Could Hitler have built atomic bomb first? | Annie Jacobsen and Lex Fridman

Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: • Annie Jacobsen: Nuclea...
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GUEST BIO:
Annie Jacobsen is an investigative journalist and author of "Nuclear War: A Scenario" and many other books on war, weapons, government secrecy, and national security.
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[@LexClips]

Full podcast episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYnKeIVugN15l9E Lex Fridman podcast channel: kzbin.info Guest bio: Annie Jacobsen is an investigative journalist and author of "Nuclear War: A Scenario" and many other books on war, weapons, government secrecy, and national security.

[@victorocallaghan6791]

I had the privilege of meeting ww2 veteran Major Tony Hibbets 3 weeks before he passed away in 2014. He was 97. He fought in the Battle of France and escaped from Calais in 1940. Fought at the bridge in Arnhem, was captured and escaped. He went onto join T force. Britains intelligence unit for picking up scientist. He said that the Germans were nowhere near close to ever making an atomic bomb due to finances, material resources and manpower. It is always nice to hear an opinon from those who were there. Not a historian who likes to make a slightly schewed point just be different and say they discovered something new.

[@johnkluge3421]

Look up Haniford and Y-12. Haniford is where we made Plutonium and Y-12 where we still make enriched Urainium. Both of them were enormous and required a mind boggling amount of resources and effort to construct. Let's not even mention that the Germans didn't know Plutonium even existed much less its chemistry, how to create it, and how to use it in a bomb.

[@Thunderpussy1234]

Germans plucked by America and by Russia built Nukes.. German ingenuity invented jet propulsion, rocket propulsion and put man on the moon. America didn't even have a national highway system until they saw how Germany built theirs. Sounds like your chum watched too many Schindler's List movies.

[@spirojus]

The historians are basing their statements in part on their conversations with people who know/were there. Basically exactly what you’re doing!

[@johnkluge3421]

@@spirojus first hand accounts are not perfect. They often are wrong or self serving. I see no evidence the Germans had a chance in hell of actually making a bomb. It took resources the Germans didn’t have to enrich enough Uranium or make enough Plutonium for a working weapon

[@jackmehoff6302]

We also werent fighting a war on oir soil. We developed the weapon without being bombed every day. Really slows production. Materials/transport

[@ivanamassivedump8715]

My family is from Coventry where this happened as am I. They lived in the bombing line on the night of the Blitz. I can tell you what you're saying is correct. We were making munitions here and engines, all sorts.

[@chrisphillips408]

From what I’ve read and watched over the years about the viability of a German atomic bomb, they had nowhere near the resources in industrial capacity and key scientific personnel left in Germany to pull that off. Developing rocket technology is one thing but a successful atomic bomb project is immensely more difficult. And to do so with German cities and industrial centers being bombed regularly….. Their heavy water acquisition was foiled. They couldn’t even get sufficient quantities of that to even get enough materials together. And where would they have the area and isolation to test it?

[@mattbishop2021]

People seem to forget that the Manhatten Project was as much about throwing ghastly sums of money at the problem as it was the brilliant people. Germany was close to broke for so much of the war; they plundered occupied lands just to keep their war machine as it was moving along. What would they have cut to fund atomic weapons akin to the Manhatten Project? Tanks? Fighters? Submarines? They had to cut their air force back to defense fighters, kept cheaper stug assault guns and tank destroyers in production as they couldn't afford enough tanks, and so on. Buidling atomic bombs is hideously expensive and unleas the Allies quit and gave them the ability to pull money from tanks and planes and shells they simply couldnt come close to paying for a program. I'd add that Speer, like most of the surviving German hierarchy, was quick to mention (without evidence) that they wouldnhave come up with wunderwaffe and won the war if it hadn't been for the stupid (and conveniently dead and unable to defend himself) ol Adolf getting in the way. . .

[@janklaas6885]

📍3:26

[@crustymunky1570]

What is the black device with the blue light sitting on the desk next to Lex ?

[@demolayakp]

type of keyboard called kinesis keyboard

[@crustymunky1570]

@@demolayakp oh cool. Thanks.

[@SuperPerfectMan]

@@demolayakpwhat is it used for ?

[@demolayakp]

@@SuperPerfectMan same use as a keyboard. It is supposedly easier on the wrist/fingers . Coders I would say use it more due to its ergonomic design. Bit of a learning curve though

[@LifeIsGood-qg3xv]

I swear it feels like Lex asks every one of his guests the same question 😂

[@Gettothegone]

He’s not as interesting as his asmr and dress manners lead on.

[@Conorscorner]

He def has baseline questions and then goes from there... He's a programmer and engineer for God sake the fact that he's communicating with people is unbelievably uncharacterisic for those two roles.

