In August 1945, the United States became the first, and to this day only, nation ever to employ nuclear weapons in war. After The fledgling technology proves itself on the testing ground, it is ready for immediate use. The price for this innovation is paid by hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians who are blinded, burned, crushed, irradiated, and finally burned in a humanitarian crisis never seen before and never since. Join us to hear the gut-wrenching accounts of survivors and understand the motivations behind this tragic outcome to ensure that the horrors of nuclear war are never forgotten and never again unleashed upon the world and its people.
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Hosted by: Spartacus Olsson
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Jake McCluskey
Written by: Sebastian Brandstetter, Spartacus Olsson
Research by: Sebastian Brandstetter
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Editing and color grading by: Iryna Dulka
Artwork by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
Colorizations by:
Mikołaj Uchman
Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations, https://www.instagram.com/blaucolorizations/
Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
Source literature list: https://bit.ly/SourcesWW2
Archive footage: Screenocean/Reuters – https://www.screenocean.com
Image sources:
Photographs courtesy of the National Security Research Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Mitsuo Matsushige
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Secret Cargo – Craft Case
Past Deeds – Dream Cave
Sense of Betrayal – Experia
Blood Money STEMS INSTRUMENTS – Hampus Naeselius
A Slow Descent – Victor Lundberg
Grass on the Grave – Sage Oursler
Tvivel – Hanna Ekstrom
Trouble in The Air – Farrell Wooten
Photocells – Edward Karl Hanson
Rivers Run Red – Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
Night – Edward Karl Hanson
The Mole – Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
Barrel – Christian Andersen
Transfixed – August Wilhelmsson
Down the Alleyway – Damon Greene
Farewell Parade – DEX 1200
Predisposed – Dream Cave
Live, Fight, Survive – Anthony Earls
Firebreak – Edward Karl Hanson
They Are Coming STEMS INSTRUMENTS – Hampus Naeselius
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
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We wanted to pin a comment on the enormous impact of the atomic bombing, but YouTube keeps hiding our comment. We will continue in our fight to make bring you the history that matters despite the censorship of our work. Never Forget.
We have become complacent. Putin has weapons far more terrible than Little Boy. So does Xi Jinping. And, quite likely, soon will Trump (again). I don't understand why we keep putting the most horrific weapons in the hands of monsters.
This overkill rhetoric is straight out of the CND hand book.
The vast majority of weapon today are smaller tactical warheads and the concept of a nuclear winter is more a theoretical one with current stockpiles.
The larger national inventories of Russia and the US are just that with the majority of weapons in deep storage and not ready to use.
Also the fuel and booster materials expire after a few decades meaning you have to actively rebuild the weapons.
This episode is a disappointing departure from the facts about the bomb and I see no future with this channel after VJ day.
Powerful as ever. Excellent presentation. Thanks Spartacus & TG time
I have visited Hiroshima in 2019 with my University and we went on a tour and for the museum. Nobody spoke for 2h afterwards due to the horrific things displayed there and everyone was painfully aware that those two bombs that were dropped are but a fraction of the power that we possess today.
Although the tale behind is sad as well, it gave comfort when we learned how to fold paper cranes.
You are doing a great and important job of not letting us forget what has happened. Hopefully, it helps to not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Never forget
I've often wondered if channels like TimeGhost and the broader Western media would analyze war crimes the same way if they were perpetrated by the other side. For instance, imagine if U.S. soldiers were sacrificing their lives defending Japan, a foreign invader, and dying by the thousands for their country and constitution. Would it then be acceptable for Japan to use atomic bombs twice to justify ending the war early and saving lives?
I've been following TimeGhost for a long time and think their coverage of WWI and the interwar period was excellent. However, I can't understand the clear bias in their coverage of WWII. Whenever they mention a crime by the Allies, they actively try to explain the circumstances behind the decision. For example, when reviewing the bombing of Germany, they always remind viewers of the Blitz. The brutal killing of SS soldiers by the Allies is explained by the horror Allied soldiers experienced when liberating death camps. Now, the horrific killing of thousands of innocent civilians is rationalized by Japan's refusal to surrender, with statements like “the silence from Tokyo is one of the greatest tragedies in history,” rather than condemning the cold-blooded murder of a nation trying to defend itself.
I am not defending Nazi Germany or Japan nor ignoring the crimes against humanity they committed. However, I am shocked that you allow the script to include Allied justifications for these crimes when addressing these episodes. This is not the time or place to state these justifications when promoting the “never forget” message, as it can reinforce the notion that Allied crimes were justified against the Axis powers.
