3 Times the World Almost Ended

Mr. Beat looks at three times in recent history in which the world almost ended. Holy freaking crap.

Sources/further reading:
One Minute to Midnight by Michael Dobbs
The Man Who Saved the World
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Scholosser

Related videos:

#coldwar #nuclearwar #apocalypse

Join this channel to get access to perks:

For business inquiries or to send snail mail to Mr. Beat:

How to support and donate to my channel:
Subscribe to @iammrbeat & hit the notification bell 🔔
Subscribe to my second channel: The Beat Goes On

Connect with me:

Merch:

Affiliate Links:

The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic metaphor that represents how likely it is that a human-made, worldwide disaster will kill us all. The closer it is to midnight, the closer we are to that actually happening. Members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have been revealing how close we are to global destruction going back all the way to 1947.

Today there are an estimated 12,500 nuclear warheads still in existence.

Now, the fear is that if one government were to ever use a nuclear weapon, the government of the country hit by one would retaliate. The next thing you know, it could spiral out of control. Nukes dropped everywhere and we’re all dead. This fear was THE FEAR that was everywhere during the Cold War.

The end of the Cold War in 1991 got rid of much of those fears of nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, though, the Doomsday Clock has been headed straight for midnight ever since. In recent years, the threat of nuclear war has returned, and it hasn’t been the ONLY thing the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have been worried about. They’ve also said the lack of support for taking action in response to climate change has led to the Doomsday Clock being closer to midnight.

But the thing is, there were times in recent history in which the Doomsday Clock actually would have arguably been…like…at ONE SECOND to midnight. We just didn’t realize it until later on.

And that’s what this video’s about.
Here are three times the world almost ended.

One crazy thing to think about is that you may be watching this video right now or listening…I do realize many of you don’t like to look at my face…whatever. But yeah, you may be consuming this video right now and there might be a nuke about to be launched. Did you hear that? A nuke possibly just almost got launched! And we won’t find out about this for a long time.

Chapters:
0:00 The Doomsday Clock
2:05 Nuclear weapons
7:25 90 Seconds to Midnight
8:38 Sponsor
9:46 3 times the world almost ended
9:59 October 27, 1962
12:28 September 26, 1983
14:38 November 7, 1983
16:54 Final thoughts

[iammrbeat]

Edit: A really important point I should have brought up- the reason why Khrushchev sent nuclear missiles to Cuba was because the United States had nuclear missiles in Turkey near the Soviet border. This is context I should have brought up. I was trying to simplify the Cuban Missile Crisis, and I simplified it a bit too much.

How likely is it that nuclear war will happen in our lifetimes?

Please consider supporting my sponsor. Remember, supporting my sponsor is a great way to support my channel.

[nebulan]

Sometimes, the hero is the one making the decision to NOT do something.

[reidye]

No mention of when my Roblox account was hacked? Weird.

[alonkatz]

It's weird how the US and Russia/USSR almost ended the world so many times

[anxietystrings]

You had me so interested in the history of nukes and the doomsday clock that I completely forgot that you were also going to tell me about 3 times the world almost ended.

[cynthiasimpson]

The thing is, I'm 65 years old, and if I stayed awake worrying about everything that could kill me, I'd never sleep again. In fact, I could walk outside right now and be hit by a meteorite - I told my husband that if that ever happens to me, he can sell it, and use part of the money to fund a scholarship for women to study astronomy. He said he'd tell the people at my memorial service, "She always said that was the way she wanted to go." So, I just look both ways before crossing the street and I follow traffic laws and watch other drivers, and I don't worry about it.

[ECHSJMT]

Hi, Mr Beat. I had a video idea.

How Presidents have decorated the Oval Office (and its predecessors) and how YOU would decorate it.

[saad_ghannam]

It's insane that most of us probably owe our existence to Vasily Arkhipov and Stanislav Petrov, yet almost nobody has any awareness of them and their heroic actions.

[Kieranpokemonsisliterallyme]

I know a story from someone my family knew that was alive during the cuban missile crisis as a schoolboy. He was asked where his homework was in October 1962. He replied, "I haven't done it." when asked why, he said "because the world is going to end in a week's time anyway."
I can only imagine his huge relief yet slight annoyance when the world didn't end.

[coolboyalexander]

"A short time ago, an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb has more power than 20, 000 tons of TNT."

- President Harry Truman, 8/6/1945

[demiller]

In regards to your START joke, as Homer Simpson once said, ‘NERD!’

[Biga]

2 fun facts about the Tzar Bomba.

1: The bomb was intended to be about twice as powerful, but an enriched additional stage was removed and replaced with lead.

2: Due to that it was by far the cleanest (least fallout) nuclear weapon ever detonated. It was able to use a great percentage of the fissile material and didn't create as much secondary radioactive products.

[haydenbertolini]

The movie Wargames came out just a few months before the Petrov incident. The plot of the film is eerie similar to the incident as well

[dacrohnswarrior]

The September 1983 is the scariest one. A technological error almost starting a nuclear war can be very likely today.

[styraxopoponax]

I feel like no one under age 40 remembers this very real fear; good for them . I sure did. I hope younger people realize how serious this threat was/is.

[ninjawarrior]

Here's the closest we've been to Nuclear War post-Cold War:

12th June 1999:
On the same day the Kumanovo Agreement ended the Kosovo War, Russian troops were being stationed in Prishtina Airport. Commander Wesley Clark ordered a peacekeeping force to take over the Russians. General Mike Jackson (not Michael Jackson) replied "We are not gonna start WW3 for you". James Blunt, (yes, the one who sung "You're Beautiful") was in that unit and he would've refused to obey an order had Jackson not blocked it.

[gwenpolo]

Thanks for the existential dread Mr. Beat you're a great educator 😊

[TihetrisWeathersby]

We live in an era where you can literally livestream or Tik Tok a War, Let that sink in

[shane]

Mr Beat nerdy dry humor always cracks me up

[abrahamlincoln]

Great video, Mr. Beat. It’s up to our politicians and leaders to ensure that the world doesn’t even come close to ending, whether it’s nuclear war or not. The best thing that the United States can do right now in terms of foreign policy is ending the ongoing wars overseas and focusing on maintaining peaceful relations with Russia and China and to avoid wars when necessary.