Russia's Road of Bones: The Eastern Highway That's Literally Built on Corpses

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[@megaprojects9649]

Check out Squarespace: squarespace.com/megaprojects for 10% off on your first purchase.

[@saileshmehta606]

How about the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers?

[@blackbuttecruizr]

Super sad... Should be a stark reminder to everyone that one party rule always results in corruption and subjugation of those who would disagree.

[@alexsilent5603]

Another russophobic BS...

[@JerzeyBoy]

The Eurostar tunnel under the English channel?

[@TheLoxxxton]

I think a look at youtube gold Bald and bankrupt would be good

[@pierrepence9876]

The young man who froze to death was not on a motorcycle, according to the stories I read. He and his buddy were in a passenger car. They tried to shorten their journey by taking a disused section of the road. The road became impassible for their small sedan, and they were SOL. The puzzling thing is they were native Russians, but they brought no winter clothes or other survival provisions. They tried to burn the car tires for warmth, but to no avail. It was no competition for the subarctic chill. One man died. The other underwent limb amputations from frostbite. Local residents remarked that few single cars attempt the Kolyma road in winter. Motorists caravan in two or more cars in case of a breakdown.

[@ArthurCunnington_singer]

I want to see all of Simon's personalities in the same room having a dinner party.

[@ArthurCunnington_singer]

Or on a building site doing a mega project...

[@badluck5647]

That would require Simon to acknowledge that he has at least 12 Whistler clones.

[@jblob5764]

Lol itd be like Madea with more interesting dialogue

[@robertvertacnik9989]

Simon sure seems like a great bunch of guys.

[@atheistonavmax7873]

A modern alice in wonderland tea party! Lol

[@TheQuickSilver101]

It's absolutely mind boggling to think about how much misery and suffering Stalin caused. The Russian effort to paint him as a hero is nothing shy of criminal.

[@timosieverding5100]

As a russian I must say I've never heard anyone paint stalin as a good person except for old people, and they too usually dont say he was a good guy but kind of try to day that stalin didnt know about most of the killings. Which is ofc bs. But yea as a russian it's actually quite uncommon for people here to see stalin as a national hero rather than a maniac. It is true however that it is said that he lead the soviet union through the war, but that's about it Ps sorry for my bad English ts not my native language hehe

[@mihan2d]

And where TF did you hear of Russian effort to paint him as a hero, in your head? Stop talking about things you have no idea about.

[@kettelbe]

@@mihan2d putin never stops talking of the Glory of CCCP lol are you crazy

[@willambonney]

@@kettelbe he's a creature of that old system. A system that failed miserably, the gulags mass executions of men women and children unfortunate enough to be labeled dissidents by a state that spread fear reprisals. Stalin was a fuckin monster plain and simple.

[@charlesbrown4483]

@@timosieverding5100 I find that hard to believe when idolizations of Stalin are still found all over modern Russia. Not to mention the fact that his literal body was put on display for years lol, not exactly something you do for someone the people didn’t idolize…

[@WasabiSniffer]

Tragic and depressing as it is, things like this need to be remembered

[@Derivedwhale45]

Nah it should be forgotten & ignore at all to forget the past & move on towards the future like a normal person with a brain

[@justanotherafol9723]

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”

[@timshulepov]

Thank you for bringing light to these pages of Russia's history, especially nowadays when the government wants them forgotten.

[@monarchco]

Especially nowadays when american liberals want them forgotten too.

[@guillermoelnino]

id be surprised if there are any records of this existing 50 years from now.

[@radicalgale]

What do you mean by "the government wants them forgotten"? What government? The Russian one? There are literally museums dedicated to the road - no one tries to hide its story. Elaborating further, it is actually pretty convenient for the Russian government. TV shows used it as an example of how horrible the soviet regime really was. The Russian government *NEEDS* stories like this to stop communist movements and remind people how bad it was back then. Your comment is a bunch of nonsense.

[@JesseG085]

@@radicalgale I thought the OP was referring to the American government.

[@monarchco]

@@JesseG085 basically the rest of the world understands that communism sucks. Especially the Russians. Especially the Cubans. Especially the Venezuelans. Especially the citizens of Hong Kong. Meanwhile American lefties love communism. And it's not like they're ignorant. Bernie spent a lot of time in soviet Russia.

[@oqsy]

I’m glad Simon continues to create content on the horrors of Soviet rule.

[@fubarexress6359]

Yes people like to forget.