[@cannapurp2833]

What same question is that exactly?

[@DarkDesertMovies]

I never see the question asked: If we hadn't built the bombs, what would we have done with the $2b it cost to build them. How many ships/planes/bombs/bullets would that have bought, and how much sooner would the war have ended if we had used it.

[@howitusedtobe]

I saw Ms Jacobsen on Rogan some years back and she didn’t exactly make a great case I recall some mixed up information and outright nonsense pedaling… This is more of the same

[@420haxx]

Moar, MOAR POWAH!

[@FirstLast-ms4yl]

We learned after the war that Germany was not even close to developing a bomb.

[@jerry85g7]

Because of their own racist ideology. But they did have the scientists to make it happen.

[@MakeItMakeSense285]

They were just pushing propaganda that they were close to development.

[@MarteinMifune]

That's so not true, haha. They would've built that bomb.

[@FirstLast-ms4yl]

Yeah, this woman is a goofball and people are just parroting what she says. The Germans were abosolutely working on a bomb, as well as every other kind of advanced weapon. @@MarteinMifune

[@FirstLast-ms4yl]

Yeah people are just parroting what she says. She's a goofball. The Germans were working on a bomb, as well as every other kind of next-gen weapon.@@MarteinMifune

[@jessedorsettii9988]

seriously doubt it. They needed to mine and refine an incredible amount of fuel. They didn't have the resources or the location. We, here in America, had a vast nation as big as most of the Western European counties combined, to work IN PEACE AND IN SECRET. No way they could have done that. The Russians could and did, however, but not Germany....not Hitler. Especially not Hitler. He never did the right thing militarily anyways.

[@shoguninnovation6589]

She didn’t answer the question

[@coltonblake13]

She did. Hitler very likely had the ability but said it was "jewish science" so he didn't want to use it

[@Sean-nj3hx]

@@coltonblake13I don’t buy that for a second ,zyclon and zyclon b was created by a Jewish guy and he certainly used that

[@cso6565]

Being racist held Hitler on 😂

[@petermaingi6268]

Heisenberg was making good progress.. but the British were bombing his deuterium plants and research centres to slow him down.. while hoping the Manhattan Project would produce the bomb first.

[@LOTUG98]

Yes she did being racist is why he didn't 😂

[@raygamma36]

No. He didn't have enough Uranium or Mathematicians or Industrial Capacity vis-a-vis the USA.....

[@user-oo2dh8wd3x]

They had to us3 it, the $ spent on producing it, the unfamiliarity with the weapon, no one knew exactly what would happen

[@Nurse_Diesel]

She should be a voice actor!

[@used369]

Yes. He did...

[@spaceghost6966]

Why does she whisper???

[@evolvedape3341]

My grandfather was shot in the back in Okinawa.

[@edmc2]

🤔

[@Taffeyboy]

Why do you need her opinion about whether we should have dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. What difference does it make? Why would you ask?

[@OtherworldJudge89]

I like Annie, however she's doesn't often answer the question she's asked and will more often start off with "In my book XYZ when I was interviewing X person, they spoke about Y topic and how Z was in W program" and proceeds to waffle on (interestingly mind you) Any time there's a good question asked I know it's not going to be answered lol

[@aleinstein3223]

No. He couldn't of. no heavy water

[@johncarroll772]

The heroes of Telemark

[@thenamesleo1625]

He had the water, shipment was interrupted.

[@aleinstein3223]

@@thenamesleo1625 they gave up on developing it. I believe special forces took out the facility in Norway.

[@tommyrq180]

The idea that the Nazis did not develop the bomb because Hitler thought it was Jewish technology is patently ridiculous. If he could have, he would have. If his scientists could have, they would have. And more than likely, if his superior Aryan scientists had developed it and weaponized it, he would have used it. The V in V-1 and V-2 stood for vengeance (die Vergeltung) and a nuclear bomb would have been the ultimate vengeance weapon, especially against the Soviet Union. She’s just too glib and sensationalist about these issues. Trying to sell books, trying to be viral, instead of being a solid researcher and author. Just my two cents.

[@thingonathinginathing]

Gernamy was reverse engineering UAP technology.

[@HolgerLovesMusic]

She should be a politican. She is good not answering questions and coming up with BS.

[@coltonblake13]

She answered. Hitler's scientists from what we learned after operation paperclip very likely could have built an atomic bomb. That Hitler said it was "Jewish science" so he didnt want anything to do with it. Something she didn't mention was Hitler was also much more interested in rockets that could go fast and be built fast versus a large nuclear weapon.

[@sicknado]

Yeah, SUCH bs......

