I used to think that World War II took place on a field in Los Angeles (where I lived). I thought that you could just go to where the war was going on and watch it through a chain-link fence.

Lili

I used to think that when you fought in a war there was a fence between the two armies. i found myself contimplating quite often whether it was considered "cheating" if someone crossed the fence to the enemy's side. kind of like in dodgeball. this is also why i thought another word for sword fights is called "fencing". lmao.

i was stupid

I used to believe that I could stop the war in Vietnam by running out between the fighting sides. I didn't think that they would shoot a child. I then thought that I could get them to sit down and talk about it reasonably and work thinks out in a peaceable fashion.

Raven Simons

My parents didn't want me playing with toy soldiers from WWII, so they bought me sets of knights. These were the Britains Limited figures - a wide variety of armor types, so not all of them had Crusader tabards. My logic in playing Knights In Armor was that the ones with the crosses on their tabards were physically stronger.

Years later, I got into medieval history, and found out that was one of the folk beliefs in the actual Crusader armies.

Anon

I used to think World War I and II were actually pronounced War War I and II.

Took me about 11-12 years to get it straight.

Holly

When I was around 8 or 9 I used to believe that the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" (the first shot in the American Revolution) was the biggest home run ever in baseball.

Even though my dad is a history teacher...

When people would say "Remember Waterloo" I thought they were talking about an Indian fight in Walterloo, Iowa. I was in college when I learned that it was about Napoleon and France.

How embarassing.

There was a storm drain behind my elementary school that looked an awful lot like a cannon when we were in third grade. After seeing it, I believed that Revolutionary War was refought every night behind my school, and that the soldiers kept accidentally forgetting to take the cannon back with them during the day.

Autumn

I used to think all wars lasted only 4 years, like college or something.

Anon

I was just three when the war ended and I used to lay in bed, under the blankets, and listen to these big bees flying over.

It was years before I realised I had been hearing doodlebugs.

Reigna

I sepnt a lot of my childhood growing up in the middle east with my Father who was in the armed forces there.
One day we were out in the desert with some of his friends when they discovered an unexploded mortar bomb.
I wanted to rush over and play with it, and my Dad couldn't understand why - until I explained to him that I wasn't afraid of 'WATER bombs...'.

Scott

When I was little the gulf war was constantly on TV. I can remember looking at all the tanks and explosions thinking they were taking their game of golf a bit too far! It wasnt until many years later I figured out what it was really about!

Anon

I used to think a war was when about there was about six guys (three on each side) with swords, hitting the opposites sword simultaneously, and whichever side got tired the quickest lost. That really got me into trouble with my grandpa..he was a World War 2 veteran....then again he was also an alcoholic...

Audrey

When I was little I wasn't able to figure out how an army could win a war or battle without killing all the soldiers on the other side.

Miss Taken

I was a kid (about 8) during the first Gulf War and one night I over heard my Dad talking to his friend about his boss who was "So Damn Insane", but I misheard "Sadaam Hussein"...so for years after I thought that my dad worked for Sadaam!

Anon

When I was around 7 years old (1961 or 62), we used to have 'air aid rills' at school, where we lined up in the hallway, in alphabetical order, with cardboard signs hanging by strings around our necks. We had to squat down and fold over our legs, with the sign protected by our bodies. Some of the kids told me that we were going to be bombed and the signs were so they could identify our bodies. I was really upset until my mother explained that this is America and it is against the law to bomb America.

DL

When I was younger I used to think the "Civil War" was called the "Silver War", and was actually a war over jewelrey and table utensiles.

Emily

Before I was old enough to understand the terminology behind the phrase "World War", all I saw was an image of the entire globe covered in people fighting each other. It just seems a little bit weird to see two soliders trying to shoot each other off the very highest peak of Mount Everest. Stranger still, I though that World War I was the first round of the fight, and that World War II was the second half. A bit like a football match, only with more violence.

Confused

I used to believe that the Koreans from the Korean War were big green monsters that I'd probably seen in a comic book that my brother had.

Rose

that the Tamil Tigers fighting for independence in Sri Lanka with guns and bombs were actually very aggressive but nonetheless furry four-legged orange and black striped tigers.

Jason