[@mattpeacock5208]

@@fubarexress6359 they forget how much the American Left was Pro-Soviet! Just as they are pro-big US Government.

[@nathanj3114]

I hope Simon continues to create content on the horrors of every countries rule. nothing should be left from the table.

[@garretth8224]

@@mattpeacock5208 Anyone that protested or were in unions would be labelled as commie sympathizers.The numbers of true communists were much lower than the Red Scare made people believe. You don't know sqaut about the Red Scare, get educated before you say that most of the left was Pro Soviet. Its false, anyone that was seen as a threat to the gov would just be slandered and labelled as communists. Congrats government propaganda that is 50-100 years old has worked on you.

[@currentbatches6205]

@@garretth8224 How's it feel to be an apologist for one of the most murderous regime the world's ever seen? Proud of yourself? Want education? Check out that NYT reporter Duranty.

[@asemi4]

My grandmother's parents were exiled to siberia just for being Cossacks in the 20s or 30s. She was later born there. They all survived, but not all in one piece.

[@davidarundel6187]

Your family, are fortunate, in being able to survive a stint in Siberia, just for being Cossacks.

[@LoLMasterManiac]

My grandparents too were sent to Gulag in Siberia, for being Chechens. Many of their relatives died there, but they themselves survived.

[@RobertFletcherOBE]

A co-worker of mine has a similar story, his relatives were imprisoned for coming back from the US rich and buying land. They were put to work as slaves on their own fruit farm, and forced to wear metal masks so they couldn't eat the fruit they harvested.

[@TheDaltonius]

;-;

[@user-bd1si1ru3x]

​@@LoLMasterManiac for being chechens of for being kidnappers, drug dealers and brigands? There were no criminal code article in damn USSR that was justifying an imprisonment for belonging to a nation, ethnicity or cultural group. And if they were convicted biasedly, tell us the story of your chechen ancestors Konrad von Hötzendorf (weird name for a chechen). Tell us their names, ask russian government to give you their personal files (you can actually request them from FSB if you are able to prove that you are a relative, even a grand-son). Share that, show the world the truth of chauvinistic USSR that imprisoned people just for belonging to a wrong title.

[@CChissel]

Recently reread the Gulag Arcgipelago. The horrors people were put through, constant fear and suffering, I cannot imagine what it must have been like for them, and I hope it’s never repeated.

[@saamohod]

Russia itself is not a country strictly speaking. It has always been a torture device where sadists rule the mechanism.

[@worldoftancraft]

you cannot imagine what it must have been like for them? Well, your Writer, got cured of cancer in a hospital near the camp. And for free. What I can say? Awful sovIEt regime punished Him and the Humankind once again... by curing this Creator, so he could live and write the fairy tales for overgrown children.

[@jaypeedesuyo662]

@@saamohod Typical Russophobe ignorance right there.

[@mbathroom1]

in most countries your body walks on the road in soviet russia, the road walks on your body

[@cookiecola5852]

In Russia, road is on your body*

[@xyzpdq1122]

Bravo!

[@DefinitelyNotEmma]

I knew I would see a comment like this at least 10 times I'm not disappointed xD

[@mbathroom1]

@@worldoftancraft what

[@Aramis419]

How do you complete a difficult project? Just throw death and human suffering at it until it's done!

[@LysanderSpooner-zl5vm]

Totally on point... sadly.

[@1714h]

Cant say the Great Wall of China isn’t part of this... quite a lot of people died building that.

[@garyhouston113]

Stalins goal was to modernize Russia at any cost.A lot of people really liked Stalin in spite of it all because he did raise living standards for many.Never understood why he didnt get a bullet from someone.

[@_rk553]

@@garyhouston113 he brought Russia from the 1870s to the 1930s in 5 years, and that saved Russia when the Germans invaded.

[@imafuturecorpse2443]

Like the Panama Canal

[@nathanj3114]

Thank you for the video. These stories need to be told until the end of time. Those who forget there history are destined to repeat it.

[@user-bd1si1ru3x]

Stories. Told. Reading archives, studying materials, wade through the heaps of old reports and millions of personal files and investigation documents is cringe. Telling stories is bro. Stories > History. Sad af

[@JohnDoe-pv2iu]

Unfortunately, people are probably destined to repeat it. They'll just try to do a better job of hiding it...

