10 Historical Events That Were CHANGED in School History Books

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for historical events and significant cultural facts that were either amended or completely omitted from school textbooks. The plants are dying, the animals are dying. We're not too far behind them as the Mohawk Nation. Number 10. The Nanjing Massacre. This is a house of the Lord! These are children! The Second Sino-Japanese War lasted between 1937 and 1945, with China emerging victorious over Japan and reclaiming lost land. The Nanjing Massacre occurred during this war, with the Imperial Japanese Army killing 200,000 Chinese civilians throughout a six-week period. This has long been a contentious issue in Japan and has been the subject of some historical revisionism. Some revisionists outright deny that it ever happened, while others attempt to literally rewrite history. In 2017, Japan's Society for the Dissimation of Historical Fact removed references to the massacre in junior high textbooks. Critics argue that this is an example of whitewashing by a group of right-wing Japanese nationalists. The truth about Nanjing is aggression, and the massacre is a typical example of the Japanese wars of aggression. Number 9. America's first interracial marriages. Mr. Loving, do you have anything to say about what went on in the court today? No, I have nothing to say. One might imagine that interracial marriage wasn't common in America until the civil rights era. Public opinion of such marriages stood at just 5% in the 1950s, and it wasn't until 1967 that the banning of interracial marriage was deemed unconstitutional. In reality, interracial marriages have been legal and encouraged for hundreds of years. A number of eastern states, including New York, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire, never made interracial marriage illegal. In fact, anti-miscegenation laws were first passed in the mid-17th century because interracial marriage was so rampant. Yup, as far back as 1660s Virginia, people of other races were happily marrying each other without lawful intervention. Number 8. Slobodan Milosevic. A prominent war criminal, Slobodan Milosevic served as the president of Serbia between 1991 and 1997. Following that, he was the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and remained in office for three years until he was overthrown in October of 2000. This trial's aim is to produce false justification for the war crimes of NATO committed in Yugoslavia. Milosevic was accused of various war crimes during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and early 2000s, specifically targeting Croats, Bosniaks, and Albanians. In 2001, shortly after his overthrow, every mention of Milosevic was removed from Croatian school books. While they still made reference to his atrocities and the various wars that Milosevic began, his name was never specifically dropped. The producer of the textbook, Radoslav Petkovic, later admitted that they wished to ignore that period of Croatian history. Number 7. Critical race theory. It's only recently that critical race theory has become controversial, despite being around since the 1970s. In its essence, CRT analyzes how race shapes certain laws and media. But perhaps the most controversial argument that it makes is that various laws are inherently racist through systemic ideals. The field has generated a lot of criticism, both from the public and academia. Florida, in particular, has challenged the teaching of critical race theory. A white parent could plausibly claim that reading MLK's writing made their child feel discomfort on the basis of their race. And some of these laws seem designed to bend school's curriculums to the sensibilities of the most conservative, alarmed parents. In 2022, the state rejected 41% of submitted math textbooks, claiming that they contained prohibited topics like CRT. The issue dates back to April 2022, when Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 7 into law, making it illegal to teach CRT in the state's schools. Number 6. Taiwan's history. The ownership of Taiwan is a very complex issue, its story spanning multiple decades and containing much political maneuvering. Essentially, China considers Taiwan to be one of its sovereign territories, and Taiwanese citizens don't like that. In 2015, the country's government launched an initiative to appease mainland China and attempted to alter its high school textbooks. According to one professor, roughly 60% of the country's history was altered, including the period after 1949, when the Republic of China took control. One major change saw the Taiwanese Zheng dynasty being renamed to the Ming-Zheng period, falsely suggesting that Taiwan was part of the mainland's Ming dynasty. However, these changes were met with public protests. Number 5. George Floyd and Black Lives Matter. It's not just critical race theory that Florida has a problem with. In fact, state law has made it illegal to teach many facets of political and social justice, particularly in regards to the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2023, the state rejected 35 social studies textbooks and demanded changes to many others. We're very concerned about the standards here in Florida. You know, what teachers want to do is they want to teach kids an accurate, complete and honest history, both the good and the bad. One textbook aimed at grades six through eight made reference to systemic racism, white supremacy, George Floyd, the resulting protests, and the wider BLM movement. However, these were deemed, quote, unsolicited topics, and the entire section was removed. As a result, no mention of George Floyd or BLM appears in the edited and ultimately published textbook. I just see it as a strong attempt to hide the truth and discount the contributions of many African Americans to the US. Number 4. 40 Years of Afghan History. Some 20 different languages are spoken. The people have always resisted a centralized government. In 2012, approximately four decades of Afghan history was wiped away when the country's education ministry rewrote their school's textbooks. Several major events were either omitted entirely or severely reduced, including the various coups of the 1970s, the Soviet invasion of 1979, the Taliban regime, and the American occupation of the early 2000s. The Afghan government claimed that such changes would unify a politically divided country. However, critics and academics argue that the government was simply trying to appease the Taliban and portray them in a positive light. Basically, it was state-sponsored propaganda. We did not come to power by force, but with the support of the people. If the US is so powerful, why did they just give up? Number 3. The Cultural Revolution. For 10 years between 1966 and 1976, the People's Republic of China was rocked by the so-called Cultural Revolution. Launched by the communist leader Mao Zedong, its main goal was to purge China of capitalism and reaffirm its communist ideals. The revolution was marked by widespread violence, resulting in the deaths of up to 2 million people. This period is obviously quite contentious in Chinese history, or at least it was. That was before the government of China completely erased it from their state-approved textbooks in 2018. Virtually every reference to the Cultural Revolution was removed, ensuring that future generations will not learn about the horrible atrocities. Number 2. Saddam Hussein's revisions. Serving as the fifth president of Iraq between 1979 and 2003, Saddam Hussein ran a highly authoritarian government, which included elements of repressed information. Back in 1973, while serving as vice president, Saddam had the country's history textbooks completely rewritten to be more favorable towards his contentious Ba'ath party. But he was just getting started. After becoming president, Saddam made some egregious alterations to history, like falsely claiming that Iraq had won both the Gulf War and the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. However, all of these historic alterations were removed once America took control of Iraq in 2003. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them. If you're on your phone, make sure you go into settings and switch on your notifications. Number 1. Treatment of Native Americans. They say history is written by the victors, and that is certainly the case when it comes to Native Americans. It's only recently that Canada has come under fire for its treatment of Native Americans, especially as the residential school system has been increasingly studied. The system wasn't a mandatory subject in Canadian schools, likely due to the rampant abuse that occurred within their walls. I sensed the urgency that we needed to find out for sure if those anomalies were human remains. Thousands died while attending these schools, and these deaths weren't often reported. Therefore, they were never taught. This also leads into the idea of coerced sterilization, a Canadian eugenics movement that dropped the Aboriginal birth rate nearly 20% between the 60s and 80s. However, it's now believed that such practices continued well into the 2010s. What do you make of these alterations? Let us know in the comments below. I mean, there was a few changes made. They said, I'm sorry, and then the story just kind of faded away like they do. 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