Until nowadays, humanity is suffering from US atomic weapons threatening and US thickness stick and iron fists 👊 … Humanity daily suffering from US economic, apolitical, exploiting, manipulation, extortionate consequences..yes there are 20 countries having atomic weapons technologies including (notorious north Korea )…but No one dairies confronting the USA…only they threatening non atomic weapon neighbors. Simply, we are hostages 😢 in US interesting cages …thank you for sharing Sir 🙏
Die beiden Bomben waren nicht notwendig! Eine Belagerung der japanischen Heimatinseln mit dem Fernkampf der Bomber hätte nur mehr Zeit bedeutet. Nicht ein GI hätte sterben müssen, es hätte nur Geduld bedurft.
I knew atomic veterans from the 50s. So many with cancers, their kids and so much more. My grandfather was one of them. He was one who never hated the Japanese. My grandmother got a single settlement in the 90s from the US government for being a widow.
Probably is and will continue to be the most second guessed decision ever taken.
Put yourself in Truman's Position. Your advisors tell you the Horrific cost of taking Io Jima and Okinawa will be far exceeded by the invasion on Japan. Both in American casualties. And Horrendous civilian casualties. His advisors unanimously advised the bomb be used.
How could he have justified to the American families of those servicemen who would loose their lives. A decision not to use the bomb.
The Fire Bombing Killed more people.
Even After both bombs had been dropped the Japanese cabinet was split.
After. The Emperor cast the deciding vote.
There was an attempted coup. To prevent the Emperor from surrendering.
There was a delay after the two bombs dropped.
The result.
There was another firebombing raid after the bombs had dropped.
The Americans were getting a 3rd and 4th bomb ready.
Fortunately for the Japanese people. The Bomb was enough to get the Emperor to finally make a choice to choose surender and peace.
Prior to this the Japanese had always planned to negotiate a peace settlement. To their advantage.
The Japanese Strategy prior to the Bomb's.
After the we win the decisive battle.
After the Japanese can no longer hope to win a decisive battle.
The Japanese resistance will cause such terrible casualties the Americans can not sustain we will negotiate a peace.
The Emperor only voiced minor reprimands to the Military as a result of the fire bombings and horrendous civilian casualties. Potsdam Declaration was ignored by the Japanese Government and Emperor.
The Emperor did agree with attempts to start peace negotiations. Not Surrender.
Ironically.
The decisions by the Japanese government to cause the highest possible casualties and accept the extreme Japanese military and civilian casualties lead directly to Trumans Decision to use the bombs.
I am sure. Truman was troubled by this decision for the rest of his life.
I don't think he had a choice.
He was in the position and given the information and expert advice had to authorise its use.
I have been to Japan.
The horror of the bomb. Changed Japan.
Today. Japan is one of the most peaceful countries in the world.
Unlike Germany. Japan has never acknowledged the full horror Japan inflicted on its neighbours.
Truman should not have given the order. Japan was pussyfooting around the surrender issue, but they would have agreed to surrender in exchange for some limited conditions regarding the position of the emperor etc. It seems to me that Truman was too concerned with the political consequences of agreeing to an 'almost but not quite' unconditional surrender than killing over 100,000 civilians. I don't buy the idea that the attacks saved allied soldiers' lives. An invasion was never really necessary to ensure a Japanese surrender. It was the medieval idea of unconditional surrender that was the issue, an idea that was morally highly questionable, to say the least.
These same people exposed to this horror would have inflicted horror upon the enemies their Government and their ideologies have been raping, torturing and even eating downed US Airmen alive, limb by limb. While this presentation seems to be horrific let's NEVER FORGET THE IDEOLOGY OF THE JAPANESE PEOPLE DURING THIS TIME…FROM THE YOUNGEST OF AGE THEY WERE TAUGHT TO KILL, TO FIGHT AND TO DIE FOR THEIR EMPEROR…THEY WERE CONVINCED THEIR EMPEROR WAS A DESCENDANT OF A SUN GOD… I wish I could bring myself to have sympathy or empathy but I do not. These same people knew exactly what their leaders were doing and countless people, incluidng parents in Hiroshoma willfully sent their young sons to train as Kamikaze pilots to kill Americans….The Japanese people are fortunate the blasts and fallout was limited but WE MUST NEVER FORGET THE fanaticism of THESE PEOPLE…SIMILAR TO THE FANTACISM OF MODERN-DAY AND HISTORICAL ISLAM CULTURES. The reality, fact is, they chose to invade, to conquer, to rape, pillage, torture, brutalize and murder millions of Chinese and 10s of 1000s of those who were determined to stop them…. This was not a Crime against humanity by the United States. This was a Crime against Humanity by the Japanese leaders and the Japanese people who have been celebrating their torturous campaigns for the past 7-8 years. Yes this was horrible, but obviously not horrible enough for the Japanese people to unite and demand a surrender. This is no different than a crazed murderer pointing his gun at a SWAT Team after resisting arrest, refusing to stop shooting hostages and causing destruction…this is like the murderer who had targeted the SWAT Team and killed many of them…For the murderer to be filled, and shredded with 100s of bullets was not the SWAT Teams decision…it was the murderers….NEVER FORGET!!!
