🇬🇧BRIT Reacts To THE COLD WAR - OVERSIMPLIFIED!

[@eugenemoore6803]

My dad was in the US Air Force, and we were stationed in West Germany in 1989. In fact, he went on temporary duty (TDY) to east Berlin in October. Later that month, the wall came down. I still have a clock I made is wood shop class showing east and west Germany.

[@AU88]

West Berlin.

[@michaelschemlab]

The ruins of the Berlin Wall still exist. In fact, it’s a historic site.

[@Happymali10]

You can still see the east-west difference in berlin today, not just from buildings but also from streetlights, even from space, with one half being white and one yellow-ish. On a side-note: one of the largest sections of Berlin Wall is in the US, a bunch of segments got bought by and shipped out to a museum in LA.

[@FreddieSea]

Not just Berlin, it’s the difference in west and east GERMANY

[@Mediocreiron]

Well, I believe the reason why Stalin was acting brazen was because he believed the USSR deserved eastern europe, if that makes any sense. It is no secret that the USSR suffered tremendous casualties, therefore in his mind, they deserved the spoils. Additionally, Stalin and Franklin D Roosevelt had surprisingly good relationship. However, once FDR passed away, there was nothing stopping the USSR and USA's relationship from falling apart.

[@AU88]

Stalin was a psychopathic, genocidal maniac, whom FDR found charming. Thank God for Harry Truman. And Whitaker Chambers.

[@whendays659]

Love your reactions! I suspect the question posed about Stalin's motives around 7:00 are the same he had when he tried to be a church leader. A lot of overlap between cult structures and totalitarianism.

[@kabirconsiders]

Thanks Jen :)

[@Perfectly_Cromulent351]

Stalin feared another attack from the west, and he wasn’t entirely wrong seeing as how Russian history is replete with invasions from Europe. Churchill even had an insane plan drawn up in last months of the war called Operation Unthinkable, where the US, the UK and and a rearmed Germany would launch a massive invasion of the USSR as soon as WW2 ended. Coupled all of this with the fact that Stalin was unfathomably paranoid and you could see why Stalin wanted “buffer states” surrounding the USSR. They were there to insure that any fighting with the western powers would be limited to those defensive buffer states, sparing the Soviet home front and industrial infrastructure of much of the damage. Also, that was just a regular nuclear bomb and not the Tsar Bomba.

[@alexeyterekhov3580]

Also, many Eastern European countries were Nazi allies during WWII whose soldiers fought at Eastern Front (Hungarians, Romanians, etc).

[@goldberg7678]

The only person who didn't want to invade the USSR was our prissy president that took over after FDR basically all the allied high command new Russia was gonna be the next big problem and they new this was the chance it was actually a very popular idea the controversy came in with the whole supporting post war German military growth. At least when I was reading about it it seemed the majority of allied officers favored the idea of breaking Russia up because the whole world new they had taken unimaginable loses fighting the nazis a joint force of super powers with actual supplies and means of waging war would have literally erased any Russian forces left

[@aauwhatitdo1582]

You also have to note that there is a perfectly flat land in western Russia, so if an invasion happens, there would be zero stopping it. Tanks would just roll through, and NATO had much better tanks at the time. That buffer zone allowed Russia to have a terrain advantage because Germany creates many terrain choke points that make an invasion next to impossible for both sides.

[@lizd2943]

Stalin did want to spread his power as far as possible. but also keep in mind, over the previous 140 years Russia had been invaded from the West 3 times and each time had been nearly destroyed. They wanted a buffer zone.

[@gregdavidson3834]

What about all the times Russia took their troops into Western Europe. A hell of a lot more times than the two times France and Germany did.

[@lizd2943]

@@gregdavidson3834 I'm not defending them at all. I'm just explaining their motives.

[@ronluk76]

My mom's and dad's families are originally from mainland China but they fled to Taiwan with General Chang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists after Mao and the Communists took control. My mom and dad actually grew up in Taiwan. Then they immigrated to the US for college and grad school. Then they got married and I was born in the US in Missouri and then when I was a child we moved to the Bay Area.

[@Allaiya.]