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:05 - Chapter 1 - R504 Kolyma highway 2:05 - Chapter 2 - A wild road 3:10 - Chapter 3 - The gulags 5:20 - Mid roll ads 6:45 - Chapter 4 - The road of bones 10:30 - Chapter 5 - Today on the road of bones 12:30 - Chapter 6 - The "other road of bones" 13:35 - Chapter 7 - A road of tragedy

[@xyzpdq1122]

I’d like a video on the eastward relocation of Soviet heavy industry during WW2 in order to keep pumping out tanks during Nazi occupation of the western portion. Perhaps a side project?

[@maartentakens8721]

I hear Simon say " not exactly places people go for a holiday" as i think of my winter vacation in 2013 that i did a road trip here from Yakutsk to Magadan via Oymyakon then as i watch further i see one of my pics from that same vacation appear at 10:52 , i am honoured that it was used for this video ! in Magadan we visited a museum that covered the build of the kolyma Highway, forced labour was mentioned and photos of the gulags where on display but during the tour the lady did not give any numbers of people that died here but she claimed that the numbers are far far less than what we read about this on "non official media''. and indeed Stalin was not mentioned here as a criminal but simply that the road had to be constructed and he was the person who achieved it as if he did a really great job.

[@christianmorales8978]

The 6-9 million estimate is wildly inaccurate and from Wikipedia. That doesn’t account for projects like this, various famines, executions outside of the great purge, the sheer extent of some famines, and the true number killed in gulags. Their estimates for gulag numbers were based on Soviet archives of which a large portion is still classified and record keeping was always bad. A more likely estimate would be 10-20 million according to most reliable sources.

[@ultrasuperkiller]

Communism is good, therefore there were no deaths, i vote for Bernie

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Wikipedia is very sympathetic to Marxism and the horrors derived from it. This channel is rightly anti-nazi, but rather muted regarding the horrors of its main rival: International Socialism, typified by Stalin, Mao and the Kims, among others.

[@NJ-wb1cz]

@@ultrasuperkiller people in US currently live worse and shorter lives compared to countries like Sweden or Switzerland, spending much more on healthcare while getting worse results, and it's their healthcare policies that Bernie wants to bring to US

[@Wadzillia]

@@NJ-wb1cz Considering Sweden only has population around 10 million compared to America's 328 million. It would be idiotic to think their life expectancy wouldn't go down significantly, if Sweden's population was multiplied by 30.

[@NJ-wb1cz]

@@Wadzillia that's not how life expectancy calculations work, but if you want to cherrypick to feel better you can break US into states and compare life expectancy per state. West Virginia for example is only slightly worse than Bulgaria - one of the most corrupt and backwards European countries, and even slightly better than Ukraine. I'm sure it's very flattering for US state to slightly outperform a shithole country with a literal war going on with average salaries less than 500$

[@JNSquire]

Hey Simon, please talk about the Fort Boyard, it was a real challenge to build it on a reef at the time, and the history of its rediscovery and use as a TV show set is very original.

[@beaterbikechannel2538]

And melinda messenger!

[@bugler75]

@@beaterbikechannel2538 Fort Boyooooinngggg! 😁

[@beaterbikechannel2538]

@@bugler75 nineties guys know this!

[@bugler75]

@@beaterbikechannel2538 😂😁

[@JNSquire]

@@beaterbikechannel2538 It was also used for a very popular French movie (The Last Adventure) and an episode of a tresor hunting TV show before the fort-island was bought from a Belgian dentist that was just using it for camping there with his family every summer (his poor teenage children weren't overjoyed by this 😅).

[@alexius23]

The Czarist state had Siberian prisons. They also had cities were people were sentenced to live in exile. The Imperial prisons were never as harsh or cruel as the Stalinistic camps. In fact many who sentenced to the “prison” cities had fond memories of their internal exiles. The Communists made sure that there would be no pleasant memories.

[@Mcbignuts]

Most imperials were decent ppl, the commies were rats

[@GamersToTheMax2]

Its really awkward going from a Business Blaze video to Megaprojects because you become so serious all of a sudden

[@ilajoie3]

I went from Business Blaze to the Tenerife disaster one on Geographics, think about the change in tone with that one

[@badcampa2641]

Simons a good kid tho

[@matthewjones8798]

@@ilajoie3 ya see, I did it the other way. Came from tifo to BB. What a change 😧

[@joycejames8461]

When you're working your way through Simon's daily uploads always leave Business Blaze to last.

[@asb2106]

@@joycejames8461 Thats how it started for me, now I just dont even bother. I love all his content but business blaze I had to tune out. outside of that I rarely miss an upload. Great stuff!