As always, your epilogue, Sparty, is just… so strong! Thank you
The idea that Japan was about to surrender is false. After 2 bombs the vote was tied so they asked the emperor
A Japanese staff officer's wrote about it, the war side was winning he also said western historians often got motives of Japan wrong because they don't understand the war culture of the east wt that time period
I’m a bit disappointed on this one. Lots of opinion and use of current day information not available at the time to the Allies or Japan. The militarists were still in control of the government and wished to fight on, the peace feelers put out to the Soviet Union was 4 requirements for a surrender not 1, and the bombs didn’t kill hundreds of thousand’s like was said, the fire bombing killed more than the atom bombs.
The A-bombs saved MILLIONS of lives(Japanese and allies) and were the right choice with the information they had at the time.
I had to stop it… This hurts my soul
The Hiroshima blast converted 0.4 gram of atomic matter into pure energy. That's what E=M x Csq means.
My grandfather was training at Great Lakes when the bombs were dropped and the war ended. He was going to be involved in the invasion of the home islands and he was told they expected a million casualties. He credited the bombs with saving his own skin, but its sobering to think I am here to type this comment because of the bomb and someone else who could've been, isn't, because of the same reason. He later went to Japan for occupation duty and believe he took some photos of Hiroshima.
Im sure its been mentioned somewhere in the series, but the large cultural difference between the west and east certainly made things harder to dictate peace. John Toland talks about that in The Rising Sun, especially before the war started with the earliest peace delegations who were in Washington when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Excellent presentation. Some times I disagree with Mr Olsson but not this time. Besides I' d love to talk with him about history (in my capacity as ex-historian / publisher and also visitor of Hiroshima in 2002)
We're officially a M.A.D. world.
And the war ends with the greatest war crime of all time. ( I think the holocaust was not caused by war as it was not carried out by the military)
I don't think this should have been included in WAH. Not equal to the Holocaust or Rape of Nanking.
As someone from Nagasaki who has lost his entire family except for my great grandmother and my grandmother (an infant at that time) i would appreciate you to mention the following. And also provide your opinion on the topic.
In two days we will be remembering the dropping of the bomb on my city Nagasaki. This commemoration has one purpose, to denounce war and all the countries who go to war at the expense of so many innocent civilians.
Every year the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki invite the foreign delegations (Ambassadors), of most embassies in Japan to express the important to work for peace.
This year the Mayor of Nagasaki decided that among the countries at war he won't be inviting the delegations of, he won't be inviting the delegations of Russia because the country is at war against Ukraine and many civilians are paying the price for it and won't be inviting the delegation of Israel (among other countries at war today) for the same reasons. Now because of that, the USA, France, Canada, the UK, Australia, Italy, have decided NOT to show up at the commemoration because they say that the mayor of Nagasaki by putting Israel and Russia in the same bag is being anti- you-know-what. They also expressed their anger to the prime minister for agreeing with this.
I would like to know how, as a westerner yourself, you justify those double standards. Israel is at war and innocent civilians are paying the price for it, same as Russia in Ukraine. So why would it be ok for the USA, France the UK etc, NOT to invite Russia but unacceptable NOT to invited Israel ?
The reaction of the USa, the UK, Italy, France etc,… has sparked a huge resentment in Japan today against those countries who seem to say that Israel war today is far more important and above the dropping of the bombs on Nagasaki. It is the first time that western nations have reacted like this toward japan regarding the commemoration of the bombings and it is sending a VERY BAD message to Japan ese. Some hotels in Nagsaki are now cancelling the reservations of people from those countries. Landlords in Nagsaki are now asking their tenant to quickly find other places to live if they are from those countries which are now insulting Japan. And do not even get me started on how the fact that the Ambassador of Israel accused the Mayor of Nagasaki and the Prime minister of Japan of anti…. has sparked a gigantic rage against israel and people from this country or that faith. Even demanding the prime minister t0 shut down the embassy of Israel in Japan and ask people from that country to leave the country if they have an issue with it.
