Historical Blunders: The Mistakes That Changed the World

[@Sideprojects]

Thanks to Keeps for sponsoring this video! Head to keeps.com/SIMON to get a special offer. Individual results may vary

[@ianbracken7973]

Nobody would know who you were if Keeps cured baldness. Not even you!!

[@thomasjones4570]

A blunder requires real time carelessness. Not carelessness long after the fact. Thus, Russia selling Alaska was not a blunder. It actually made perfect sense not only at the time, but also the near future. In fact, even after the mini-gold rush, Alaska still would have been un-defendable by Russia and America was...itching to take it. The risk for Russia was still too great as it not only meant an issue with a future war with Britain, it also meant holding land that could cause a conflict with America as well.

[@gohliangsong]

Simon should apply Keeps to his scalp, not his chin. ❤

[@dmitryisakov8769]

Crimean War finished in 1856 not 1865. Why would you make such blunder? There is indeed a connection to Crimean War. USA was Russian ally during that war, which was one of the reasons why Russia was the only ally of Lincoln during USA civil war. Alliance, that would be shuttered by Lincoln's assassination in 1865 by the Brits (they tried to assassinate Alexander 2 as well in 1866). Sale of Alaska on unfavourable terms (it was already well known that Alska had wast deposits of gold) was the last attempt to save the alliance. It failed.

[@SupertzarMetal]

Looking to follow Simon's hair growth.

[@carolynmills513]

My father was wounded with a bayonet to his leg in WWII, 1945. He was scheduled to have it amputated on 3 occasions. The doctor each time said they had this "wonder drug-penicillin" and would wait til the next day. Story short, it saved his leg.

[@carolynmills513]

Meant 1945...

[@MichaelScheele]

I assume you meant 1945.

[@sanitarium017]

​@carolynmills513 you can edit comments

[@ravenblood1954]

@@carolynmills513yeah you could confused my mightily there. At first I was like “How OLD are you if your dad was around in 1845” xD. Then I saw you were talking about WW2 and got even more confused xD

[@carolynmills513]

@@ravenblood1954 fat fingers!!! Lol

[@sydhenderson6753]

To defend Alexander II, having Britain annex Alaska would not have helped Russia that much, but selling it to the US was a way to keep it out of British hands and make the US friendlier.

[@z0ro_62]

Which is true. Most people don't know that during the Russian Civil war America attacked the communist

[@dpelpal]

Russia's army was a joke then, and it is a joke now. Let's get real here, people 🙄

[@lewisdoherty7621]

I have been telling people that. The Russians would have lost it, but sold it to a country which had just been through a civil war and could block Britain.

[@yewtoob2007]

During the Crimean War, an Anglo-French force attacked Petropavlovsk, the major port of Kamchatka, twice. Another war with Britain could have easily seen Alaska taken by the sea by a similar enterprise.

[@brianthomas2434]

For much the same reason, Napoleon had sold Louisiana to the US in 1803. He knew that, during the almost constant state of war between France and the UK, British troops from Canada would easily outnumber any force France could muster on the North American continent.

[@rogergallagher5511]

Mao officially stepped down in 1976. That's a new euphemism for death I haven't heard of before.

[@grizzlygrizzle]

Leftist lexical manipulations disable truth.

[@easalsoeas4565]

This fool is a propaganda mouthpiece and I would only expect to hear such foolish things spoken as facts

[@danubiosalas4231]

What can you expect? He also said Alaska was purchased for 17 million dollars, everyone knows it was 7.2 millions.

[@NCR-National-Reclamation-Gov]

Only in death does duty end

[@gazpachopolice7211]

That may seem funny until you consider that Kim Il Sung didn't step down despite going to hell in 1994 and is still president.

[@ThomasWeaver1992]

Russia was likely going to lose Alaska if they did keep it. British Canada could have easily invaded it. The USA was an ally of Russia at that time, so selling Alaska to an ally was a smart move in the short term.

[@gideonmele1556]

Not so much an ally but they didn’t have any qualms back then. A much better choice than dealing with their rival, Britain

[@onewaynestreet]

​@@gideonmele1556 Russia was our ally in 1867 and had been an ally of the Union states throughout the Civil War. If it weren't for Russia and their threats against London to remain neutral, Britain may have sided with the Confederacy. They were poised to do so.

[@tripsaplenty1227]

russia could have got more money if they didn't accept the first low ball offer.

[@volbound1700]

US benefited by the fact that no one liked the British. We got the Louisiana Purchase and Alaska that way.