My sister brought me back a piece of the Berlin Wall when she was stationed overseas in the military. One of the coolest gifts I've ever received. I have it sitting on the desk here with me

[@mudbug73us]

Ah, the Cold War. In America it meant popular magazines with articles about how to build your own nuclear fallout shelter in your backyard- and many did. It meant countless "Duck and Cover" ads teaching schoolkids how to shelter from nuclear attack (as if hiding under your desk at school would save you from the "bomb".) I clearly remember my Dad freaking out when the Soviet Union first orbited Sputnik in 1957- He was sure the next step would be Soviet bombs falling from space. Growing up with a constant daily reminder that the end of the world was only "one button" away. Great time to be a kid.

[@syotos.nn8976]

You should react to Operation Downfall, covered by RealLifeLore. Goes over what the American plan was to invade Japan if they didn't use the Atomic bomb. The casualties were expected to be so high that Purple Hearts minted are still being used today due to the vast stockpile in preparation for the Invasion

[@kabirconsiders]

Awesome suggestion mate, I’ll put it on my list

[@aauwhatitdo1582]

The purple heart I got after my first deployment in 2005 was said to be the last one that was minted in preparation of the initial invasion of the Kyushu Island. The invasion of Kyushu was believed to bring 100k casualties, but the invasion of the Awaji Island was believed to cause nearly a million. The people that handle the Purple Hearts told me we'd be using what they called "Awaji Mint" Purple Hearts for at least a century unless we go to a major war. Mind boggling to think we were prepared to do two amphibious assaults both many magnitudes more grand and costly than the D-Day landings.

[@beautifulbliss5883]

You must do oversimplified Cold War part 2 soon. Fun fact in Berlin Germany, at night from Space, you can see the difference between East Berlin and West Berlin of how bright the lights or how dim the lights are. And Ronald Reagan museum in California, has a piece of the Berlin Wall, and has so many European names on it, graffiti written on them.

[@keegansmetanko3755]

The first Russian atomic bomb was NOT the Tsar Bomba, the Tsar Bomba was the largest nuke they ever made and detonated on an arctic island, it broke windows in Sweden and Finland and sent a shock wave around the Earth 2 and a half times. It's yield was 50 megatons of TNT or 3,333x more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Tsar Bomba was also detonated in 1961 not 1949.

[@girlwithaguitar24]

If you want a clear example of the perils of nuclear war/bombs, watch Threads. It's a 1984 made-for-TV althistory drama made by the BBC covering what would happened if nuclear bombs hit Sheffield. It's extremely gruesome and a hard watch, but one I think anyone who involves themselves in international geopolitics needs to watch.

[@hippiemama52]

My brother-in-law was stationed in Germany when the wall fell. My nephews and niece all got a chunk of the wall. My eldest nephew and niece still have theirs, but my youngest nephew sold his to a classmate for $50. Lol. He understood and embraced capitalism at the young age of 10.

[@Happymali10]

There are memorials at Frankfurt AIrport and in Berlin looking somewhat like Bridge-pillars, reminding of the "Luftbrücke" ("Air bridge") operation. The planes got nicknamed "Rosinenbomber" ("Raisin Bombers") because they were US military planes and sometimes (mostly when low/on final approach) they'd drop small packets with sweets or fruit, including raisins.

[@quickhistory8637]

Oh and on the MacArthur part that is not entire correct. Most people think MacArthur wanted to nuke the cities but he was actually an opponent to nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He wanted to use the bombs only on military units and the north korean border to create an impassable zone that the Chinese troops couldnt cross. And if they tried they would nuke they armies.

[@Perfectly_Cromulent351]

He also wanted to use tactical nukes to destroy air bases and other depots across the neck of Manchuria, but you’re right, he never wanted to nuke Chinese cities.

[@quickhistory8637]

My family actually has pieces of the Berlin wall. My grandmother and her sister just happened to be on vacation to Berlin when they saw it happening so they grabbed a couple pieces.

[@michaelszczekot8920]

Hey I was at least one of the people who recommend this. I’m so glad he’s doing it.

[@ThumperKJFK]

I am not going to spoil what happens in part two. I did not see the video. But I Lived it as a child in Kindergarten and 1st grade. It was very Scary what we had to do each week in school, and the broadcast on TV and Radio blackout drills also in schools, and every Saturday at noon. Very Scary stuff.