I was on the street today shopping for my family and there were a lot of people on the street with banners saying "Truman and Openheimer were Jewish, we will never forget" and "if you agree with your ambassadors then get out of japan or we will make you leave". This is how bad it is today.
I think this should be addressed. Before it escalates.
Japan is a VERY proud nation, which doesn't take kindly to being insulted or being told what to do. The prime ministers of japan and the emperors of japan will NEVER side with foreign nations when it comes to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this will always come first, because they know that the secon d they side with a foreign delegation about it, a civil war will start within minutes against the politics and the imperial family.
That final speech sent chills down my spine. Never, ever ever forget. 😥
Brilliant presentation. World leaders should be forced to watch it.
Do you know what I think aptly describes the difference between the leadership of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan?
There were numerous attempts on Hitler's life, most famously the Valkyrie plot to overthrow the government and end the war. Yes, even if they killed Hitler it was still far fetched it working out, but it was at least something. They were at least willing to try something because they knew what the only other outcome was. In Japan, there was never any such plots or attempts. The only time Japanese military officers were prepared to act against the government was not to try and end the war, but to PROLONG it, arrest or even kill the Emperor if necessary to stop Japan finally accepting the Potsdam declaration. It took two bombs and the Soviets joining the war to finally make Japan do what they should have had the sense to do long before.
If the Allies had dropped an atomic bomb on Germany, I guarantee you one would have been enough. Because even if Hitler had still refused to surrender (assuming he wasn't killed by the bomb), somebody would have finally worked up the courage to walk up and shoot him dead on the spot, even if they were killed right after. There would have been no second bomb dropped on Germany.
There are two movies which shows the receiving end of the nuke.
Black Rain (黒い雨, Kuroi ame) 1989
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rain_(1989_Japanese_film)
Hiroshima (ひろしま) 1953
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_(1953_film)
Watch them if have the chance, they hit as hard as a freight train.
Nuclear weapons are like holding a wolf by the ears: You don't want the damn thing but you dare not let it go. The only country to disarm completely is the only modern country to be invaded: Ukraine. That fact makes it hard for any country to want to completely disarm if invasion then becomes possible. It is the only weapon that changes global politics by not being used.
I agree we shouldn't forget about the power of nukes. That said, their use pushed Japan to surrender and ended the war earlier than it would have otherwise.
Thank you! This was one of the toughest episodes, and there have been many tough once. Thank you for continuing to share our histiry and not letting us forget!
Youtube has age restricted this video even though this topic is taught in schools to teenagers.
Essentially taking money out of your pocket by not just showing me ads and letting me make my own choices on what I watch
Zero chance I'm ever sending them a photo of my ID
36:07 …so, it's just meat measuring contest in the end?
(…this is why I side eye Truman 😒😒🙄💀)
Strongly recommend that Hiroshima movie made shortly after censorship was lifted in Japan. The anger directed at both the US and Japanese government is surprising, as is the bleak tales of non-survival starring many of the people bombed that day. The end is a bit melodramatic and preachy, as it eventually adopts a standard narrative, but it's a brutal experience just watching the film which only captures a fraction of the horror.
Halfway in the video I had to cry. While watching I had to hold back throwing up twice.
I truly believe if it would be shown to every human we will never use something of this magnitude ever again.
I thank you and the team for this video.
How can i repport this as absolutely fabulous and historic acurate. Fascinating and important towards youtube??
You've done a good job at earning this moment of coverage with the buildup of the past few months. Alt history is always a bad practice and it generally bothers me that the assumption of many is that without the bombings here the Allies would have had to march to Tokyo by invasion. Japan was very much on its last breaths and unfunctionable as a fighting nation. It's easy to posture about a fight to the death until death is the only option staring you in the face. I can't say how long the war would have otherwise gone on for, what the cost may have been.
But even if we say this was necessary, that would not bring any comfort to me. It only further emphasizes the terrible nature of war that this might be the better option. Just like reading of the children burnt alive in Dresden. innocent people met terrible fates only because they had the misfortune of living within the borders of a nation that let too many genocidal maniacs in government and population make decisions. This, I think, should be the lesson. That whatever justification of the bombings, or lack thereof, they are still a dark moment of human history. That's where war brings us. That's why we must learn from history so we can avoid getting to this point in the first place. Thank you for the coverage.