[@danidavis7912]

Just my opinion, but yes, the Brits would have destroyed Russia then, if they chose to do so. As a US soldier who trained with our NATO friends in western Europe in the 1980s, I can say with full conviction that the Limeys and the Frogs were both forces to be reckoned with. I have nothing but respect for those guys. Simply put, their special forces were second to none.

[@heronimousbrapson863]

During the Crimean war, British warships based in what is now Victoria, British Columbia actually attacked Russian settlements In Alaska. This is perhaps one reason why Russia saw Alaska as undefendable.

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

Imagine if Canada invaded Russia, Alaska

[@AvroBellow]

@@carkawalakhatulistiwa It would've actually been Britain doing it because Canada didn't become a self-governing Dominion until 1867.

[@petertrevorah7689]

I’m so glad you mentioned Howard Florey and his team. So often I have read simplistic histories of penicillin that give all the credit to Fleming. As you have said, the truth is much more nuanced but it was Florey and his team that actually put the drug to work saving lives.

[@robertthomson1587]

Indeed. The Australian prime minister Sir Robert Menzies said, "In terms of world well-being, Florey was the most important man ever born in Australia".

[@victoriaeads6126]

I lived in Russia for a few years back in the early 2000s. MULTIPLE times Russians asked me why America never returned Alaska after the lease expired. There was no lease, it was an outright sale. At the time it was called "Seward's Folly" because Alaska was thought to be empty of anything useful. Yeah, Russia regrets it. OTOH, what a nightmare international politics would have been (and would be again) if Russia had territory in North America 😳

[@シロダサンダー]

How did they react to learning that it was a sale?

[@argiberico]

@@シロダサンダー invading Georgia, Armenia, and Ukraine.

[@dmitryisakov8769]

I agree. It was a sale. What actually happened to the money is debatable, but it doesn't remove the fact of sale. Now, I also want to contribute a personal anecdote. I have lived abroad for a very long time and met a lot of Americans. But so far, none of them knew who Cassius Clay is. The story of Alaska sale is incomprehensible without him. But somehow, he is practically erased from history books. Are you aware of the guy? Muhammed Ali's name before converion to islam was Cassius Clay, but it was given to him in honor of that original Clay (just for your information)😉 Let me know if this information is of interest

[@philipliethen519]

@@dmitryisakov8769 How is the story of the sale of Alaska incomprehensible without what involvement of Cassius Clay? Thank you.

[@dmitryisakov8769]

​@@philipliethen519 I will try not to go down too far down the history ;) During the election campaign in 1860, Lincoln was relatively dismissive or even hostile towards Russia. When civil war broke down in 1861 it could have become a breaking point for him, because immediately Britain and France offered support to South (inclusive initiative in recognizing South as legitimate political entity in international affairs). However, Cassius Clay was USA ambassador in Sankt-Petersburg. It was under his initiative that direct communication (letter exchange) between Lincoln and Alexander was established. Letters are quite fascinating in themselves. Particularly important the letter from Alexander describing the proposal from Britain and France on recognizing South. Alexander told Lincoln that not only he rejected the proposal, but he also declared that if Britain and France intervene, Russia would declare war on them. Russian fleet in New York and San-Francisco at critical moment of the war in 1863 was part of the same effort from Cassius Clay (British historians in early 20th century re-wrote/ridiculed that event), including the emperors order to Russian admiral, that in the event of British or France attack he submit his fleet under command of Lincoln. Emancipation of serfs in Russia took place in 1861. While there were multiple abolitionists around Lincoln, he was refusing to make abolition of slavery as focus in the Civil War. It was Cassius Clay, that personally delivered the copy of Russian Emancipation Manifesto to Lincoln in 1862, and kind of shamed Lincoln into pivoting and declaring abolition of slavery in 1863. Collaboration between Lincoln and Russia continued throughout the war. Cassius Clay particularly pushed for a telegraph line project that would connect USA to Europe through Alaska and whole Russian territory. That project was championed by Wester Union. And it is in the reports from this project one can find that everyone (both Russians and Americans) knew well by 1865 that Alaska had deposits of gold. However, after the end of civil war and more importantly the assassination of Lincoln everything went downhill. Note that within the year of Lincoln assassination the first attempt on Alexander’s life took place. It took them 4 attempts to kill him. By them I mean British puppet masters - too much data points towards them. However, even after Lincoln assassination Clay tried to maintain the alliance and he was pushing to telegraph project. But in 1866 trans-Atlantic telegraph line was complete making the east route less attractive. Clay tried to save this project, he also tried to preserve the alliance with Russia. It was him who proposed the idea of Alaska sale and he was working on that project. But his plan was to make it a vehicle to preserve alliance. But Seward was in pro-British camp. On Russian side it is important to understand that Alaska was not formally Russian. It was actually part of Russian-American company - a private corporation that was actually causing a lot of trouble for the emperor. So he actually wanted to break it. And from his perspective he was killing 2 birds with one stone. But he underestimated the influence of corruption. Including the fact that his ambassador Stoeckl was compromised by the company. By the time of sale, Clay was removed from his position and was marginalized. And the whole Alaska deal was repackaged. So now we know it a Sewards folly. This is just a gist of it. I think enough for the KZbin post 😉)

