I don’t know that the people involved were any happier than any other group of happy people, but one of them began a tradition to express happiness.

You’ve seen it a thousand times, but you might not know where one particular display of happiness began.

Ford had tried and failed to buy Ferrari. This led to a fierce rivalry on the track in endurance sports car racing. The 1966 Le Mans 24 hour race saw a Ford sweep, taking the top three places with the brilliant GT-40. In 1967, Ferrari humiliated Ford at Daytona. The Italians finished 1-2-3, sweeping the podium. Ford fought back at Sebring and won. The 1967 Le Mans race was a showdown between two of the most iconic automobile companies in history.

The Ford GT-40 and Ferrari's 330P4 were a good match. Racer Chris Amon said

“The P4 was a very pleasant car to drive, as it was a great deal more nimble than the Fords I was used to. Although it lacked the ultimate top end pace of the 7-litre Ford, it gave you the feeling that you could drive it to the maximum for the whole race, which really wasn’t the case for the Fords, especially the brakes …”

Both cars featured howling V-12 engines, low-slung aerodynamic bodies, and the backing of the best automotive engineers on the planet. The drivers were a dream team of talent drawn from around the globe. The GT-40 could do more than 210 mph down the huge Mulsanne straight, for example. In 1967…stew on that a moment, if you would.

In fact, those low-slung bodies were a problem for the hero of our story. He stood 6 foot 3 inches tall, much taller than most other drivers. So to accommodate his massive frame and his big helmet, they had to install a bubble in the roof of the car. Dan Gurney was paired with his rival, A.J. Foyt (and managed by the legendary Carroll Shelby). The four car Ford team was evenly split between Firestone and Goodyear tires, with Gurney on the Goodyears. The speculation was that infighting within Ford would be sure to rear its ugly head. Sure, the GT-40 was faster than the Ferrari in the short run, but it wasn’t able to go flat out for long stretches. If you didn’t hold back just a bit, you were likely to over stress one part or another (usually the brakes) and find yourself out of the race. Surely the Ford teams would compete with each other purely over the difference in tires alone. Add in Gurney and Foyt fighting for who was faster and you were sure to have at least one GT-40 sidelined in short order.

For the first hour and a half, they were right.

Then Gurney and Foyt took the lead. They never gave it back. Foyt and Gurney held back from their ultimate potential speed so that the GT-40 would last 24 hours. They were still able to put their nearest competitors laps behind them. In the end, Ferrari were reduced to tailing the Ford and flashing their lights at it, trying to force a mistake. Fed up with this, Gurney simply pulled over at Arnage. He was leading by four laps of the huge circuit, and the Ferrari pulled in behind him. Two race cars fully capable of doing 200 mph sat there by the road, not moving an inch. Finally, the Ferrari driver figured out that Gurney wasn’t going to budge. The Ferrari pulled out, Gurney followed, and the race ended in a Ford win—an American-built car, with an American team, featuring American drivers.

So, obviously the team was elated. Dan Gurney mounted the podium and looked down. There he saw the journalists who had predicted his failure.

Cue a pivotal moment in the expression of happiness in history.

Dan Gurney was given a magnum of champagne, and he and sprayed everyone within range—especially those journalists. In spontaneous moment, Dan Gurney created a tradition. If you skip to 1:38 of this video, you can see a brief clip of the moment. Nearly every race on the planet now ends with the winner spraying champagne, and the practice has grown to include other celebrations as well.

Here is Dan describing the moment in his own words

So, you now know where the tradition of spraying champagne began. 1967, Le Mans, France, in the hands of the legendary Dan Gurney.

Source for Chris Amon quote

The first man on the moon. It's amazing to watch footage of that day, with people all around the world, in cities, suburbs and third world villages, huddled in front of their TV sets, filled with wonder. For one day at least, all the borders vanished.

I have one that's still within living memory for a lot of people. There was a period in the late 80s/early 90s that I remember being filled with optimism. Specifically, Gorbachev transformed Russia and eased cold war tensions; the Berlin Wall (and the entire iron curtain) came down; repressive regimes in Eastern Europe were overthrown; and just to prove it wasn't all about the end of the cold war, Nelson Mandela was released from prison and shortly thereafter, apartheid ended in South Africa.

Good times.