[@Bdude1111]

How about the Suez Canal? It's been in the news lately and I think it's so facinating seeing the narrow strip of water flowing through the desert

[@Laura-S196]

He did a video on the Suez Canal on his Geographics channel

[@vladimirdyuzhev]

@@Laura-S196 Right. "The Canal of Bones" ;)

[@theepashmani6474]

@@Laura-S196 but suez canal is not called canal of bones or anything like that. I not saying covering these topic is bad or somehing, i am just pointing out the bias how he covers different stories.

[@Markle2k]

-40 C (-42 F) If there is one bit of trivia that everyone should know about Celsius/Fahrenheit, it is that they cross at -40

[@Lyle-xc9pg]

"So how are you going to build that road" "WE are going to build that road!"

[@FreshwaterNautical]

Simon, do the Mackinac Bridge! 5th longest suspension bridge in the world, and longest in the western hemisphere.

[@teddy.d174]

Maybe he could even talk about the time a B-52 pilot flew his aircraft UNDER the bridge...(yes he was grounded).

[@elwingrunder4436]

@@teddy.d174 wait what?

[@andrewwebb604]

Being from Michigan, I second that.

[@matthewjones8798]

@@andrewwebb604 as well.

[@FreshwaterNautical]

@@andrewwebb604 yea I’m from the Upper Peninsula and I cross the Mighty Mac probably 4-5 times a year

[@keithpennock]

Simon, Kolyma is also the name of a Soviet goldmine/death camp whose name, my Russian language teacher (a Russian native) told me, is synonymous with death in the way that we associate Auschwitz with death. Those sent to Kolyma were intentionally worked to death on starving rations the Soviets knew would not sustain them. They were literally worked to death. Never forget the NKVD (the predecessor to the KGB) taught the SS everything they knew from the Holodomor.

[@avengerXable]

thanks simon and his team for not only making videos on planes and tanks but also on this kind of stuff even if it might not get so many views! you're awesome!!

[@Concetta20]

The crying pilot’s face in that clip broke my heart.

[@IldarIsm]

It is so cute to cry when you do not the story, but i think the story is horrable this time.

[@bele2.041]

This should be mandatory viewing for high school students.

[@blairmarshall544]

And what about the genocide that is actually happening now? Can’t priorities the dead over the living

[@richardvickers8117]

Those who control the present control the past. Those who control the past, control the future. - E. Blair The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn should be required reading in all high schools. Never will be because it casts socialism in a bad light. As does the Nazis, the communist Chinese, the Venezuelan government, etc, etc.

[@jidk6565]

What about all the failed capitalist democracies? Fuck guys do you even know what socialism Is outside of "propaganda told me it was bad" Do you even know the difference between socialism and communism?

[@bele2.041]

@@jidk6565 Lenin said the ultimate goal of Socialism is Communism.

[@p_serdiuk]

@@jidk6565 The death toll of communism is the greatest in human history.

[@graemebell8391]

Great video brings back so many memories of 2018 expedition trip from Yakutsk to Magadan,but due to weather,extremes, mechanical failures,had to return,felt like Scott's expedition to the pole fully unprepared for harshness of nature

[@mrivantchernegovski3869]

My great Grandfather said in WW2 they would use frozen bodies to fill up the holes on the runways after the germans had bombed it as there were bodies everywhere, and it's very hard to dig through the permafrost to ground that's not frozen solid

[@fabiorabelo3506]

What about a video about the Brazilian "Transamazonica" , the road build over the trees .. in some segments literally ...

[@droopmasterflex2822]

Almost reminds me how I played command and conquer just spam so much infantry that they clog up the enemy tank treads. Sometimes quantity is a quality of itself as someone once said.

[@ddark0077]

I hope you read this mate you work harder than any other presenter i can ever think of on any tv channel. Your stuff is better than anything i have seen on any discovery channel. Thank you for your efforts man.

[@austin5046]

This fellas work ethic is admirable! So much content! Clean voice and look, hope the best for all these channels.

[@flioink]

"Built on pain and misery" Hey, that's the entire Russian history summarized. They should adopt that as their motto.

[@tomvandijk9706]

Simon, do the Noord/Zuid-Lijn in Amsterdam. It’s a subway line which construction took longer than the construction of the Great Wall of China

[@Chris.Pontius]

It really isn't interesting enough.

[@userequaltoNull]

The Great Wall took place over hundreds, if not thousands of years. Are you talking about the "big main" sections?