[@et76039]

Two points. The sale price was $7.2 million. A co-worker was from Seward's family; it's generally pronounced soo-ard or soo-ward. The Russian Empire was overextended by its New World colonies; there was no good transportation route, by any combination, between those colonies and the main imperial population centers. As later demonstrated by the Russo-Japanese War, defending that territory from a hostile power would have been untenable. The colonies functioned to exploit local resources, with few permanent settlers relocating from elsewhere in the empire to live there. The modern analogy might be mining asteroids.

[@tomaskinoshta7589]

FYI: Alaska is a parasitic state. Every year the US government sends more money to Alaska than Alaska sends back to the USA.

[@VanAuld]

$7.2 million is correct.

[@Statalyzer]

Yeah, his name isn't Seaward, nor is the territory named Alaskerr.

[@dennisenright9347]

Ironically, long before the gold and oil were discovered, one of the first natural resources exploited in "Seward's Icebox" was ice. To be harvested and sent to cool the drinks in the saloons of San Francisco.

[@dereksollows9783]

That story about Dr Flemings' sufferings at the hand of big-medicine keeps repeating endlessly.

[@prayermanone]

About Antibiotics: Garlic and onions have a natural antibiotic called allyl sulfide, which is useful for bacterial infection, honey has antibiotic properties, and castor oil is very good at skin infections, burns, styies in the eyes, and earaches where castor oil drops cause the infection to drain down the throat in a few days. Pimples and skin itch can be helped to clear up with castor oil-soaked bandages. Camphorated oil is helpful on skin sores. I burned a fingertip and it got better in a few days soaking in a bottle of castor oil. Sugar was used in open wounds during the US Civil War and sped up wound healing. Many other such simple old-style remedies still have some value at this time when antibiotics have lost some of their usefulness.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

0:40 - Mid roll ads 2:10 - Chapter 1 - The killing of sparrows in china & the great famine 5:10 - Chapter 2 - Discovery of penicilin 8:50 - Chapter 3 - Constantinople's unlocked gate 12:55 - Chapter 4 - Russia sells alaska

[@Mike-kc5ew]

The selling of Alaska was a calculated decision of Russia at the time. Don't forget, history does not occur in a vacuum. Russia had just been to war with the UK, and the UK claimed a large portion of the Pacific Northwest in British Columbia, and the Yukon, which bordered Alaska. It wasn't too hard to predict that if Russia would be in another war with the UK, they may lose the Alaska territory and receive no financial compensation. So Russia determined how much they assumed the land to be worth (boy were they off), and sold it to anyone but Britain. The U.S. just happened to be in the right place at the right time for the sale to work out for their favor.

[@gideonmele1556]

And the Great Game was far more important than what was seen as a vast, sparely populated snowfield that had some good sealing. Offloading that flank to a neutral third party for a nice chunk of change seemed like a good play until the gold and oil discoveries which to be fair, Russia wasn’t in a position to capitalize on even if the kept it.

[@Sarindanvelor]

i mean tbf they were worried about the brits taking it so they sold it to people who had a pretty solid recent track record of beating the brits

[@justonecornetto80]

@@Sarindanvelor Solid track record? Are you forgetting the War of 1812 when the British threw the US out of Canada then marched into Washington and had a party in the White House before burning it down? By the end of the war, the US was practically bankrupt because of the British naval blockade. Track record indeed.

[@johnc2438]

@@justonecornetto80 But then there was that little coda in New Orleans, before word of the treaty signing had reached the battling belligerents in the Gulf of Mexico. The Duke of Wellington's son-in-law met his end at the hand of Old HIckory.

