Severny: Where the USSR Tested the Biggest Nuke in History

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Credits:
Host - Simon Whistler
Author - Morris M.
Producer - Jennifer Da Silva
Executive Producer - Shell Harris
Business inquiries to [e-mail]
Source/Further reading:
BBC - The Monster Atomic Bomb that was too Big to Use: www.bbc.com/future/article/20...
Atomic heritage foundation: www.atomicheritage.org/histor...
Britannica: www.britannica.com/topic/Tsar...
History of Severny and the Novaya Zemlya: www.britannica.com/place/Nova...
Some good descriptions of damage caused: nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russ...
Slate, with some descriptions of the island pre-test: www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obsc...
Atlas Obscura: www.atlasobscura.com/places/n...
Gizmodo: gizmodo.com/the-biggest-bomb-...
What would happen if Tsar Bomba had landed on Nagasaki: www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...
Medium: / the-tsar-bomba-was-a-5...
Andrei Sakharov, father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb: www.atomicheritage.org/profil...
Sakharov’s change to dissident: blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/0...
USSR hydrogen weapons program: www.atomicheritage.org/histor...
Nenets people today (pictures): www.theguardian.com/artanddes...
Nuclear stockpiles by country: www.armscontrol.org/factsheet...

[@geographicstravel]

Thanks to Dollar Shave Club for sponsoring. Go to DollarShaveClub.com/geographics to get your first starter set for $5. After that, full price products will ship at regular prices.

[@bartfoster1311]

Be your own barber and you don't have to worry about finding one! And it is waaay cheaper..

[@payne3249]

Simon im waiting to see you give us a show using that shaving equipment on that crome dome. Lol. (im bald too btw.)

[@michellemire8462]

Lol gotta correct the last seconds of the video!

[@Styxswimmer]

Been waiting for the newest Geographics. What took so long?

[@LoPhatKao]

thanks for putting the icon in the corner while doing sponsor

[@procrastinator1727]

"Today it's famous for it's wildlife, like the 6-legged Arctic Foxes and two-headed Polar Bears"

[@kayden5238]

I hear the walrus men are willing to trade during the summer months

[@mark87nexus]

Walrus miner

[@kayden5238]

@@jessicaraye1119 yes and we are not being serious aswell so ?

[@colderwar]

@@jessicaraye1119 OK Karen

[@curtcoller3632]

See - what a great effect it had on evolution. But Americans banned that subject from schools.

[@Hogscraper]

You start to get some perspective when you hear 'the parachute weighed a ton'.

[@breakink9396]

It’s really a negative thing, this warhead was EXTREMELY heavy. America’s biggest thermos were 10 - 20 times lighter in weight and didn’t have to be dropped from a plane. In fact the only reason the Russians beat us into outer space is because in order for the Russians to put this warhead on a icmb, they needed a huge rocket (largest at the time). In doing this they realized by removing the heavy warhead from the rocket and putting on a much lighter cabin for personnel, they would be able to achieve terminal velocity and put a man in outer space, you need to be going roughly 16000 mph to break out of the atmosphere, and that rocket helped them do it. So the reason the Russians went to space before the US, is because of the US. Oh 1 more thing, tsar bomba was just Russians being Russians. Trying to 1 up the US and world. I’d rather be attacked by tsar bombas 50 megatons rather than 10 10 megaton nukes, which is the direction the US went. Smaller, faster, better

[@med4nel]

@@breakink9396 you realize that your comment is basically just a way to "1 up russia and world".

[@med4nel]

@ArmchairWarrior correct. I think this is the one thing I dislike about the US the most. This guy would probably say Im jealous or something😂 if he had the brain cells to actually respond logically

[@NicholasPangaribuan]

@@med4nel russia bad, us best. Clear summary of the US.

[@SaintPablo.]

johnathan pety ... you mean escape velocity.

[@isaacwilson5284]

"A bomb, that could make God tremble." *the sun farts and we all die.*

[@joeldavis5815]

Lol. Best comment on here

[@Hexnilium]

Yeah, God wouldn't even notice the blast. The smallest supernovae are utterly enormous in comparison.