[@tomvandijk9706]

@@userequaltoNull I don’t know, I read it somewhere and took it for fact. Wasn’t the best thing to do

[@BAbbett]

Simon I love all the channels...you crack me up especially on the casual criminalist channel! Keep the content coming!

[@TwentyNinerR]

The mention of Magadan reminds me of Long Way Round

[@RichO1701e]

yep, one of my favourite TV docu-series ever

[@igorbispo7775]

Simon really trying to salvage that Five Years Plan video =D

[@megaprojects9649]

Haha, I like that video :D

[@andrewdurand339]

I liked that video.

[@oukie666]

The Beast from the East, Mitsubishi Delica spotted at 1:31 you'll be needing a car like that out there.

[@rajugentes5605]

As usual, very informative...

[@stephenlane9168]

Another great one Simon & team 👌🙏

[@purebloodstevetungate5418]

The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation by Russian writer and dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn should be required reading.

[@jeffreypierson2064]

I read "Dune" in a few days. "The Gulag Archipelago" took me weeks. It is dense and depressing.

[@HauntedXXXPancake]

There's a full audio-book version here on youtube. It's incredibly well written and never gets "boring". In a very Russian way, it's actually quite funny in places. However, listening through all roughly 80 hours of the 7 parts makes you feel you've been through something as well :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZSkhKagnc2ahpo&ab_channel=how2findtruth (Part 2 is missing from this playlist, but you can find it on the channel)

[@tony_5156]

A brutal book A fair warning to anyone who wants to read I, including myself: it’s incredibly dark book, it’s not for the lighthearted or those with a history or mental illness

[@tony_5156]

@@jeffreypierson2064 soul sucking

[@animal16365]

Do a video of the final completion of Interstate 70 through the Glenwood canyon

[@KontrimasM]

In Lithuania we have a project which is called "Misija Sibiras" ( Siberia Mission ), the goal of it is to go to those gulags graveyards and fix those were they can find graveyards of Lithuanian people. They been doing that for the past 15 years and unfortunately they will stop now, because Russia for the past few years did not grant visas for them to go to Siberia. (they gave no explanation why visas were denied) So yea, Russian government is not fully acknowledging it, but rather making it more difficult to show younger generation how it looked like over there.

[@thanatosst]

Suggestion for a future video: the H3 Highway on Oahu, Hawaii. It has everything a good megaprojects video needs: massive cost overruns (17x the quoted price!), legal battles, the Cold War, and the US military, and took ~30 years to complete.

[@jbrisby]

If Russians thought like Americans, they'd open a chain of rib joints along the road, and sell T-shirts that say "I had ribs on the Road of Bones!"

[@timothycook2917]

"Hi, RAA?" Yes? "Hi, can you send somebody out to me with a new tire?" Certainly. What's your location? "Ummm, on the R504, approximately 1,436 kilometers west of town"

[@acchaladka]

“In Canada or Russia or Australia?”

[@pink_alligator]

>"Eeeh, Siberia?" > hangs up

[@JudeNance]

Thank you for your interesting things.

[@ArcAudios77]

Dark but interesting... Education you are thanked for. 'Best Wishes' are sent Simon.

[@davidarundel6187]

Thankyou, Team, for bringing this to light. Remind me to memorialise the road, due to the numbers of dead, beneath its surface. Parts of it, appear neglected & as mentioned, potentialy unsafe. May the souls of those who are within the road od bones, have found Peace, long ago. 🙏

[@bjkarana]

Stephen King: "and for my next project, I'll be working on a novel called Bag of Bones." Russia: "bro, we already built that road."

[@beachboy0505]

Good video, I am astonished how you get all this information

[@joeyr7294]

Just finished rewatching Mt. Tambora waiting for today's Simon fix....and here it is. Thanks Simon and Co. for all your hard work and awesome content! 🍻

[@jenniferconners6921]

Question - If the bodies were buried where there is permafrost, does that mean they won't decompose, and remain intact similar to Ice Mummies?

[@joangordoneieio]

"Svalbard in Norway can't handle dead bodies - because of the permafrost. ... "The corpses won't decompose, so they have to be shipped back to the mainland for burial."May 14, 2018"

[@baltasarnoreno5973]

Probably. A bit like Otzi, the prehistoric hunter that was frozen in a glacier in tje Alps. From time to time archaeologists find woolly mammoths that died natural deaths and were frozen. Mammoths became extinct thousands of years ago.

[@mrvn000]

Yes. In Russia there are graves of Germán soldiers still intact. They have to be recovered manually, otherwise the corpse Will remain there forever.