[@danfsteeple]

And it hurt the Native Alaskans

[@dino.niichan1991]

This video reminds me of the book "100 Mistakes that Changed History" by Bill Fawcett. It's a good read, and makes me think that history is not just about winners, but cataclysmic blunders.

[@GLASSB182]

I absolutely love the name of this video lol. Like Arthur C. Clarke once said, "A hundred mistakes would not matter, when a single success could change the destiny of the world." But in these cases, it did matter lmao.

[@aceundead4750]

Lol or you could view this video as "a hundred successes wont matter when a single mistake can change the destiny of the world."

[@Makem12]

So basically, #1 is don't go messing with an ecosystem until you have a very strong understanding of it and its relationships with plants and animals.

[@xlerb2286]

And even then go mighty slowly and with great caution. Maw nature loves to make fools of us meddling humans ;)

[@Makem12]

@@xlerb2286 good point

[@Docwilson91]

For those who didn’t do the math, Alaskan oil reserves are worth $275.2 billion according the data Simon provided.

[@ChicagoFaucet.etc.]

Great. That almost pays for Ukraine. 🙄

[@autobootpiloot]

@@ChicagoFaucet.etc.thankfully the more stable world economy pays for the aid to Ukraine more than ten times over. And the arms manufacturers flourish because of it. And it gives the us more international power that will pay for it. And that power will make the us sell even more arms to allies. Not helping Ukraine will be the end of the us being a superpower. Every single man outside of the us knows that. Sadly more and more people inside the us don’t have a clue of anything outside its borders. The ones that do support Ukraine.

[@andrewharper3165]

​@@autobootpilootaptly surmised Sir.

[@Docwilson91]

@@autobootpiloot the US supplying Ukraine allow the US to get rid of older stock and allows us to make new munitions. So it’s a win at least for arms manufacturers

[@autobootpiloot]

@@Docwilson91 even better, a lot of weapons given would have to be recycled in the US and is now given to Ukraine. They actually save money by giving it away, but on paper they write down the replacement as the amount of military aid given. That’s not fair and very misleading in my opinion. That isn’t the case with all weapons given obviously. Everything combined does cost a lot of money, but it’s worth it I think.

[@sparky7915]

While men were searching for gold they had to eat too. Apparently there were Chinese in Alaska preparing food for the men. According to my bathroom reader some men woke up a Chinese guy looking for food. In a hurry he gathered all kinds of leftovers and put it all together. The men loved it and asked him what it was. The Chinese said it was Chop Suey or junk food.

[@captainspaulding5963]

Chop suey is widely believed to have been developed in the U.S. by Chinese Americans, but the anthropologist E. N. Anderson, traces the dish to tsap seui (杂碎, "miscellaneous leftovers"), common in Taishan (Toisan), a county in Guangdong province, the home of many early Chinese immigrants to the United States

[@padawanmage71]

“Hey, that’s a cool looking horse!” King Priam of Troy

[@brianmarple9029]

Watching this while on the Alaskan north slope working in the oilfield made it all the better.

[@djsonicc]

"it isn't clear who left the gate unlocked..." Yeah I can't imagine too many people being eager to admit that kind of a blunder lol

[@joluoto]

Russia actually needed cash at the time, and just like the Americans called it Steward's Folly, St. Petersburg considered Alaska completely worthless. The money they got from the sale went right into much needed infrastructure projects.

[@yukonbikerguy]

Thanks for the video guys, always entertaining! The 1898 Klondike gold rush happened in Yukon Territory Canada. The people came through Skagway USA and over the White Pass into Canada to Dawson City Yukon. It wasn't part of Alaska and so that gold would not have belonged to Russia. The gold in Nome and the oil are real Alaskan treasures though, that would have been Russian.

[@tango_uniform]

My dad taught me about Chinese sparrows 60 years ago. Very interesting.

[@kidbluboo]

Holy crap Simon I've literally watched 5 new videos from you today spread across all your channels! Keep them coming!

[@Hillbilly001]

He's a Lizard Overlord. Allegedly.

[@stephd2607]

Only 5? Those are rookie numbers.

[@martinfitzsimons5884]

Its clear how well Keeps works. Simon’s beard is coming along nicely 😎👍

[@nanoglitch6693]

YO!!! As an Alaskan, massive kudos on pronouncing Kenai correctly! Non-locals pretty much ubiquitously *always* get it wrong with a baffling consistency lol. 😂

[@SenorGato237]

"Why did Constantinople get the works? An unlocked gate," just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

"Why did Constantinople get the works?" ...... "that's nobody's business but the Turks!" has a better "ring to it."