[@NoobMaster-we6ll]

Oh come on it's just a metaphor and hyperbole

[@gregoryhagen8801]

Sun farts? Is that the technical term? :)

[@mattmammone2338]

@Gregory Hagen Solar Flatulence is the proper terminology lol

[@vraimothra]

absolutely horrifying that Tsar Bomba was HALF of its core's originally planned power- ive never heard that fact about it before

[@omarwilliams6729]

Now imagine over so MANY years passed that now RUSSIA might have 300 megatons Bomb?

[@RedHandCommando]

@@omarwilliams6729 they do they have a 100 megaton torpedo and if that wasn't bad enough it's a salted cobalt bomb

[@wombatwilly1002]

Kruschev wanted it 100 but his scientists managed to convince him to cut it in half.

[@lokomike2911]

Like the other claimed weapons they have ?

[@dominicseanmccann6300]

@@lokomike2911 yes! Have doomsday device. Putin get 'sniffles' or piles or similars, west go bang....😆

[@anguskeenan4932]

UK, USA and USSR: *stop building bombs for a time in the 1960’s* France: “hey guys look what I did”

[@kalzhae]

well, France wasn't part of the nuclear club at that time so they maybe didn't received the memo

[@05EVORS]

China and Israel made there own and nobody thinks about them

[@oolmfoxz8170]

@@kalzhae "memo" from french scientific in manathan project ?

[@oolmfoxz8170]

@Welp Welp "chinas overpopulation is worse than their nuclear arsenal" stupidity and racisme are worse... nuclear arsenal are not used on friendly guy...

[@Chu3505]

05EVORS China and Israel didn’t make first Nuclear ☢️ bomb by themselves totally.They both have major scientific researches break through helped.China by the Russian and Israel by the American.Both for their first invention of for their Nuke tests.

[@primotef8863]

You know a place is inhospitable when even Russians say "no thanks"

[@mattberg6816]

Europe especially knowing that there’s old soviets living in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone

[@mikeol510]

You just rephrased a joke that was already made in the video. Thank you I guess.

[@D.M.S.]

You spelled *Australian wrong

[@saulamr]

"he was dealing with the complicity of killing a man and a two year old girl... BY THE WAY MY HEAD GETS DRY SOMETIMES AFTER I SHAVE IT"

[@nonnaurbisness3013]

There was about a minute of talking between those two moments

[@rigov7451]

Capital!

[@mharrye]

Not so fond memories of those times - my parents were dairy farmers in Northern Minnesota. Fallout levels of I believe strontium 90 were measured to be high in our area. The fallout had a short half-life but it was detected to be high in the milk we farmers produced. As a result, it was dictated we could only feed our dairy cows hay that had been stored longer than 30 days. So during the middle of summer when our herd would be on pasture supplemented with hay, we needed to keep them confined eating only hay remaining from the previous season and tracking hay storage to insure we did not ship milk with higher radiation levels - which would be discarded and along with it our check from the bottling company. This bomb was blamed as the trigger.

[@UnchainedAmerica]

Glow in the dark milk!

[@bluegregory6239]

I did not know that its effects were so far-ranging. I grew up in Minnesota as well.

[@mharrye]

@@bluegregory6239 It was not widely publicized, probably due to fear. My father was a dairy farmer. The isotope had a short half life but could be dangerous to infants, so we needed to feed old hay at the time of year when we would normally have highest production from fresh pasture and newly cut premium hay. Likely only producers knew. I am not aware of any of the local farmer's milk being tested and rejected.

[@SukhdevSingh-ge5rj]

Luckily it wasn't 100MT.

[@RowdyBorders-ni3ti]

Cottage cheese

[@iainballas]

Soviets: "Hey everyone! Our super bomb works!" Literally everyone: "Yeah, we could hear it from "

[@roborton1]

🇬🇧

[@comedylongpantsgamer3608]

Inserting Washington D.C

[@snusemcgoose1001]

I wouldn’t say that, that’s what they would’ve wanted to hear

[@vmwindustries]

There new Nukes that were released just after Trump was president are way worse. They fly into space, and the video they show is it dropping onto Florida. Which with CoVid19 idiots might be a good idea! Lmfao America, the land of undereducated idiots!

[@jeremykirk1334]

Where are you from genius.

[@whitestains1656]

I can't get over the fact that they were warned that this type of explosion could possibly burn the atmosphere off the planet, and they went ahead .