[@user-bd1si1ru3x]

it means there is a freaking road of corpses waiting to be found. So many legends, no bones unfortunately. I was always asking: if there is a thousand mile road laying on a mass grave, why did not anybody find it and take a picture?

[@StrangeTerror]

I'm just going to burst everyone's bubble and say at least for now. The planet is warming up moving the permafrost line so there's that depressing thought

[@arioch2112]

Thank you for the history lesson. ALL history must be remembered or it will be repeated.

[@ingridfong-daley5899]

We used to live in Kazakhstan, and I had absolute TERROR of my teenaged son freezing to death walking home from the movie theatre on the weekends. It got down to -30 that last winter and I honestly DID worry. But he survived and bears the nasty humid heat of Mississippi now... Honestly, I think he prefers the cold. :)

[@nicosmind3]

Not often i favourite these, but this one im saving

[@mikeoxlong246]

I casually go to watch some KZbin, and what do I see? Simon uploaded videos on 5 different channels I‘m subscribed to. Ferb, I know what we‘ll do today.

[@weirdshibainu]

Russia:" Yeah, we had Gulags." The world:" How many people died?" Russia:" We believe it was around 15, mainly due to ladder accidents." The world:" Isn't it really about 2 million?" Russia:" Nope...fake news."

[@DefinitelyNotEmma]

During the time of Stalin 23 Million died

[@weirdshibainu]

@@DefinitelyNotEmma Yep

[@kieranh2005]

Does that include the 10m+ murdered by starvation during the holodomor or just in the gulags?

[@weirdshibainu]

@@kieranh2005 my point being is that just like china, one cant trust soviet numbers

[@warcrimeenjoyer881]

@@weirdshibainu But at the same time people trust the numbers made by the germans, how can you trust the germans and not the soviets? It's the same regime

[@rjleatherworks]

All I can say about wanting to change the story of history is this. History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.

[@MotoHikes]

The building of the road being "commendable, but how it was done was simply nightmarish" is probably the most accurate metaphor for the Soviet Union's implementation of communism that you could imagine

[@taniasmith619]

Makes me unbelievably sad. These somebody's sons and daughters.

[@KalRandom]

Or parents, maybe even grandparents.

[@persistentapparartionkitty5830]

Whole world is a Graveyard if you think about it. The Soviet Story is an excellent documentary of the horrors of the Soviet Union should you have a strong stomach.

[@KalRandom]

@@persistentapparartionkitty5830 LMAO, not just them. It's every nation in the world. China killed millions also with the take over of communisms (but we don't talk about that since they build stuff so cheap, with slave and child labor, even TODAY) Europe, the whole of the Americas was decimated by disease, then you get into the colonial destruction of populations, then get into the US finishing off the native population. That's just the highlights of the bigger country's, there are mass graves being dug everywhere in the world today. Don't act like Russia is the only one, very sadly.

[@persistentapparartionkitty5830]

@@KalRandom I never said Russia was the only one and yes I agree this kind of problem seems to be attached to Humans like Flies on Shit. Modern Russia has moved past this now for the most part Thank God!

[@persistentapparartionkitty5830]

@@KalRandom plus the video was about Russia hence why I recommended it as it pertains to Russian History.

[@robertb1802]

A fascinating phenomenon similar to this would be China's collective fishing fleets and the use of South East Asian slaves on those fishing vessels.

[@nestormakhno9266]

Another similar example that involves Chinese people would be the construction of American railroads and the horrid treatment of the Chinese Americans who worked on them

[@robertb1802]

@@nestormakhno9266 Did you bring American history up to excuse the current enslavement of South-East Asians on Chinese fishing vessels? One bad act does not excuse another.

[@scottadler]

@@nestormakhno9266 Not really. They weren't slaves sent to die. Their families used them to pay off debts. You're stretching.

[@nestormakhno9266]

@@robertb1802 I brought it up because it was a large infrastructure project that resulted in many deaths from poor working conditions, sometimes there are noncontemporary historic parallels that have more similarities with noncontemporary events shockingly enough

[@robertb1802]

​@@nestormakhno9266 You can draw as many parallels as you like; they all point to the same answer: forced labour is unethical, and you shouldn't do it even if you've had it done to you in the past. The CCP is currently excusing forced labour in Xinjiang and on their fishing fleets, so any parallels you draw between the past and the present serve to underline how fucked up what the CCP is doing is.

[@stevenweaver3386]

I read a book years ago about the Kolyma gulags. The book said that 3 million ounces of gold were dug out of the ground, with one dead prisoner for each ounce.