[@Happymali10]

My paternal grandparents actually both fled to the west, my grandmother relatively early on while my grandfather went through the countryside and snuck across the border later.

[@realflashkid]

crazy thing about the cold war is how long it actually went on for. I mean were talking almost 50 years

[@g.g.hochstetler2286]

It wasn’t the tsar bomb. The tsar bomb was a fusion bomb. The first tested bomb was a fission bomb. Fun fact: Fusion bombs are triggered by a fission bomb. It gets a significant portion of its yield from the fission bomb. Basically a fission bomb is the splitting of heavy elements like Uranium. Whereas a fusion bomb works by fusing hydrogen isotopes making helium. The fission bomb is used to create the heat and pressures to fuse the hydrogen isotopes. Fusion is what powers our star. In theory a fission bomb is easy to make. The hard part is enriching the Uranium. The gun type fission bomb being the easiest. Little boy was a gun type. Fat man was an implosion type. Implosion is more difficult because you have to compress the core in a uniform matter. The gun type only requires you to fire two sub critical masses of Uranium together making a critical mass that can sustain a nuclear reaction.

[@kristhekidd4953]

At 9:40 thats the first time I’ve heard Kabir cuss honestly... i laughed harder then I should’ve lol

[@empirejeff]

When they dropped the nukes in Japan, it did save lives because it forced Japan to surrender. Through people living there day to day lives, that have nothing to do with the fighting, were hit by the blasts.

[@MicahsIntellectualCorner]

Great Reaction! Definitely gotta do more History Reactions! They are always so rewarding to do 🙌🏾

[@kabirconsiders]

Thanks so much bro, more on the way!

[@HH__09]

I'll be learning about this in history next year, so I now have a headstart

[@joshntn37111]

I love your channel my friend. Please don't wait a week for part 2 please sir. By that time, part one is kinda forgotten about. Cheers!!

[@kabirconsiders]

Thanks so much mate :) I’ll get to it as soon as I can!

[@timhefty504]

I was taught about the Cold War through the lens of us (the US) being the bad guys, like we decided to be a big tough guy for no reason and we should've left the Soviets alone. An actual teacher taught me that.

[@LizJasonHEA]

Imagine being a student in elementary school 10 years old, and having to practice bomb drills everyday. A bomb drill meant we got under our desks in our classroom and covered our head. We didn't have fallout shelters in all of the schools. Newer schools like mine, were built on a concrete slab, no basement or underground area. It was only about 10 years later when I was in college that I realized how ridiculous it was to make children get under their desk if there was an atomic bomb dropped on them. But as a member of gen Baby Boomer I grew up living with that fear for years It has affected my political beliefs as an adult. I certainly believe in a strong military as the best defense against somebody starting a war or attacking the USA.

[@Tamaki742]

I disagree with "absolute power corrupts absolutely", it's more like power reveals what a person's true intentions all along.

[@kabirconsiders]

That’s true. Power and money definitely expose a persons true nature

[@jam3sbarry198]

Can't wait for Pt. 2 !! Love the Oversimplified reactions

[@kabirconsiders]

Thanks so much mate :) it’s coming soon

[@sexyalien806]

@@kabirconsiders yo where is it

[@IK-pz7th]

I’m not sure if it works the same at most uk schools, but I think it’s ridiculous they didn’t make you take at least some history. I know I would’ve picked my classes based solely on how fun/easy the teachers were likely to be back in 9th grade😂. But I love to see your interested now!

[@hkiller57]

i think the berlin airlift averaged something insane like 1 landing and take off per minute

[@laurataylor8717]

I really like these oversimplified history videos. So fun. The education system in Britain is surprising to me. I can't believe you got to opt out of taking history. Given the opportunity I would have done the same. Ironically my university art school curriculum was very history heavy and I got a lot out of those classes.

[@kabirconsiders]

Yeah our system here is a little different to the one you have there I think. To be honest I like the fact that you get to opt out of certain topics as it allows you to specialise from an early age

[@laurataylor8717]

@@kabirconsiders that would have been nice actually.