[@dmc009]

4:50 im not blaming simon or the channel. Im sure you did ample research for this video and thats what was listed. But i just love estimates like this. Between 15 and 55 million. Like, if one group said 15 and another said 55, id scrap the whole thing and start over. We gotta narrow the gap a pinch or the info is next to worthless.

[@lajoyalobos2009]

Aren't sparrows mostly insectivores? Whoever thought that was a good idea had no clue what they were doing. If anything, one would think having MORE sparrows would be a good thing.

[@giselematthews7949]

Ya, the government in China and Russia is still in the dark ages.

[@gideonmele1556]

Mao is as Mao does

[@swlak516]

Commies gonna Commie

[@southerndruid3391]

Sparrows are omnivores. Like most other finches, they are opportunists.

[@jonthinks6238]

Mao got almost everything wrong. 😅

[@seanwiley558]

Well, I guess I am now officially part of the Simon club. You mentioned your mega projects channel.... paused this video... searched, found, and subscribed. 😂

[@rabokarabekian409]

Edward Gibbon (1821). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, "History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind".

[@WaywardVet]

The Louisiana Purchase. Not only did France give away land they hadn't conqured, it pretty much set the stage for "It's ours on paper".

[@nyuuchan3563]

This is true. The fact that no other country disputed the purchase tho…

[@grizzlygrizzle]

The expansion of a primitive, tribal theocratic ideology beginning around 632 AD.

[@WaywardVet]

@@nyuuchan3563 And i will admit, i am a US Cavalry veterean. There were disputes. We still laugh about Custer. Tecumseh we revere. (I should clarify. Nations protested. My branch of the army behaved poorly)

[@SnowLeopard-lt1vf]

@@grizzlygrizzlesounds like your describing Christianity in the 11th-13th century more than 632.

[@ADobbin1]

It was french territory. The Spanish gave it away.

[@johnvaleanbaily246]

Yeah... about the Alaska purchase. You do realize that the Klondike gold rush happened in Canada, not Alaska. In fact the Klondike is region of the Yukon territory (as it was then), in north-western Canada... Always good to get your facts right.

[@sydhenderson6753]

I think Simon has a video on the Klondike and Alaska gold rushes. The Americans who went to the Klondike went through Alaska. The Nome gold rush was kind of a sequel and a lot easier to get to since it isn't hundreds of miles inland.

[@pmgn8444]

Very true. Fact Boi and some of his writers aren't really concerned about accuracy. US merchants in Seattle and in Skagway, Alaska Territory, made a fortune equipping people heading into Canada's Klondike.

[@baronvonjo1929]

​@@pmgn8444I'm sure they care. But with how many topics they cover and how many videos I don't particularly expect everything to be right but its still annoying.

[@et76039]

Wikipedia points to the Klondike Gold Rush as a factor in populating Alaska. Although the Klondike is indeed in Canada, access was through Alaska, so Simon doesn't lose points on that. Both trails that were used to get to the Klondike originated in Alaska. It took the AlCan Highway to get a major road to tie the Yukon to the rest of Canada, several decades later.

[@conradbo1]

The historical blunder you made Simon was to put keeps on your chin instead of your head. But still I must admit that your look works very well

[@mathiassommer1851]

Man I really like that almost everyday when I go to bed there is a new video. Thank you!

[@treydezellem27]

Selling Alaska was not a blunder, it was a necessity to survive as a state. It was completely worthless to the Russians therefore just because it’s been discovered for its resources now doesn’t mean it was a blunder.

[@guru47pi]

Exactly. Think of it this way: Russia already has 5-6 Alaskas that they can actually defend; they're called Siberia. Siberia is loaded with gold, oil, titanium, diamonds, etc. It's just extremely poor bc all the money goes to the czar, the Party, or oligarchs, depending on the century. Put another way, this is like saying France should never have sold Louisiana to the US. They had only gotten back from Spain a few years before the sale, and had no ability to defend it. Selling both to the US were basically the countries getting paid to acknowledge the reality that they couldn't develop or defend the regions

[@karandavis5197]

If you used Keeps on your beard, I can say it did a great job!

[@Gator198l]

"History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men." Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult.

[@DenethorDurrandir]

I feel sympathetic to Constantinopole, can't even count how many times my teammates in Rust left the doors open, leaving us vulnerable to a raid.

[@Hanoverfiste86]

Quote “History is a pack of fables that is agreed upon.”Napoleon Bonaparte 🇫🇷

[@SquallLeonhartlo]

As for Alaska, Russia felt it was in a situation where it either had to sell Alaska or someone would take it by force. Defending it, establishing the infrastructure necessary to profit from it, and sending people there to work the land were all going to be too expensive and difficult for the Russians to be seen as worthwhile. The Russians and Americans had a survey of Alaska done before the sale, and it was known that there was a lot of mineral wealth there. The Russians just weren't going to be in a position to exploit it before someone took it from them. It's comparable to if America were to sell the moon to aliens, because the aliens might take it anyway and America couldn't really exploit it effectively.

[@patrickbo2045]

Elephants, you say? Check out the naked mole rat, that's a freak of nature that pretty much deserves its own video

[@stevenvanhulle7242]

Another factor in the Great Chinese Famine was the "brilliant" idea that steel production should have priority over agriculture. People moved from agriculture to produce (poor quality) steel in backyard furnaces, diminishing crops even further.

[@kevoseddo4064]

Will you make a video about historic retail companies? For example, sears used to be huge and sell full home building kits. I wonder if there are even older companies that had a massive inventory

[@amaccama3267]

Congratulations on 1M

[@-Angelscor-]

A little correction and humble info contribution, Mehmed II's army during the siege of Constantinople was approximately more than 100,000 men, not 60,000. The enormous giant cannons the turks had were forged by Hungarian engineer Orban who defected to the ottoman empire as a resentful Christian.

[@tomriley5790]

Resentful because the byzantines wouldn't pay what he wanted they didn't have the cash. He blew himself up with one of his guns during the siege.

[@whyjnot420]

2200 year old Roman Empire. 753 BC (traditional date of the founding of Rome) - 1453 CE (fall of Constantinople)

[@FlorinSutu]

George Pomuț, a Romanian-born American general participating in the Civil War, then sent by the U.S. as ambassador to the Russian Empire, was the one negotiating in Moscow, on behalf of the American government, the purchase of Alaska.

[@extropian314]

Re Alaska: Executing the best decision at the time can never turn out to be termed a _mistake_ but rather an _error_ . Important distinction.

[@beerasaurus]

Mao was the most powerful fool ever

[@jonthinks6238]

He sets the deplorable record for killing the most people. Yes and china is still communist.

[@grizzlygrizzle]

Biden: "Hold my beer."

[@DubhghlasMacDubhghlas]

@@grizzlygrizzle I don't like Biden but to think he is worse than Mao shows how uneducated you are.

[@112313]

​@@DubhghlasMacDubhghlasgive joe some time...and he will kill millions through nothing but gaffe.

[@DavidMcdonald-df8tb]

The more I hear about that guy Mao the more I think he was a real jerk.

[@StephenJohnson-jb7xe]

If you are alarmed by how Simon pronounced Seeward you should hear how he pronounces quarter horse.

[@wailingalen]

Mao's "Great Leap into Famine and Death"

[@tritium1998]

He gained more food and lives than ever after the Great Leap Forward instead of collapsing into civil war and assassination like other glorified regimes.

[@LiveFreeOrDie2A]

Mao should be remembered as more evil and destructive to humanity than Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot combined.

[@paulbennett772]

The sight of Simon promoting an alleged hair tonic on a vid about historical blunders is beyond parody.

[@DavidWRankinJr]

The US was the enemy of my enemy for Russia. The British had local troops in Canada, and a history of fighting wars for territory. Alaska was at the very far end of a supply train for Russia at the very time when it couldn’t afford to maintain it. The British tried to take Crimea and almost fought the US for Oregon and Vancouver several times, why wouldn’t Alexander think Britain would use any excuse to take Alaska from him. The Yukon Gold Rush would have provided that excuse if nothing else. To use the old expression, Alexander cut his losses. Yes, Alaska was worth more than he got, but he was better off with it in US hands than British hands.

[@tomriley5790]

Yep I'm pretty sure he was hoping it would lead to a war between Britian and the US if he got lucky...

[@briansimon4363]

Only in a story about Penicillin could there be a poster ‘curing gonorrhoea in 4 hours’ and a scientist called V. D. Allison. Is my mind twisted and dark?!🤣

[@clintonpangburn3698]

It's the blunders rather than the success that keeps us coming back Simon!

[@JamesOfEarth]

Seaward

[@samuelgarrod8327]

Successful missions aren't interesting. Hence all the films about the Vietnam war.

[@fatmanjones5359]

Had to watch Cleetus,That Chapter then your video. Top 3 is pretty good but you hold 3 of my top 10 favorite videos to watch.

[@RedBeardTheFirst]

When you say Cleetus do you mean the Resurrection of the Fiero?

[@andrewharvey3282]

People don't give us enough credit for all the intelligent maneuvers we made over the years as a country. Our people and our leaders really had a sense that they were part of a process, and it was largely a democratic one. When people mocked at Trump wanting to buy Greenland, it was another sad reminder of how civic society has declined.

[@kj55]

Can you imagine how different the cold war would have played out if Russia still had Alaska

[@landtuna3469]

....or northern California?

[@danfsteeple]

The White Army probably would have fled to Alaska

[@acerimmer8338]

Yeah, it would've been even colder. Gets pretty chilly up in Alaska.

[@MattValtezzy95]

I saw the Great Chinese Famine was the first thing you were bringing up and took a swig of my cocktail

[@mikesturyan9]

Pretty sure it was the cannons knocking down the walls that let the Ottomans in.

[@philiphumphrey1548]

I would say Boudicca's decision to fight a pitched battle with the Romans at Watling Street (ignoring all the hard learned lessons and experience of the previous 17 years) was a monumental blunder that had long term effects. But for that England might never have been Romanized and history could have been very different.

[@tomriley5790]

Reality is Britain was never really romanised, we were always an uncivilised barbarian frontier that cost more to keep than was gained, that's why the Romans withdrew (as well as all those troops required to keep Britain under control led to an uncomfortably large force that every hundred years or so would give the commander the idea of setting off to try and conquer rome themselves).

[@Nefville]

One of the best books I ever owned was 'History's Greatest Failures' and the person responsible for the most failures was Winston Churchill. Yeah, he had a rough patch at the start there...

[@Jakey4000]

At least at my pharmacy we don't care if you're looking for any product for a reason, we just want to make sure you're getting the best option available, or advice if the only option is to get a prescription

[@demon.shisui494]

Damn Simon ngl been watching you since I was but a wee lad and it’s great to see you still doing interesting videos and showing more of your personality. Been loving you’re stuff since the good ole Top 10 channel videos. Found you originally for historical videos and stayed for the extra random facts🤣😂

[@scottmeredith3359]

The only videos of his I’ve seen (a LOT) all date back to 2020 at the oldest. He has videos much older than that??

[@thomasjones4570]

A blunder requires real time carelessness. Not carelessness long after the fact. Thus, Russia selling Alaska was not a blunder. It actually made perfect sense not only at the time, but also the near future. In fact, even after the mini-gold rush, Alaska still would have been un-defendable by Russia and America was...itching to take it. The risk for Russia was still too great as it not only meant an issue with a future war with Britain, it also meant holding land that could cause a conflict with America as well.

[@baneofbanes]

Thing is even for the time the sale of Alaska was extremely cheap. They very likely could’ve charged more for the territory and America still would’ve paid it.

[@thomasjones4570]

@@baneofbanes Still does not fit the criteria for a blunder as a things value is relative. At the time the land held little value for Russia as they could not defend it and the little they could gleam from the land did not add any value to Russia or its economy coupled with the fact that anything they wanted to do with it came with a higher cost of transport over such a vast distance. To this day the land itself has little value and that is why its population is under 1 million despite its size.

[@gideonmele1556]

@@baneofbanesthe concern was the US rejecting the proposal and the Brits just taking it. So either get cash or lose it anyway. If they knew oil and gold were there, that would be even more incentive for Britain to strike at that mostly undefended vast tract of snow. Giving the Brits ports so close to the Russian Pacific would have been even worse

[@PrezVeto]

That's just one conception of blunder.

[@thomasjones4570]

@@PrezVeto No. Its the literal definition of the word blunder. Most people are total morons and use words without knowing what the fuck they actually mean. Like "I could care less" like total twats not realizing they are saying they care and that it is possible for them to care less about it.

[@rwarren58]

Thank you. As of this moment, no elephant should be safe.

[@obijoel4209]

Hey Simon...would be nice to see a video on the positive side of this - where we learn about historical "mistakes" that actually lead to wonderful, life-saving inventions or medicines. The discovery of penicillin was good in this video but I'd like to know more.