[@shrek_has_swag2344]

Twats

[@mrslushydaminator4974]

There is a mission of America trying to blow the ozone layer away as well lol an they tried it.

[@D.M.S.]

The same warning came up from the US by the H-Bomb at the Bikini atoll

[@brucewayne-ej3cx]

Because they're trash

[@edwardd9702]

Edward Teller thought the Trinity test might cause the hydrogen in the atmosphere to go into some sort of catastrophic fusion reaction.

[@michaelw6422]

“Naturally, Tsar Walrus Chops wanted a piece of that action” Well done Simon

[@ericschminke8233]

When Krakatoa's final explosion occurred on August 26th-27th, 1883, it did so with the force equivalent to a 200-megaton hydrogen bomb. The explosion was heard nearly 3,000 miles away on Rodriguez Island in the extreme Southwest Indian Ocean and sent a shock wave that circled Earth 7 times. The pressure wave was so powerful that it ruptured the eardrums of sailors that were on a ship 40 miles away. About 70% of Krakatoa Island was blown apart, 2 of the 3 volcanoes that were on it disappeared while the largest of the 3, Rakata, lost about 1/3 of its mass.

[@jimfisk4474]

Now there Is our sound R a y s, HE ATR AY a** and a number of other rays that equal or surpass N u k e s

[@jimfisk4474]

Correction, Now there are

[@mungolianbeef]

Imagine if they hadn't halved the Tsar Bomba's yield... Sweet baby Khrushchev.

[@DDPTV-gm4ct]

Yeah, the Russians have always been known for their inability to follow theough with great ideas, its a shame.

[@0987curtis]

@@smoooth7429 I think, could be wrong obvi, but he may have been being sarcastic and knew this, which is why he said that lol

[@aerodynamic1440]

@@DDPTV-gm4ct "Shame" really? Maybe America needs to learn how to even create a better missile than Russians

[@corys5855]

I can't stop thinking about that. I'm gen-x and the millennials and zoomers I work with have no concept of the fear we grew up with.

[@VvDiverDownvV]

Bye bye planet earth 🌎

[@thenewseorarek9625]

Its extremely worrying to imagine what would have happened had that bomb been as big as originally planned

[@cmd31220]

I've seen papers that claim if the initial estimate of 100 Megatons was reached, the explosion could have set off earthquakes and volcanoes all over Asia. Literally it could have ripped the planet apart

[@ifalm4274]

@@cmd31220 no? We have a lot of volcanoes with eruptions multiple times the size of the tsar bombas explosion. Nuclear bombs are nothing compared to mother nature. No way its gonna rip the planet apart thats just dumb.

[@cmd31220]

@@ifalm4274 oh obviously I'm not saying the bomb itself would have torn the planet apart. I'm saying the resulting seismic activity would. A blast that size would trigger all these much larger events that, you correctly point out, are orders of magnitude more powerful

[@ifalm4274]

@@cmd31220 again, how? 100 megatons is nothing compared to eruptions that are scaled vei 7 or more. Like the 1815 tambora eruption was equal to around 800 megatons. And the worst that it did was triggering tsunamis on the surrounding islands and dropped the global temperature by 3 degrees celcius. A mere 100 megatons nuclear bomb wouldnt set off volcanoes and earthquakes all over the continent. Or even rip the whole planet apart.

[@cmd31220]

@@ifalm4274 it's a domino effect. Put a puppy in front of a moving car, and the puppy's just gonna get run over. But make that puppy knock over a trash can, that falls into a car, and the lid knocks the gearshift into neutral final destination style, and that car rolls into the road in front of the moving car......well that's a different story. 100 Megatons dropped on the right location could start a chain reaction, especially when you consider the seismic makeup of eastern Russia

[@BrianTylerComposer]

That.. was... insane.

[@DKTAz00]

Then you realise there is no limit to how big they could build this. You wouldnt need to deliver such a bomb anywhere. 1000 megatonne bomb underground in your own country, and anyone who attacks you is signing thier own death sentence, along with the whole worlds.

[@CJizzleJ]

what was?

[@elementalneil7967]

Are you not the creator of the Far Cry 3 music? If so, I love your work.