[@iKvetch558]

Oversimplified stuff is always fun, but by oversimplifying, he often only reports the mythologies of history. A good example of this is his treatment of Sputnik and the "missile gap." The mythology is that the US was surprised by it, and that it was even a race to begin with. The reality is that the US could have orbited a satellite in 1956, but the Eisenhower Administration chose not to hurry a launch. The main reason was that Ike wanted the USSR to go first so that they would establish the principle of "Freedom of Space", but the other reason was that the American team that could have beaten the USSR was run by Werner Von Braun. Oversimplified also makes it seem as if Kennedy did not know that the missile gap was false, and that nobody knew it was false until later on. The reality there is that the missile gap was always false, and that Ike told Kennedy and Johnson that it was false, but JFK and LBJ still used it to claim Ike was soft on Communism. 🖖✌

[@Fergus_0703]

That’s why it’s called Oversimplified. It only gives you the general knowledge of things, not the exact details✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻

[@iKvetch558]

@@Fergus_0703 He often oversimplifies too much. All his stuff is good, but none of it is perfect. He leaves out critical information, reports things out of order, and often does not include the most recently discovered historical details. I give him full credit, and I don't think I could do even as good a job as he did...but that still does not mean his work is not worthy of criticism.

[@ZackHamlin1]

You should listen to the hardcore history podcast by Dan Carlin, in his episode “The Destroyer of Worlds” he talks about the use of the atomic bombs in WWII and how many time we came very close to nuclear war over the next several decades. It was a bunch of times.

[@kylethomas2993]

Oversimplified and Slapshoes are probably my favorite youtubers

[@LibertyWolf1]

Don't the forget the legend himself. Internet Historian.

[@rogerfleury9759]

If you ever get over here to America, and you want to see the Mount Rushmore, Crazy horse, needles highway, let me know. We could jump into the Mercedes and drive out there and see it all. They have cabins, hotels, motels right in the middle of it all. Roger in Pierre South Dakota

[@kabirconsiders]

That would be a ton of fun Roger :)

[@rogerfleury9759]

@@kabirconsiders If you ever get near South Dakota email me @ [e-mail]. I don’t do social media. No Facebook or Instagram or any thing else. Just a choice of mine. Right outside of Pierre, there is a small monument that marks the exact middle of the American continent. Including Mexico and Canada. Not many people know about it, even here in town.

[@markbell4982]

History should be required in secondary education in every country. It is as important as math and science imo, but then I am a history buff.

[@albinorhino6]

It’s not an accident that they don’t teach history in high school, and then people get to vote right out of high school.

[@lalitthapa101]

I highly recommend the "how the US stole" series by johnny Harris. Its brilliant and touches topics like middle east,hawaii etc. You'll love it

[@Dannib823]

The feeling of needing to fart..🤣🤣. I lost it

[@Aurum-Stella]

You may be interested in another one of Oversimplified’s videos, the Football/soccer war.

[@althor1247]

““Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.” Chapterhouse: Dune.

[@forreal2398]

One of the things that happened in Russia/USSR/CCCP was they wanted to show the world that communism was the best way to live and they used the Olympics to do so. For the Winter Olympics their best team was men's Ice Hockey and they made everyone on that team officers in their Army and the job they put down and what they really did were two different things. They were practicing Hockey almost every day and their team was good enough that they beat the Pro Hockey All Star Team almost every year. And usually dominated every team they played. That changed in the 80 Winter Olympics when America Beat Russia head to head in the Olympics. And they did very well in mens and womens sports in the Olympics. Many suspected that their athletes were using PEDs. And as it turned out the communist state was doping their athletes and not telling them the truth.

[@ivory_flames07]

There's an old couple that I go to church with that escaped East Berlin via Hot Air Balloon.

[@mikicerise6250]

Yeah, James Bond made the UK absolutely indispensable. xD No, dude, the Cold War was between the USA and the USSR. The UK by the Cold War had lost its empire and was and has been since merely a satellite of the USA.

[@toomasargel8503]

10:18 ..You must be react too " A Time - Laps of Every Nuclar Explosion Since 1945 ".. 1998

[@cenewton3221]

Regarding Stalin's want to have everything, I"d say it was the revelation of the Bomb. He saw what it meant.