[@UncleStepon]

Poor question about ww2. If America didn’t use them, the Japanese were prepared to fight until the end, extinction was the fear. It also would have inflicted a million or so more casualties on the Americans. Given the American experience all the way to Honshu, why would they willingly not use atomic bombs and extend the war for 2-3 years at least. Lex, you’re usually good but this entire interview and your ridiculous question here need some work. Btw your people would have had to wait a few more years as well, if you think about you.

[@clintinb5219]

The sad thing is brother most of those Japanese people died inocently and don’t even like war. Wicked leaders. Most Russians don’t want to fight and Ukrainians but wicked leaders same with North Korea.

[@coltonblake13]

It's not really a poor question. That's what we believed and why we dropped the bombs. So we still hold on to that idea. I also tend to think what you said is indeed the case. However, it's still entirely hypothetical. We don't know if that was the future for certain. We never will either.

[@UncleStepon]

@@coltonblake13 I agree to disagree. We do know what happened, and I don’t support extending war and possible huge casualties for America. Also don’t support Japan being led down the path similar to Ukraine, just pour meat into the grinder. Japan is successful today, it would have taken much longer with 90% less people.

[@coltonblake13]

@@UncleStepon We don't disagree. I can just see the point of those who disagree. Theoretically the war would've been gone on for years, maybe millions more wouldve died. I think thats the case. The problem is they will always remain as mayb, if or potentially.

[@UncleStepon]

@@coltonblake13 fair, I think I struggle harder than you to see their point. 😂 Analysts can analyze themselves into a circle if they’re not careful, and ignore the reality. In this case of Imperial Japan, they were ruthless and tough customers. There’s not a lot of reasoning to be done with fanatics.

[@korkz808]

this lady is a joke. She's been getting people to try and read her books since Rogan's podcast

[@coltonblake13]

Insane right? Who writes books and promotes people to buy them?

[@taWay21]

She missed the question

[@coltonblake13]

She basically said with the scientists he had he could've but said it was "jewish science" so didn't want to use it.

[@paulcarr2207]

She yammers on yet says nothing.

[@Conorscorner]

She has the most sultry voice good lord

[@NOYFB982]

She is such a bad guest. I keep watching the videos hoping she’ll say something insightful and not vapid. She is contributing to informational noise. Bad to promote her.

[@NonBathingApe6969]

She has a voice that can put me to sleep though. Something about it calms me. Weird 🤔

[@stt5v2002]

The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atomic bomb was clearly the correct decision. I don't know why this is still seriously debated. I think it is because people imagine a world where the bomb is not dropped and for some reason Japan surrenders that week anyway. But that world is a fantasy. Japan was not going to surrender, they were going to fight on for quite some time. They were going to hold out until the mainland was invaded and they were utterly conquered. It is true that the atomic bomb killed many thousands of civilians and that a city was destroyed. But what happens to Japan if they don't surrender? Within a month or two, the vast majority of US and Soviet combat forces are redeployed from Europe to the Pacific. There is constant conventional and firebombing of all military targets, industrial targets, and logistical targets including cities. City after city after city is leveled, and a tremendous number of civilians and soldiers die. Food resources, health, and quality of life plummet. Eventually there is a massive invasion. During that invasion, millions of Japanese die along with tens of thousands of allied soldiers. Everything in Japan is destroyed until they finally capitulate. Then there is the post war period. Instead of two cities destroyed, almost the entire nation is destroyed. Most of their leaders would be dead, leaving chaos and political vacuum. The Soviets, who would have sustained heavy losses, would certainly want to hold on to part or all of Japan. All of that is far worse for Japan and everyone else than what actually happened. Then at last we have the question of post war nuclear weapons. Both the US and Soviet Union would soon have many, and the cold war was on from the moment WW2 ended. Actually using the atomic bomb on two cities had the effect of showing the world what nuclear war really means. It is not just a bigger bomb, as was the sentiment before Hiroshima. But something else entirely - a kind of war that doesn't fit with any prior conception of war. That had to be learned in order to make nuclear use a taboo. It probably had to be learned with the destruction of at least one city. Another way to learn it is for two sides to launch dozens or hundreds.

[@jdlk-ny5yo]

Nah, she ain’t it

[@aerofred2002]

Retelling of history. The world didn't even know what "nuclear" was until defectors from Germany warned it. They even enlisted Einstein to write a letter because they had no credibility.

[@robertthomsonwatson2542]

Yes he could've but the Germans would've used it as a tactical weapon on the battlefield rather than as a one massive bomb drop , although this nuclear option was never a priority for the Germans they were more intersted in the V2 and other rocket technologies getting developed as fast as possible .

[@JvicyKisses]

Simple answer -> No don't rewrite history

[@JvicyKisses]

The more they conflate antisemitism with WW2/Whiteness. The more they push away gen Z.. It's like a slap in the face every time I hear it. What's the off ramp guys?