[@OdintheGermanShepherd]

My DNA test showed some of my ancestry came from Yuzhny Island....am I descended from Arctic Foxes and Polar Bears? LOLOL (human me, not Odin the GS)

[@codyj1162]

More than likely.

[@GarryChenYT]

I mean, dogs and foxes are from the same family.

[@jeramiemolder3748]

Haaaahhaaa

[@josephstalin8072]

Not funny

[@Choomba78]

@@josephstalin8072 You must be fun at parties.

[@zephyr546]

“A bomb bigger than Tsar Bomba” May: Write that down, write that down!

[@Morristown337]

no the next thing is the coming major earthquake of June 2020. Over 8.0 check the date on this after the fact and be like whoah how did he know? Oh and covid is not done yet either expect a 1918 level event this fall.

[@jaspersen219]

@@Morristown337 expect covid to piss off like SARS did instead of coming back like the Spanish Flu. It's much more like the former than the latter.

[@ninjabiatch101]

@@jaspersen219 Tell that to the Millions infected. Lol

[@ironcross6719]

@@ninjabiatch101 you mean the millions of infected who have recovered? 99% survival rate 'lol'

[@logancurl9526]

@@Morristown337 how exactly does anyone, you in particular, accurately PREDICT a possible future earthquake, especially almost 2 months in advance? Your world altering earthquake prediction ability, while hard to take seriously on it's own, becomes substantially less credible/believable with the addition of your "2nd, extremely deadly, world ending wave of killer covid-19 infections" prediction. Covid-19 is mostly hype, and has been blown WAYYYYY out of proportion by lots of people who actually have little to no knowledge of the subject material on which they speak, but because their words get blasted around the world by the equally as ignorant media giants, people assume that the words are coming from credible, intelligent people. This is simply not the case, and is the complete opposite of the truth, more times than not. I don't watch/read ANY main stream news/media for this very reason, and I live a much more enjoyable and stress free life because of it. There's so much more value in putting in the time/effort to educate yourself with a variety of subjects (with FACTUAL material and research, not politically correct pseudo science) and forcing yourself to make logical assessments of people/situations/problems by using the knowledge that you have gained to come to your own conclusions. Stop letting OTHER people think for YOU and decide what actions YOU should take. That's a horrible choice of how to live your life, because trust me, NOBODY has your best interest in mind, that's your job to do. But it's harder than just letting other people, such as the media, tell you what to think and do, and takes time away from focusing on stupid shit like facebook/twitter/celebrities/shopping/etc.. so very few people are willing to take responsibility for themselves these days. I say fuck that noise, I'll think for MYSELF, and I'm so glad my family instilled that mentality into me, and I'm doing the same with my son!

[@stingr5626]

Imagine if the guy who had to record the event forgot to hit the record button... Cameraman: "Comorads I forgot to hit the record, we need to do it again."

[@alfredorotondo]

"let's retry" Btw the original recordings were published a not long time ago in the original not transmitted at the time documentary

[@rogerwilco1777]

His whole family and everyone he ever talked to would be executed

[@ravidas4852]

They would tie him to the bomb next time for better life like footage 🤣

[@michaeltripoli3428]

Load up another one we got to get this video boys

[@yakacm]

When I first heard of the Tsar Bomba in the early 2000's literally no one was talking about it, it was hard to find info on it, several sources even stating that it was a myth and had never happened, and now it's famous with numerous videos on YT, I mean this chappy done at least 2 videos on the subject. I mean it's hardly surprising as it's such an interesting topic.

[@ajhubbell3754]

Nuclear weapons are a technology that once developed can never be forgotten. Once in existence, they will never be extinct.

[@JTelli786]

To put in another perspective, the bomb had a blast yield of 50 megatons, Krakatoa had a yield of 200 megatons. This thing was 1/4th the power of Krakatoa.

[@tformerdude6788]

Hahaha! Oh, sh!t. We really did almost cook ourselves, didn't we?

[@daristaufiq4560]

And krakatoa caused another year that we can call the worst year beside 2020... the year without summer

[@RizkhyDestatama]

But this is so small compared to krakatoa. Just make it 5 it will be 1/4 more megatons than Krakatoa.

[@rossboss8350]

And to think that the Russians were planning on making a 100 mega-ton yielding nuke...

[@agentc7020]

The funny thing is, Russia has now nuclear torpedos with yields of 200 megatons called Poseidon, they have several.

[@calicojack3628]

America: We got the biggest bomb! Castle Bravo! USSR: Oh yeah? Watch this! TSAR BOMBA Both: Yeah....let's not do that again.....

[@granthohulin6730]

instead, we should create some awesome vehicles that could break free from the atmosphere. U.S.A.: Truce? U.S.S.R.: Truce. Thus the space race was born

[@RationallySkeptical]

Except its unlikely, in the extreme, that the Soviets chose to stop for any reason other than running out of money and resources.

[@frosty3693]

From what I have seen, the last US Bikini blast was a mistake in yield. They where using Lithium [ (I think) it and only had about 1/3 reactive isotope in the material rather than being fully enriched] instead of hydrogen but a nuclear reaction feature they did not know about, was during the reaction the blast stripped off the outer electron making more of the material fusionable. So the bomb had three times more explosive power than they expected. In that situation their bombproof shelters were not as bombproof as they expected. Everyone had a very large "Oh Sh%^" moment. Later large underground tests in Alaska caused so much seismic events they quit trying for bigger.

[@johnphamlore8073]

Yes but according to the movie, Castle Bravo was used to try and stop Godzilla. :-)

[@gopro369]

oh, I've heard so many times that term 'tsar bomba' when growing up in USSR and never knew what it actually was, well, now I know)

[@herbert5491]

I have read a lot about the Tzar Bomb, but thank you for bringing in more details about it, its development, and eventual test. Thank you

[@trout3685]

What more details did he bring in?

[@dayofduhfeet]

What I think I love most about these channels is that you put things into perspective

[@jeremiahguy32]

We are mice who spend our lives developing badass mousetraps.

[@Chobaca]

That's a bit reductionist don't you think?

[@katy4714]

That's great.

[@miyojewoltsnasonth2159]

@@Chobaca "Reductionist"? Poetry is reducing prose to its most impactful words. I think @Jeremiah Guy's words were poetic.

[@thesuccessfulone]

While ignoring the mousetraps we haven't designed

[@jeremiahguy32]

@@miyojewoltsnasonth2159 thank you!

[@tiadiad]

Hey! My grandpa on my dad’s side was stationed on Novaya Zemlya. He was in the Russian navy. My dad spent a few years of his childhood on the island. He has some stories. Here’s a fun one. My grandpa’s best friend decided to go fishing one day. He had a backpack with him. As he was standing on the shore, fishing, he saw a white shape slowly appear on the surface of the water. He figured it must be one of the northern dolphins, whatever they are called. The next thing he saw was a giant polar bear lumbering out of the water and heading straight for him. He dropped everything and ran back to the base, or town, as fast as he could, without looking back. The next day he went back for his backpack, and he found it torn into pieces. An empty can of condensed milk was lying on the ground, with holes clearly made by the teeth of the animal. The bear literally bit into the metal can and sucked the milk out of it. I know it’s not a story related to the military doings on the island, but I always found it funny. The local newspaper even wrote about it.

[@tinafoster8665]

Thank God it was only the milk

[@arthurcurrey7109]

I go there on DayZ for supplies lol

[@raywollesenfortes7014]

There's a photograph of Soviet soldiers alongside a tank sharing a can of condensed milk to a polar bear back in the day. The creatures must've gotten acquired to the taste of it.

[@tiadiad]

@@raywollesenfortes7014 You know, I always wondered how that bear knew to go for the can, it's not like she could smell it. Makes sense now:)

[@FrigginCatsBruh]

@@tiadiad the bear absolutely smelled it

[@johndc2998]

Clicked on this not knowing this was another of your channels, was worried it was a boring narrator and was waiting to potentially click off and soon as I saw you Im like no way!!! Thanks for ur videos man they help me alot and are informative.

[@Maverick8t88]

Fun fact: the Castle Bravo test inspired the original movie “Godzilla” because of the tragedy of the Japanese fishermen that got caught in the fallout. It went far beyond projected ‘safe zone’ and killed them all. Maybe not so ‘fun’ but still a fact.

[@bluegregory6239]

'History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man' Blue Oyster Cult, 'Godzilla'

[@__init__]

The fact they halved the yield and it was still so powerful is terrifying

[@xenos_n.]