The stories surrounding the Emancipation Proclamation have always been very moving to me. I was taught in high school history that the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free any slaves. It wasn't until later that I learned that it had freed millions. The Union officers would carry copies around with them, and as they restored more Confederate territory to Union control, they would gather former slaves and read the Emancipation Proclamation to them. Booker T Washington gives this account in his autobiography (he was 9 years old):
"As the great day drew nearer, there was more singing in the slave quarters than usual. It was bolder, had more ring, and lasted later into the night. Most of the verses of the plantation songs had some reference to freedom.... Some man who seemed to be a stranger (a United States officer, I presume) made a little speech and then read a rather long paper—the Emancipation Proclamation, I think. After the reading we were told that we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased. My mother, who was standing by my side, leaned over and kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She explained to us what it all meant, that this was the day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never live to see." (Up From Slavery, p19)
I confess I truly can't understand this feeling. That is what makes this passage so powerful to me. I can't even begin to know what it feels like to be born a slave, then be raped by your master, and go through pregnancy and raising your children knowing they will be slaves their whole life, for long after you're gone, and their children, and their children, etc. forever. The psychological toll of something like this was clearly well beyond anything I've ever experienced. That moment, for countless mothers across the South, must have been the relief and joy of a thousand lifetimes, all at once. I rarely cry, but that passage in particular has moved me to tears.

I saw a couple of comments about the victory days after WWII in America. I think that VE Day in London would have been even more so of a celebration.

During the Blitz London was bombed over and over again. Homes, stores, historic buildings and the city's infrastructure were blown to hell. Just about every night the air raid siren would go off and people would go hide in basements or the subway (tube) stations. When you came out the next morning you don't know if your best friend had made it through the night or not. The city was under siege and many people died.

Of course in America victory brought loved ones home and was a huge relief on everyone. However, there were no bombs dropped in NYC.

Just imagine the biggest party you have seen in the streets after a sporting event but times a million. Streets just packed with people, bars pouring out drinks and all with this true amazing feeling of freedom and relief. ITS OVER ITS REALLY OVER!

If you ever read the book All Clear (the sequel to Blackout both by Connie Willis) it really makes this event feel like you are there. Amazing books BTW.

Anyway IMO this has got to be the number one moment if had to pick one.

Note: Obviously more than just London was bombed but that is just where I am pulling my example from.

When General Washington and the American Army was celebrating French Alliance in 1778, they had a party. It was May, so the weather was evidently fairly nice and warm. Locals, dignitaries and congress members were invited out to celebrate the news, but also see a review of the troops under the rather new direction of Inspector General von Steuben. The soldiers were issued extra food for the day. The perform a review, as well as a well performed Fue de Joie.

In addition to extra food, extra whiskey and rum was also distributed to the troops. Including General Washington.

According to records of the Army's Chaplain, Washington took a jigger of whiskey in celebration with each of his division commanders. Of which there were eight.

The chaplain writes about how happy and jovial General Washington was for the day, and that he had a bit of difficulty getting back on his horse following the celebrations.

The spontaneous Christmas Truce of 1914.

The fall of the wall/end of the cold war. My wife and I were in Budapest recently. The emotion the residents (who are old enough to remember) felt for the protests and other events that lead to their freedom was truely moving.

Depends on your point of view, but I think this sums up at least one of the top moments. August 14th, 1945. Victory over Japan day.

Am I wrong to be interested in the fact that nearly all of these are from the 20th century? Is there something deeper going on here with either the content or practice of history? That is to say, were there no intensely happy moments in the 1500's, or have we just forgotten about them, or do we just not bring them up because they seem less relevant to Redditors in 2014?

I'm not a historian, and I would like people here to weigh in on this, but what about the Armistice?

I'm not a historian, but I remember reading one of Ernie Pyle's books on WWII, and it struck me as such a happy moment when the US army finally liberated Paris, it has to be on this list.

May I am allowed to say 4 July 1954 for Germany? The day we won our first World Cup and the feeling "Wir sind wieder wer"?

Nowadays many people say that this date is one of the "building" dates for Germany after the WWII. (beside invention of the D-Mark and some others)

I still get some goose bumps if I just hear the old commentator describing the 3rd goal is scored...

Man setting foot upon the moon.

TIL The world has become a happier place in the last 100 years. I started that as a joke, but it was genuinely hard going back through. There were military parades after conquests, and rebellions, but generally everything was localized. It was only with the invention of media that simultaneous expressions of the same event were even possible, possibly leading to our recency bias.

That said, I'd throw into the mix, at least for a small group of people, the re-dedication of the Jewish temple after the Maccabean Revolt in the second century BC. It might be a small group, but it's been celebrated over 2,000 years. That has to count for something.

Troops returning to the US after the fall of Germany? A parade for them in New York?

The Roaring Twenties. Possibly the happiest time in US history, pre-WWII.

Rome kicking Carthage's ass

120 years of war between the two greatest powers of the Western Mediterranean - Rome and Carthage.

They were called the Punic Wars, after Carthage's Phoenician roots. They were a series of 3 engagements.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers died in this epic war of two states at their peak.

The Punic Wars gave Rome it's cachet of a kick-ass state until its end. One victory against a fell opponent, then and now, can last a lifetime.

I'd love to go into detail, it is such awesomeness and deliciousness.

To read everything you need to know about the war with Hannibal, read Livy, Books 21 - 30.

Hannibal ad portas!

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam!