This is the first of episodes following the Cuban Missile Crisis day-by-day. We'll be back tomorrow, and the day after that until the end of the crisis. All the episodes are already available to the TimeGhost Army on www.patreon.com/timeghosthistory or timeghost.tv. By joining us there you will also support the creation of these independent, realtime historical documentary series - so there's not really any reason not to. Cheers, Joram . *RULES OF CONDUCT* STAY CIVIL AND POLITE we will delete any comments with personal insults, or attacks. AVOID PARTISAN POLITICS AS FAR AS YOU CAN we reserve the right to cut off vitriolic debates. HATE SPEECH IN ANY DIRECTION will lead to a ban. RACISM, XENOPHOBIA, OR SLAMMING OF MINORITIES will lead to an immediate ban. PARTISAN REVISIONISM, ESPECIALLY HOLOCAUST AND HOLODOMOR DENIAL will lead to an immediate ban. THE PROMOTION OF EXTREME, VIOLENT IDEOLOGIES IS ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN This includes the justification, or promotion of ideologies, regimes, and systems that have historically or are inherently contrary to the principles of democracy and human rights. To be clear some of these ideologies are Naziism, Fascism, Colonialism, Imperialism, Leninism, Stalinism, Revolutionary Socialism, Integral Nationalism and any other ideology that promotes authoritarianism, and a disregard for inalienable individual rights as outlined in the UDHR. Regimes that fall under this rule are for example: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, the British Empire, Colonial France, pre-emancipation USA, Imperial Japan, Communist China, the USSR and any similar systems and regimes. While an academic discussion of these ideologies and regimes is permitted, even desired, any value statements or comparative posts to extoll their positive sides will be deleted, and may lead to a ban. . Here’s why: It is objectively true that the authoritarian regimes we cover in our series, be they far-left or far-right, were willing to use systematic oppression, violence, and murder to create or maintain their preferred system of governance. From the perspective of human rights, democracy, and plain decency, this is clearly unacceptable. Now, that is, of course, a morally absolute statement based on 21st-century morals and ethics. Therefore, in our content, we refrain from any such judgement and just tell the story as it is. We’re concerned only with the past. We don’t take sides, and we don’t decide which side deserves more blame than the other. Our comment section, however, is not taking place in the past. Our comments are made in the present-day, and political comments such as the ones we don’t allow are promoting a present-day agenda by whitewashing, diminishing, or even justifying the crimes of a past regime. We will not allow for such rhetoric in the same way most democratic European countries (where we create this content) won’t allow for such rhetoric. As historians, our very work depends on this so that we can continue interrogating the past free from political influence.
Not sure if this counts as "extremist ideology", but I'm fairly certain the subjunctive mood requires that the verb is conjugated as "were" and not "was" as you're talking about a hypothetical situation
I don't know your budget or how many people are involved in production and research... but your work (The Great War, World War II, TimeGhost History) is way better than anything on TV.
I was seven when this was going down. Teachers were losing their collective sh*t, neither of my parents had any clue what to tell me and my brothers. I remember my dad freaking out every time he saw two aircraft flying in formation; "This is it!" he would yell, then do his own 'duck and cover' drill. The smell of fear was all around. I still have 'nuke nightmares'; dreams very specific to atomic attacks. Kind of ironic, kids raised under the threat of a mushroom cloud are called 'boomers' today.
I was 9... I remember the drills we did at school and knew were the nearest shelters were. My dad told us if Khrushchev didn't try to violate the embargo, we'd be fine...
I was 10. We did 3 nuclear emergency drills within the next week and teachers had us take forms to our parents so that our parents could tell the schools what they wanted the schools to do with us in the even of an attack - keep us, send us home or send us to a friend's house. I was pretty confident that our city wouldn't be attacked, there was nothing worth bombing, but my brother told me that the "secret" bunker for the US government was less than 100 miles away so the Soviets would likely pound that several times. After the Cold War ended I found out that what he said was true - the "secret" bunker for the US government was located near White Sulfur Springs, a "secret" shared by 8th graders 60 miles away.
@@TullyBascombe Yup. I was 10 then, as well. We lived next door to SAC Headquarters. We did the "cower under your desk" drill pretty regularly at school.......like it mattered. Maybe 10 years later, a friend said that if the sirens ever went off, he was going up to his roof to watch the show. He figured it would be more exciting than hiding in the basement, and the results would be the same.
Yup, I was 10 and living in the rural south. Nothing worth nuking around us. We would just wait and see if we would live through the radiation in the following days and weeks afterwords.
I just want to give everyone at the Time Ghost Army a round of applause. Never a bad episode, information that is given in a honest "warts and all" unbiased form. The best editing/production , in my humble opinion than any multi million dollar movie crew.
Although terrifying, the Tsar Bomba was never intended as a practical weapon. It was just too big - literally. The TU-95 that carried it was stripped down to save weight simply to get the plane airborne with this huge bomb sticking half way out of it's bomb bay, making it much too slow for a genuine combat mission. Before take off the crew were given a 50% chance of surviving the explosion - indeed, once the bomb went off the aircraft got caught in the blast and lost 1000s of feet in altitude before regaining control. Once they landed the pilot chose never to fly again.
Both you guys make great points and I completely agree, it's just for me it's impossible not to stand in awe and the level of destruction we can unleash on ourselves
The us never had to make a bigger bomb they blew on up in the atmosphere and that caused the world and the Russians to come to the table because the full effects on doing something like was unknown with fears ot would destroy our ozone layer
Tsar Bomba actually only had 2 stages. The third was removed because it would have increased the background radiation by 25%. The original 3 stage bomb would have been in the 100 megaton range.
@@rascallyrabbit717 Amen to that. My grandfather was in the Enterprise going down during this crisis. He told me that they were out running cars on the freeway going down to Cuba. My grandmother told me their plans of where they were going to flee to from Norfolk, VA. Sad to say, that it wouldn't have mattered as the missiles only would have taken 5 min to get there.
The design power of the bomb was indeed 100MT, but the reduction was not achieved by removing a stage. Instead, uranium tamper was replaced with aluminium which did not add to the fission effects. The usual uranium tamper in nuclear weapon adds considerably to yield but is also responsible for the majority of the radioactive products of a weapon. Thus Tsar Bomba was not only the largest nuclear weapon ever tested, but also the cleanest.
@@charliedontsurf334 No, it is there to increase the efficiency and yield of the stages by reflecting neutrons, delaying disassembly (what a lovely euphemism)and undergoing fission itself if uranium is used but it is not a stage in itself. A staged nuclear weapon uses an implosion device to ignite a fusion device. Arbitrarily many fusion stages can be chained off the first two. Weapons like boosted fission devices and layer cake designs are not considered staged weapons.
"No missiles in Cuba fake news, fake sad news. You know i spoke with Khrushchev today and he said no nukes in Cuba, tremendous man great man i know great men trust me"- Alternate universe with President Kennedy in 1962
"I don't think one would lightly attack a country that can kill 80 million people, even if one has the means to kill 800 millions French, if there even were 800 millions French." Charles De Gaulle
I remember this time. My father was stationed at Big Springs AFB in Texas at the time. I recall asking my Mother, "where is Dad?" Her answer was, "he can't be at home right now." I asked her, "why?." She answered, "because we are having some trouble with Cuba." I do remember the very scared and serious look on her face. Then I realized that wherever my father was, the situation was not good. A 7 year-old will pick up on more than most adults know.
Thanks for sharing. We've gotten a lot of personal comments like this and it really makes us happy to see that people are connecting with the content we put out.
Khrushchev has some of the best quotes. I enjoyed the one in this episode. And i also liked it when after launching Sputnik he said something to the effect of: 'The US sleeps under a Soviet moon!' What a mad lad.
My professor of International Relations once said that the French developed their « force de frappée » - that’s French for “independent nuclear deterrent” - so that they could have the best of all worlds: to be able to nuke Russians on German territory using French weapons. I don’t think I was alone in a seminar full of undergraduates, but I snortled quite loudly at that.
Indiana Jones it’s actually quite accurate - it’s based on the same sources we used for the US side, the Kennedy Tapes. You will hear them in the coming episodes. The film does however miss the USSR side of the story a bit, and doesn’t get into the depths of JFKs vacillation between hawk and dove (for time constraint reason one supposes). The Kevin Costner character is a fictional composite of several people though.
I read that the movie was so accurate that the US military refused to fully participate in it, by lending old material like airplanes and the likes to the studio for shooting some sequences, only alloweing some shots on military bases. So they in the end had to go to the Philippines who stil had airplanes from that time period and were willing to let them be used in that movie.
A quick correction: the core temperature of the Sun is estimated to be around 15.7 million K (Kelvin degrees), so 100MK would be around 6.4x higher than the Sun's core temp. Now let that sink.
“You’re soft on communism!” “I’ll invade Cuba!” “You’re soft on communism!” “I’ll put tanks on the Berlin border!” “You’re soft on communism!” “I’ll increase our missile stockpile!” “You’re soft on communism!” “I’ll send missiles to Italy and Turkey!” “You’re soft on communism!” “I regret to inform you that there are missiles in Cuba set to destroy us all.” *surprised pikachu face*
I would love to see a comedy where there were not real nuclear soviet missiles in Cuba, it would be a secret plan of Kennedy and Khrushchev just to prevent the dellusional warhawks from blowing up the world eventually.
@@arthurlombard5181 Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France Treaty of Paris (1303), between King Philip IV of France and King Edward I of England Treaty of Paris (1320), peace between King Philip V of France and Robert III, Count of Flanders Treaty of Paris (1323), in which Count Louis of Flanders relinquished Flemish claims over Zeeland Treaty of Paris (1355), a land exchange between France and Savoy Early modern period Treaty of Paris (1515), planning the marriage of the 15-year old future King Charles I of Spain and 4-year old Renée of France Treaty of Paris (1600) [fr], between Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and Henry IV of France Treaty of Paris (1623), between France, Savoy, and Venice against Spanish forces in Valtelline Treaty of Paris (1626), peace between King Louis XIII and the Huguenots of La Rochelle Treaty of Paris (1657), established a military alliance between France and England against Spain Treaty of Paris (1718), between Philip of Orléans, Regent of France, and Leopold, Duke of Lorraine Treaty of Paris (1761), established the third Bourbon Family Compact between France and Spain Treaty of Paris (1763), ended the Seven Years' War/French and Indian War Treaty of Paris (1783), ended the American Revolutionary War Treaty of Paris (1784), ended the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War Treaty of Paris (1786) [fr], between Louis XVI of France and the Duke of Württemberg Treaty of Paris (1796), ended the war between France and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia 1800s Treaty of Paris (9 October 1801) [fr], between France and the Ottoman Empire Treaty of Paris (10 October 1801) [fr], between France and Russia Treaty of Paris (1802), ended the war between France and the Ottoman Empire Treaty of Paris (February 1806), between France and Prussia Treaty of Paris (May 1806) [fr], between France and the Batavian Republic, creating the Kingdom of Holland Treaty of Paris (July 1806) [fr], creating the Confederation of the Rhine Treaty of Paris (February 1810), between France and the Kingdom of Bavaria Treaty of Paris (1810), ended the war between France and Sweden Treaty of Paris (1812), established an alliance between France and Prussia against Russia Treaty of Paris (1814), signed between France and the Sixth Coalition Treaty of Paris (1815), signed between France and the Seventh Coalition, following the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo Treaty of Paris (1817) [fr], part of the Congress of Vienna Treaty of Paris (1856), ended the Crimean War Treaty of Paris (1857), ended the Anglo-Persian War Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883), one of the first intellectual property treaties Treaty of Paris (1898), ended the Spanish-American War Since 1900s Treaty of Paris (1900), ended all conflicting claims between France and Spain over Río Muni in Africa Treaty of Paris (1918), between France and Monaco adapting provisions of the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861 in the context of the Monaco succession crisis of 1918 Paris Convention of 1919, the first international convention to address the political difficulties and intricacies involved in international aerial navigation Treaty of Paris (1920), united Bessarabia and Romania Treaties of Paris that ended World War I: Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919), with Austria Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine (1919), with Bulgaria Treaty of Versailles (1919), with Germany Treaty of Trianon (1920), with Hungary Treaty of Sèvres (1920), with the Ottoman Empire Paris Peace Treaties, 1947, formally established peace between the World War II Allies and Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Finland Treaty of Paris (1951), established the European Coal and Steel Community Bonn-Paris conventions (1952), putting an end to the Allied occupation of West Germany Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (1952), an unratified treaty Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy (1960), liability and compensation for damage caused by accidents occurring while producing nuclear energy Paris Peace Accords (1973), ended American involvement in the Vietnam War Paris Charter (1990), helped form the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe 1991 Paris Peace Accords, marked the end of the Cambodian-Vietnamese War Dayton Agreement (1995, formally signed in Paris), ending the Bosnia War Paris Agreement (2015), an international agreement regarding global warming
I appreciate videos like this for giving context to the premise of "megadeath". It's quite unfathomable to the human mind that a million people could outright disappear in a moment.
Wait... What happened? Does not the German army was 2 days earlier at 1/3 the way to Moscow, and Rommel preparing his great north African counter-offensive?
Thank you for not cropping historical footage to fit widescreen! It's so annoying when channels crop 4:3 footage and the people in the clip end up with the tops of their heads cut off or right against the edge of the screen with all context removed by the crop.
This all seems like a wild escalation of conflict that started with words, and nearly ends with nuclear war Thank god cooler heads prevailed and it didn't end with nuclear war
It was never a conflict of words. From before the day WW2 ended it was about a Soviet boot on the neck of eastern Europe backed by the most massive peacetime military establishment the world had, or still has, ever seen. Tanks running over protesters in East Berlin, Budapest, and Prague were never just words.
@@thusspoke08 As far as I'm aware there is nothing made public, if I had to guess it's locked away in Russia, but the photo of the mushroom cloud from the view of the plane is of genuine origin (at least from what I understand of it, I specialize in ships not nukes XD)
@@thusspoke08 Besides the one photo of the mushroom cloud shown, there is next to nothing in public access of the explosion. That being said I am sure there is something locked away in some Russian state archives.
9:43 A couple of years ago now, I had the privilege of conversing with a senior Danish Air Force pilot. He is now retired, but he served for 20 years throughout the 60s and 70s. Flying Super Sabre's and reconnaissance aircraft. During an unassuming recon flight over the Danish Belts and Western- Baltic sea, he photographed a Soviet cargo ship with unusual contours, the ship was fitted with distinct ‘cigar like’ tubes along the length of the ship. The intelligence was forwarded to the Danish Military Intelligence (FET) who determined it to coincide with the dimensions of period Soviet IBM’s. The photos where then sent to the CIA and then Washington where they were allegedly viewed by J.F. Kennedy himself. To my knowledge, that would be the first military encounter of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Therefor it is frustrating to se that yet again, somewhat crucial information is left absent. Forgotten history it seems.
I remember reading that those ships were identified by several NATO recce pilots at various points (at least, I remember reading a similar story about a German Navy Starfighter pilot), and that's what lead to the reports Indy was referring to.
Peerless. Wish this had been out whilst my daughter was covering the Cold War at school. Really good explanation of staged thermonukes and 6Li2H compression phase. Ain't an easy concept to convey! Born in 1961 I was weaned on Strontium 90 from all that atmospheric testing. My parents used to tell my the story of the near-apocalyptic story of the CMC in the 1970's. Loving this guys!
lived through this (and all that followed). the first dream i ever remembered was about The Bomb. i grew up next to Oak Ridge. i expected to die at any momet... At Any Moment. it still makes me jumpy.
My grandpa, drafted into the US Navy at age 18, was present at the 4th ever atomic bomb test in human history, at the Bikini atoll, in 1946. His son, my father, was born on October 30th, 1961, the same day as Tsar Bomba, the biggest nuclear explosion in human history. Thank you TimeGhost for letting me know this, I had been unaware of the significance of my dad’s birthday. Hopefully, the radiation didn’t screw up my genetics too badly.
I remember being in high school at Edwards AFB (where my dad was chief scientist) and being sent home during the crisis due to the risk of nuclear war over Cuba.
Alex Wellerstien is a professor at the school I attend, Stevens Institute of Technology. Great man, nice to see his nukemap project getting used by historians.
I absolutely love this channel and related channels. I knew about Tzar Bomba but it's never been quite so well explained. You actually did put it in a perspective that's relatable. 1.5 KM deep hole? Lake Eiffel?
"and over a thousand places of worship" *oofs in Notre Dame* Also, I'm surprised you didn't mention that the Tsar Bomba was only half of its maximum potential yield. They could have made the tamper out of uranium, and its yield would have reached 100 Megatons. And, is it bad that I've had the nukemap app on my phone for literal years now?
The craziest thing about Tsar Bomba is that the design is actually twice as powerful as the test was. They deliberately removed a component to weaken it (I think either due to radiation concerns or concerns that the plane deploying it would be unable to escape).
Regarding the Tsar Bomba: In the 1990s US Nuclear experts stated, the same effect could had been achieved by deploying to 20 MT devices. Those devices were , unlike the TB, practical deployable weapons
a thing of note on tsar bomba, the original design spec estimated 100MT yield the material load was reduced to an estimated 60MT in an attempt to reduce fallout, the actual detonation was 50MT. so if they had kept the original estimate the yield would have increased by 40% give or take and the second tsar bomba casing could hole the full yeild
I was 10 years old, living just outside of Norfolk, VA (where the largest Navy Base in the world is / was located. Two things I remember most.... 1st... How the local TV stations broke into the programing and started reading a list of the various ships and when they would be getting underway.... In other words, they "scrambled" the fleet. 2nd... We were all issued "dog tags" at school to facilitate identifying our bodies after "The Bombs" (note... "Bombs"... not singular; the authorities expected that the Norfolk area would be one of the PRIME targets.) fell. Hell yeah..... It was an EXTREMELY scary time
I am 59 years old I am from the class of 1980 the videos you showed of the explosions of the nuclear bomb had approximately 4:20 were the very ones they showed us as children right before they told us to hide under our desk because that would save us... LOL
Love this, you guys are my heroes, Im joining TimeGhost, Im beyond sold. Since the Great War its been one hell of a ride for me, Indy is even a Rock Star now ;)
You forgot to mention that the pilot who agreed to fly the plane and drop the bomb was given immediate two-rank promotion and hero of the soviet union medal.
At 9:29 you can see the shadow of the RF-101 Voodoo plane taking the photo in the bottom right of the picture. It's honestly amazing that the pilots managed to fly that low over hostile territory, unescorted, alone, with unarmed aircraft, and provide such good intelligence.
About Tsar Bomba..it was a variable yield bomb meeting it could be adjusted how big the explosion was. During the test it was on the LOWEST setting. Lowest!
Pablo...because they (Soviets) didn't have long range capability, which, again, is why they needed to be in Cuba, to be inrange of American targets...this is why the Soviets allied with the Cubans and started funding their govt, which is how Castro became wealthy (as much as he could) in the detriment of his cause to have the Cubans living in equality...I know, I vented !
You must have read my mind Indy - I just viewed 'The Day After' this weekend ; I'm a former TACAMO officer so the nuclear war history and perspectives are fascinating! Good job!
I’d heard the original Tsar Bomba was supposed to be much more powerful, but Andrei Sakharov dialed it down since he really thought it might have done a lot of damage.
I cannot remember a time when I didn't like keeping up with the news and had a deep love of history. it's so great to see these old historical films and here a re-count of what happened. As a kid, I read Operation Overflight along with my mother. I got to meet Francis Gary Powers Jr.. I couldn't wait to get each issue of Life Magazine to see the up close photos of what was gong on..
I got to talk to my grandmother about the Cuban missile crises years ago. She believed absolutely that it was the end of the world. How she felt about Kennedy afterwards was interesting, you know how sometimes when a person saves another ones life how they feel about it, a deep gratitude and almost a hero worship? That's the way she felt about Kennedy, like he had saved her life in person, she still felt this way 40 years after.
Had to watch this due to the Paris reference by some, in later episodes. Long story short, these episodes didn't start from #1 or else I didn't notice it before the later ones.
200 nuclear bomb tests??? I wonder how much it has affected the neighboring places (the people of Siberia and the Pacific). These tests must have had a big impact on climate change too, to think of it.