[@rich7787]

Great video Simon, I’m glad the business Blaze sarcasm didn’t creep in

[@DixonLu]

With this many channels, is Simon on a path to getting "Sir" (like David Attenborough)?

[@MrBenski81]

With that annoying pompous voice?? LOL No hope!

[@Toddvarskanal]

Megaprojects should try to do a project on Blodveien in Norway, it was a road build by Soviet and East-European POW, by the German occupation, and was one of the worst sites in the whole of Norway, specially as so many prisoners was killed working on building the road, who back then was build to keep the german military able to transport goods to the Soviet front.. There was several camps, where the inhabitants was treated horrible, and where the local population, tried to help, what little they could. It will of course never be the same as this Road build on Bones - but it is neither the less a interesting story, who should be told to a larger public, becouse few outside of Norway know anything about it.

[@cookingwithchefluc7173]

Ya that sounds interesting!!

[@michaelhowell2326]

This reminds of the AlCan Highway. They'd be a good topic. Also the Potola Palace and its mirror Palace on the neighboring mountain.

[@scottadler]

How many slave laborers were used on the AlCan Highway?

[@ebikeengineer]

Really interesting and well done. I'd suggest the Alaskan highway, but it pales in comparison to this project.

[@amaccama3267]

Great story guy's. I really dig the Russian stuff. Such an amazing country that dragged itself forward on the backs of its people whilst lubricating the industrial machine with their blood and tears.

[@andrzejklein7846]

Those 50million dead Russians got them to economy the size of Spanish one xD xD xD

[@mehmedduska924]

"Blood alone moves the wheels of history." - credited to Benito Mussolini but was actually written by Giovanni Gentile. That being said, Stalin was a horrible, horrible tyrant who is second only to Mao Zedong as history's most evil man. A lot of people may take umbrage at my comment, seeing as how in the Western world we've been conditioned to view Adolf Hitler as the most evil man in history. However, Hitler genuinely believed in his stupid, nonsensical ideology. Mao, on the other hand, was a corrupt megalomaniac who murdered 40 million of his own people through execution, forced labor and starvation just so he could accrue more personal power.

[@forlornvaalan7630]

@@mehmedduska924 Stalin's justification for what he did in the 30s was fear that war was coming and that the Soviet Union needed to be as ready as possible for it or it would die. He then did everything he could to prove himself incorrect, bending over backwards to accommodate and even economically support Hitler, the Nazis and the old Prussian Elite while desperately reaching out to Italy and France for an ally that would invade and put Hitler down early before things got out of hand. As brutal as what he did was, he was right to do so. Even with Lend-Lease, without Stalin converting the USSR into a pseudo slavocratic state capitalist society for the purpose of rapid industrialization and militarization, the USSR would have collapsed at the speed the Axis marched into it, perhaps faster. Stalin got results and had sound reasoning behind his horrors. Mao was a fucking moron.

[@livethefuture2492]

i'm not sure if you're supporting Stalin's policies of gulags and forced labor...cuz it's not justifiable in any means.

[@amaccama3267]

Yes that's exactly what I'm doing. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄😒

[@xyzpdq1122]

Another one where Simon deftly ends with “I hope you found that interesting” rather than “I hope you enjoyed watching”. But I know that some of you did enjoy it, sickos!

[@megaprojects9649]

Yeah, but I shouldn't encourage that.

[@livethefuture2492]

@@megaprojects9649 i recall that was a lesson you learn from a biographic episode on the nazi atrocities, where you closed off the video saying "i hope you enjoyed that", and then later you fixed it, and have since closed off these more serious topics with "i hope you found that interesting". great job covering these darker topics, really learned a lot!

[@beaterbikechannel2538]

The one we were all waiting for.

[@MartienBLY]

i don't know if you already did it but the burma road is also an interesting one to cover.

[@SewolHoONCE]

For a long read of a personal account of life in the gulag, look for OUT OF THE NIGHT.

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

Careful now Simon, the FSB aren’t going to be too pleased.

[@mrvn000]

Putin Will not be pleased.

[@vladimirdyuzhev]

Simon went GIGO mode, that's worse.

[@crystalglass7106]

And if they want to meet n talk, don't drink the tea

[@vladimirdyuzhev]

@@crystalglass7106 What's the problem with tea? He's already bald.

[@heathergarnham9555]

It's the umbrellas you have to look out for.

[@jamesthornton9399]

Good Show.