[@saiynoq6745]

5:11 my wife had a C section an they stuffed her with a gel that had sliver in it to help with healing on a number of levels an I can see why sliver was so important way back I’m sure they could see back then how it help

[@starkiller578]

HOW MANY KZbin CHANNELS DOES THIS MAN HOST?!??😭💀

[@theangryotaku3361]

yes

[@The_Butler_Did_It]

Can't help thinking the sponsor of this video might have made a tiny blunder: Use Keeps and you too could have a full head of hair, just like I haven't

[@ToffeesTravels]

It wasn't Fleming, but a lab assistant. Fleming wasn't even interested initially. It was the persistence of the lab assistant, but Fleming took the credit.

[@peterdollins3610]

The crusade fro m Venice a rival of 'the City' inspired by Pope Innocent to Jerusalum stopped at Constatinoble & sacked the City in 1204? so weakening the Empire. This led to the weakness and to the end of Constantinoble. Those fleeing 'the City' took knowledge to Italy so sparking the Renaissance.

[@Laszlo34]

I love the ad for Keeps as read by the poster child for...Losts ;P

[@BLOXKAFELLARECORDS]

👏🏽 good show.

[@grantadam7674]

Cane toads in Australia, a massive blunder and what about the Aleutian islands. Was this part of the Alaska purchase.

[@Damozz-sl9mv]

I replayed the sponsor announcement. It was that good.

[@julianaylor4351]

Look it another way, if we were as clever as we think we are, there would be no horrible or amazingly lucky incidents, like these events in history.

[@grizzlygrizzle]

Intellectual arrogance is almost always involved when there's a catastrophe in modern times.

[@jmanj3917]

0:01 ...Oh, jeez!! Where to begin? *SO* many choices... 🤣

[@herlenepreval3142]

Your beard is looking very luscious, Simon. Well groomed.

[@KoRntech]

13:20 that's Okay we defeated the Eastern Alliance in RobotJox for Alaska a long time ago.

[@aguynamednathan]

Getting here this early is one of the GREATEST accomplishments of my life!

[@Jizzlewobbwtfcus]

bingeing on your videos :D

[@Gungnirs_revenge]

Love the fact keeps has literally made the link Simons name

[@billness2635]

Couple of corrections to the Alaska story. First one is the purchase price was $7.2 million dollars, not $17 million. Second point is the pronunciation of Seward. It’s not “Sea Ward” it’s “Soo Ward.”

[@judyd1]

That accent is disconcerting...my closed captioning shows he actually said seven point two million.

[@johnransom1146]

Dawson city isn’t in Alaska. It’s in the Yukon Territory, Canada?

[@jasondarland2383]

After starving through a few months of siege for an emperor who probably treats me like shit anyway, can bet your ass id sneak through that gate for a late night smoke and just forget to close it on the way back.

[@Davy_Blaze]

Well if the attacking force new about your colaboration, sure. Otherwise by opening gates you would be killed as a regular enemy soldier.

[@slumpmachinegaming]

Factboi may be bald...but thats because all of the facts in his head have replaced his hair. A worthy trade in my oppinion.

[@thespicemelange.1]

God damn Simon how many side projects you got? Are you going for the Guinness book of world records on how many channels you can be on? Do you even sleep? Do you go from one tangent to the next bleeding into another video?

[@scottjackson1420]

Biggest mistake? Dating the hot redhead for 2 1/2 years as an undergrad. My God, were there bad long-term repercussions from THAT!

[@Jameson1776]

Do tell?

[@gideonmele1556]

Ayyyyyyyy We all have at least one

[@grizzlygrizzle]

Choosing a wife because she's good in bed is up there, too.

[@tomriley5790]

I'd love to hear the rest of this story but it doesn't sound like it was entirely without its compensations :-)!

[@MikeBaxterABC]

6:48 Of the elephants that die one in twenty die of cancer ... that still substantial

[@Crioten]

The starfishes, really, really love you ;]

[@drake6sermos665]

Sweet Drop, Simon

[@BellumW]

I lived in Dawson city Yukon Canada still looks the same as the gold rush!!

[@jensphiliphohmann1876]

12:45 Actually, the Turks called the city Konstantiniye. The name Istanbul which was increasingly adopted until it became the official name of the capital in the 19th century and was eventually confirmed as such in 1930 to make it sound more Turkish is of Greek origin. It derives from "eis tin polin" ("into the city").

[@Qolos]

Now we know why Constantinople got the works.

[@johncentamore1052]

That's nobody's business but the Turks

[@seandelap8587]

Where do you even start with all this

[@arioch2112]

Wow, Simon! Please check the volume of your outro music, seems much hotter here. Former Sonar Tech and audio engineer, made me wince. Keep up the excellent programming!