I was 9 yrs old. I remember seeing the effects of a atom bomb on houses and trees. When we had bomb drills in school and had to take cover under our desks, I would remember what I saw on TV. I wondered why we were hiding under our desks as we would have been just a pile of ash.
Well, hiding under your desk and facing away from the blast would have meant you wouldn't have been suffering from agonizing burns to your retinas during the seconds it took for the shock wave to reach you and obliterate you and the building you were in. make more sense now?
My USMC 105 mm Howitzer artillery battery Bravo, 1st Battalion, 11th Marines from California landed by MATS jet in Guantanamo (GTMO) October 22nd, 1962. We supported 2nd battalion, 1st Marines infantry. I always wanted to go to Cuba 😊. My artillery battery was dug in close to the ocean, Windmill Beach and most of November (after crisis) over a 100 of us bare ass Marines we’re having the time of our lives swimming in sort of a cove and beach snorkeling, and spear fishing. One of the most enjoyable times I had in the Marines the other Okinawa. As a 19 year old corporal I had no idea how close I was to getting nuked on Black Friday October 26th. One good thing I would of never known wtf hit me 👍 SEMPERS
After a point the energy from a Nuclear Blast escapes into the atmosphere rather than to your enemy. It's much more efficient to drop multiple medium sized bombs instead.
There is something barely nobody think of when they start talking about nuclear war and damage it can cause. Damaged nuclear power plants. So far I found just one video on RU-vid where this is mentioned. Imagine Chernobyl and Fukushima disaster but without anybody able to contain it. Why not able? Because nuclear bombs are dropping everywhere, whole cities are erased from maps, government is in disarray... Who could organise and send thousands of people with all equipment needed just to stop reactor from venting radioactive material? In something like 2 weeks after Chernobyl disaster radioactive material irradiated half of Europe. Imagine how much worse it would be if nobody stopped it whole month, half year... Majority of Europe would be inhabitable. And that is just one reactor.
@Romans 13:4 imho, not exactly. People in the cities, yes. But Europe (a place where not everybody has nukes, thus not necessary a target of annihilation) is full of countryside, were people might survive enough to worry about the nuclear reactors. Although I'm no expert, I expect the majority of them have fail safe methods to ensure that even if everybody leaves, the damn things shut down by themselves. But I could be wrong. Anyway, I think even with nuclear war and mutual destruction, people, somewhere, would make it. On a tiny island, or deep in asian jungle, or in Siberia... it would be hell, but some people would still be alive.
I don't think they make it that much worse, the Chernobyl desaster and even Fukushima didn't cost that many lives on the spot. The main problem is radiation and the long-term effects, which are there anaways because of the bombs. Especially if we talk a full out war with several bombs around the globe. The USA for example can kill of all major cities not once but several times. I think the nuclear plants, even if they all go down in an uncontrolled fashion don't add that much more to the destruction. The whole thing would be a civilisation killing event either way, comparable only to the metorite that killed of the dinos.
@Romans 13:4 Not really. The radiation released by Nuclear fission is short lived and not as intense as that released by the RBMK explosion at Chernobyl. Bomb radiation rapidly decays and in 14 days is only slightly above background and cosmic radiation. The radioactive material released at Chernobyl will be dangerous for 50,000 years and the reactor will have to placed in a biological shield, and that shield maintained for a near eternity unless we can develop some form of technology to 'eat' radiation and transform it into something benign. But in a nuclear war, reactors will automatically shut down and the control rods will absorb neutron in the core until the fission reaction stops. This will make it safe and stable in the short term, but in time, this will need to be serviced to prevent another environmental disaster. Nuclear energy might be crucial in any post attack economy to aid reconstruction and recovery. They would be a prized asset.
Georges Pompidou was visiting the The Baikonur Cosmodrome on a make nice visit to the USSR. He was invited to press the button which would launch a rocket. When the button was pressed Nikita Khrushchev beamed and said "You have just blown up Paris". Pompidou blanched, swooned in shock and the Russians all laughed.
Now, had the object for destruction been thought of as Slough .. Well, I leave that to Mr Betjamin and his poetic mind. Cheers for all the hard work in producing these little treasures. ;o)