[@krod432]

Suggestion for a future video? The Mulberry harbours used after the D-Day Landings could be a good one :)

[@teddy.d174]

If google maps gets you lost, you’re in the middle of F’g nowhere.

[@williamknox8438]

Or New England

[@nonofyourbusiness7631]

If you cant use a map you have no business travelling these remote places.

[@macjonte]

Google maps is wrong quite often ;)

[@teddy.d174]

@@macjonte ...%100 agree! 😆

[@Billhatestheinternet]

@@nonofyourbusiness7631 Do like rally drivers: calibrate odometers, compass, and ensure PAPER maps are up to date. GPS is only a backup.

[@737tech]

I've been to the Gulag museum in Moscow. It was very sad....

[@chrisslky7018]

I hadnt heard of the Road of Bones before The Long Way Around with Ewan McGregger. Definatly history that needs to be remembered!

[@mj101inf9]

So the ground there is permafrost, meaning any bodies under the road will never decay. Imagine what a gruesome discovery that would be for future archaeologists digging in that area thousands of years from now.

[@thefrecklepuny]

And Chris Rea's "Road to Hell" pops into my head!

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍

[@KetchupPankaka]

How do you know that?

[@Theredmengroup]

How did you watch the video in 2 minutes

[@Theredmengroup]

Good video 👍

[@TheEvilCommenter]

@@Theredmengroup You'd be amazed at what I can do in 2 minutes

[@nepadrazimij]

Hahaha I don't know if it's amazing to finish doing things in 2 minutes XD

[@thekidfromcleveland3944]

Simon do a side projects on the Pioneer Zephyr. The 87th anniversery of the dawn to dusk dash is happening may 26th of this year. It would be great if you had a vid timed to coincide with that.

[@mustafaemad3614]

Mega Project suggestions: Benban Solar Park, Aswan High Dam, Bar Lev Line and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

[@stadtbekanntertunichtgut]

Communism or Socialism never again!!!!! Enough people have died!

[@aidegrod]

It's stalinism. Extremely authoritarian form of totalitarianism. Do some research! Also trotskism is extreme form.

[@Irinananana]

In soviet Russia road is built *on* you 🙃

[@pinkdirt8652]

Yes please do Mackinac bridge!

[@sandybarnes887]

The Rideau canal and the Saint Lawrence Seaway would make deserving megaprojects episodes. :)

[@thedarkonestaint6105]

I just watched your geographies of kolyma, last night. Freaking weird man.

[@jbrisby]

I believe it was Aristotle who said "Make human life cheap enough, and I will move the world!"

[@sofascialistadankulamegado1781]

No it was Archimedes and he said "if you can make me a lever long enough, I could probably lift the weight of the sins of communism if the lever didn't keep breaking."

[@user-bd1si1ru3x]

Dude lived in the era of slavery, don't push on him.

[@svenvolwater5473]

Its ethnically not nice but he does have a point, you can see it with nazi-germany and ussr..... its sad but true

[@crystalglass7106]

I thought it was Marx, Harpo Marx

[@userequaltoNull]

@@user-bd1si1ru3x so did the Soviet Union.

[@jwv6985]

Great work. Have never heard of this before. Very glad this type of thing doesn't happen anymore. Right?

[@TinyScorpion44]

This is one of the roads I dream of driving. Kolyma highway and Pamir highway, two incredible roads I sooo want to drive

[@kingjames4886]

"russian authoreties are investigating" is just about the most meaningless phrase imaginable...

[@evilchaosboy]

Making Stalin, one of history's greatest monsters, into a Hero?!? That is no different than Germany giving Hitler Sainthood!!!! Russia is an excellent example of a "WASTE OF SPACE". \m/

[@warcrimeenjoyer881]

Why do you care? Do you live there?

[@davidash1092]

How about a video about the S.S. Selma. It is a concrete ship that was scuttled in Galveston Bay in Texas USA in 1920. I have grown up looking at it and would love to know more about it

[@ToastyNoneofyourbusiness]

This puts a few lyrics from Voltaire's song "Land of The Dead" in a whole new context "Through a river made of fire / To a street that's paved in bones / I've got a dozen zombie skeletons to walk me to my throne" I highly doubt that's what he intended for the song though, since it aired on the Cartoon Network

[@dodge96neon]

have to love communistic countries who promote them self as being the people's republic but always end up being 1 guy

[@joeysausage3437]

8 minutes in and he just started talking about the road. Done.

[@RangerOfTheOrder]

You should take a look at the Prelude FLNG ship