What's your favorite "History is Stranger than Fiction" moment from world history?

[Pat Mustard]

Franz Ferdinand's assassination. He survived several attempts on his life during the motorcade, but his chauffeur made a wrong turn on the way to the Archduke's next engagement, and that was down a dead-end alley. It just so happened that Gavril Princip, one of the plotters, was walking down this alley, dejected because he'd missed any chance to make his attempt during the motorcade, when he realized that his target had just realized their mistake and were trying to turn around. He took his opportunity and made his kill.

The spark that lit Europe ablaze would not have happens had it not been for a wrong turn and a random encounter.

And do you know why the driver took a wrong turn? It was because as a result of a bomb attack from one of Gavrilo's confederates on the drive to the city hall, Franz Ferdinand and his aides decided to change the return route as a security precaution. But nobody told any of the drivers about this, the first car took the original route, and the second, with the royal couple, followed behind.