[@albinorhino6]

If you look at a map of the world, and study some history post WW2, it’s questionable that the Cold War ever ended. All of the hotspots - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ukraine, Turkey - there’s a common thread here.

[@spagnum2410]

Not talked about: the US was also spending way too much on its military and very nearly caved first

[@coyotelong4349]

Yeah they kinda DID mention that both sides were running on empty because of all the spending though

[@spagnum2410]

@@coyotelong4349 yes but I don't think people realize how close we got to losing this conflict. I guess I meant to say it's not talked about enough

[@Snipergoat1]

O lord I now feel old. This was the defining geopolitical issue of the second half of the 20th century and was never really far from anyone's mind. The tensions threats, and nukes were very real and could go hot in minutes. We all grew up know that a potentially human extinction level war was very possible and for various reasons it was vastly important that the other guys didn't win. Just about every world event was seen through the lens of the Soviets were trying to fuck us or our fine patriots weakend the communist's oppressive and deadly hold on the world (AKA We fucked over the Soviets.) It could sometimes be farcical how far we would go in our game of fuck or be fucked. It might have been comical except for the absurd number of nukes we all had. It's ending was the most momentous events in many a young persons life. Suddenly this threat that had loomed over us, our parents, and even our grandparents was lifted. And , what do you know, we even won. What did we win? Not much really. Some nice prestige is always cool but the big prize was universal. That constantly being two minutes away from everyone being dead was now closer to 5 or six. Small change maybe but a lot of things can happen very quickly when things get really serious. Read some of the now declassified stories about some near misses we had with Armageddon on more than one occasion, sometimes due to something as simple as software error. But all that was avoided, the communists where cooling it almost everywhere and it looked like peace may break out across the planet. It almost kinda did. For a time everyone that could wreck the whole world's shit were taking nice normal breaths. I was marvelous, for a while then everyone got back to the business of screwing each other over just now with less defined (and controlled) power blocks. Now we have this kid telling us that he only knows passing bits about it. Sigh, Dammit I'm not even old yet. That's the way of it. Just as WWII or the Vietnam war were notes in history to me, to the people growing up now the cold war is just a note from history. I wonder in 20-30 years time what will be thought of and remembered about the events of today?

[@dontebullard7423]

My mom actually has a piece of the Berlin wall.

[@The0Minecraftian]

There's actually a chunk of the Berlin Wall at the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in my town, graffiti and everything still on it

[@reese-em9wk]

I own a piece of it myself. It's about the size of a Rubik's cube. Full of asbestos with some green paint on one side.

[@toomasargel8503]

08:54 Berlin Wall is stiil one part remain. But even metro stops closed and metro train ride non stoping these stops.Because the was "wrong" side Berlin.

[@Allaiya.]

100% agree with you on nuclear weapons.

[@kabirconsiders]

They’re just so destructive, I think we’d be better off without them

[@iKvetch558]

The Berlin Wall went up later on, in 1961 under Khrushchev's leadership of the USSR...Kennedy was President then. Also, that first explosion was the Soviets first atomic test in 1949...Tsar Bomba was later on...October 30, 1961...under Khrushchev's leadership...Kennedy was President then. Khrushchev loved to bluff, and took a lot of chances in his leadership of the Soviet foreign policy, he was a little bit of an idiot, if you ask me. 💯✌

[@corvus1374]

Stalin was a Communist. Communists believe that world Communism is inevitable. I was stationed in Germany while East Berlin was still under Soviet control. Because of the legal fiction that Berlin was still under joint control of both sides, the Russians and East Germans couldn't prevent US military from visiting East Berlin. So a friend and I took a trip to Berlin. We traveled to the East, but we had to wear our uniforms. We went though Checkpoint Charlie. We were not allowed to use public transportation, so we had to walk everywhere. We also couldn't use western money, so we had to change our western Marks for eastern currency. We were also not allowed to carry eastern currency back into the west, so we had to change our money back before we crossed over the border. There is a gigantic Russian statue honoring the Russian dead in East Berlin. It shows a Russian soldier standing on a broken swastika, wielding a sword and holding a baby. Watch the movie "The Death of Stalin". It's a dark comedy about all of the freaking out going on in Moscow once Stalin died. The Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 occurred just before the Olympics. The water polo match between the Hungarian and Soviet teams was called "Blood in the Water" because it was so brutal.

