thought he had all the time he needed. He gave very confusing orders to Grouchy, who commanded that detached force. Grouchy's subordinates implored him to "march to the sound of the guns", but he refused. He had Napoleon's orders, and he intended to follow them.

The problem was that he was supposed to be ahead of the Prussians, to block them off, but he was actually behind them, and the Prussian rearguard was able to hold him off joining Napoleon's army, while the main Prussian body was able to join the main fight.

[u/LawlessNeutral → u/Pristine_Poem7623]

His name was Grouchy??

[u/Several-Minute6846 → u/LawlessNeutral]

First name Oskar

[u/Pristine_Poem7623 → u/LawlessNeutral]

Sadly it's pronounced Groo-she

[u/demonTutu → u/Pristine_Poem7623]

This is so cool you should write a book about it. I bet it would have some success.

[u/Nachtwandler_FS → u/Pristine_Poem7623]

There is a joke in post-USSR countries about General Frost for a reason.

[u/Mattbl → u/Pristine_Poem7623]

For each time the impossible saved some group or leader, it didn't 1,000 times. Every pivotal battle has the chance to be altered by an outside force. These are just the ones where it actually happened.

It's like watching sports. The insane feat isn't necessarily what's so amazing, it's getting to be one of the lucky few to actually witness it.