[@redssracer4153]

KC wonders if he is talking in "too simplistic of terms" while reacting to a "OVERSIMPLIFIED" video...😏😁

[@kabirconsiders]

I can’t believe I said that 😂

[@ronluk76]

A single nuclear missile carried by one American nuclear missle submarine is equal to all the total conventional explosive power that was used in all of WW2. Each US nuclear missle sub is capable of carrying up to 24 such missles!

[@52montoya]

It seems that there were 110 C-47 transports used for the Airlift.

[@enigmagrieshaber5555]

US probably still have their 200k planes militarily during Berlin airlift That 200k planes are mixture of fighter bomber or planes that sends paratroopers

[@ash_1419]

9:42 my man literally said 227 even tho it was 277 💀

[@toomasargel8503]

04:00 Yes Stalin but many GULAG -at Estonia 39.500 (Estonian population was then 450.000 ) .Reason..they are rich capitalists farm owners and bad sientyst and bad capitalist culturical persons.Hwo not support and think like communistys and not share your property with the people. Give tracors for kolhos ( collective agriculture for free and houses free) Max was allowed 12m2 per person aparments in city and county houses 24m2 per one family member. More = You must share with other families or if not = GULAG

[@sarahpagett9191]

My uncle was in the RAF and was bassd in west Germany

[@Fuzz32]

Honestly I don’t think your description of Stalin was too simplistic at all. He was nothing more than a power hungry brute with daddy issues. Not unlike Hitler. In fact some believe he was worse than Hitler.

[@StekTM1]

Bro shut the fuck up. Stalin is literally the greatest leader of the XX century.

[@davidmcaneney9295]

The tsar bomba was not the first ussr nuke it was there biggest which was 50 mega tons of tnt and they had one double the power(100 megatons) but it was to heavy for current planes and dangerous for the pilot and probably the world

[@skxlter5747]

You have to react to more oversimplified i recommend reacting to civil war and american revolutionary war

[@kabirconsiders]

I’ll put them both on my list!

[@liampritchett1779]

No, the czar Bomba is a hydrogen bomb and the biggest bomb ever built not the first bomb Russia ever had

[@Pyth0n313]

React to Potential History's operation Barbarossa series

[@boblakemore9262]

pls react to key and peele hingle mcCringleberry!!!! So funny

[@Mobile-iw7ot]

React to a tornado alley video pls

[@davidthieman8020]

Kabir, I hope this cold war did have to understand its little better.

[@kabirconsiders]

It did! Looking forward to part two

[@ronluk76]

Hey homie, please react to the World According to Briggs video called Top Ten Most Overlooked Cities in the US.

[@kabirconsiders]

Onto the list it goes!

[@kristhekidd4953]

We close as hell to 20k

[@kabirconsiders]

Getting closer!

[@Theking-rb5sr]

Please react to the mls weakly review show so you can keep up with the mls

[@kabirconsiders]

I’ll put it on my list bro!

[@Wian.Xx41]

Can you please do a reaction of Formula 1 plz

[@kabirconsiders]

Sure, any particular vid or should I choose?

[@Wian.Xx41]

@@kabirconsiders Romain Grosjean Bahrain 2020 plz

[@IvIidnight]

Comments+1

[@blake7587]

Instead of using nukes on humanity we should save up all our nukes for a giant killer asteroid 😏

[@ryanswaynow]

Yeah. Rat is better on the cob.

[@nathanworthington4451]

Do Brits really not know abt the cold war is this clickbait?

[@kabirconsiders]

I mentioned in the vid that I didn’t study history at secondary school

[@nathanworthington4451]

@@kabirconsiders common sense man. U never picked up on the 40year struggle that divided the planet between 2super powers &left every living thing on earth teetering on nuclear annihilation? Choosing TV repair or whatever as a teenager is no excuse for being oblivious especially as a brit. Cmon on man.

[@BillColeExperience]

Stalin wanted more and more and more because communism results in less and less and less.

[@StekTM1]

The west was the agressor. Not Stalin.