That's the most mind-blowing thing. That scientist might have saved the Earth.

[@cortster12]

@@xenos_n. The Earth has survived asteroids KMs long, supervolcanos, etc, it can survive a small, human-made poot. And yes, this is small compared to those..

[@8Maduce50]

@@cortster12 ikr asteroids have hit with more force than all the nuclear arsenal combines

[@clothar23]

@@8Maduce50 And caused extinction events in the process or have you forgotten what's in your car's gas tank right now ?

[@KoldBreeze]

@@clothar23 have we forgotten GRBs?

[@PassiveSmoking]

Funny thing about Castle Bravo, it was only meant to be 5mt. Teller had assumed the lithium-7 in the bomb's tamper was effectively inert and failed to take what the radiation bombardment would do to it into account, because they thought it would become lithium-8 and break down into a pair of alpha particles on a timescale of a few seconds, which was too slow to have any meaningful effect on the explosion. In fact, the lithium-7 became a tritium ion and an alpha particle. The tritium was an ideal fusion fuel and massively multiplied the expected amount of fusion fuel available.

[@klauskarpfen9039]

Then why did they put the lithium into the bomb?

[@TrueMechTech]

​@@klauskarpfen9039 you can't just fill a bomb hull with compressed hydrogen, so the alternative way is to use lithium deuteride, that breaks down into fusion fuel

[@klauskarpfen9039]

@@TrueMechTech This is not what Scribbling said.

[@DrDeuteron]

They put li7 in because it came with the li6 they wanted

[@SukhdevSingh-ge5rj]

So, that must have been when lithium batteries were invented. But took a long time to reach the ordinary consumer.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:35 - Chapter 1 - A land of ice & fire 5:50 - Chapter 2 - The scientist & the bomb 9:20 - Chapter 3 - The nuclear race 13:55 - Mid roll ads 15:25 - Chapter 4 - Building the bomba 18:40 - Chapter 5 - Detonation day 22:30 - Chapter 6 - Aftermath

[@forestpill]

i love mid roll adds

[@jensphiliphohmann1876]

Underrated comment!

[@xandervk2371]

There is a mix-up between the original "layer cake" Sakharov design idea and the Teller-Ulam scheme. The latter was scalable, unlike the former, and was the one used in the test in question as well in the first Soviet megaton-range test in 1955.

[@beeble2003]

Yeah, the videos on this channel seem to contain a lot of mistakes like that. "Layer cake" went out in 1953, precisely because it _couldn't_ scale. You can't just add more layers to get a bigger bomb whereas, in principal, you can add arbitrarily many stages to a Teller-Ulam design.

[@narujohn6984]

I guess sakharov independently came up with the teller-ulam design too. But yes, his first solution was the sloika.

[@beeble2003]

@@narujohn6984 Unclear whether Sakharov came up with it independently or the GRU :cough: borrowed it from somewhere :cough:

[@babscabs1987]

Nuclear physicist, builds h bomb that kills two people: Oh no, I feel complicit.

[@babscabs1987]

@Loosen yes

[@monkeyman321]

He was just following orders.

[@Lambzalot]

Because he killed two of his OWN people.

[@alexbenavidez4500]

@@monkeyman321 "Just following orders" has been the so-called justification behind untold atrocities. It's not a good excuse.

[@alexphillips4663]

@@Lambzalot He didn't kill anyone. He developed an object. It was their military that had the responsibility for clearing the people before they pressed the button, or perhaps not pressing it at all.

[@joshuaradick5679]

They bombed Severny to bury the portal into the Nightmare World which was spewing out all sorts of monsters.

[@savagehippie1453]

what you even talking about lol

[@relishcakes4525]

Go on.......

[@AVaginawithVitaminsinit]

You had me at portal

[@ConjointVR]

KGB sekret Dokuments Komrade, how do you know this?

[@AVaginawithVitaminsinit]

Bf109 G-4 EXCUSE ME ??!

[@Laidtorest69]

Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park “Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.”

[@anrubefyi]

Fun fact: I live near the place where Sacharov lived, there's a museum now

[@buckhorncortez]

Might be a fun fact for you, but the rest of us really don't care...

[@chaosdweller]

@@buckhorncortez I found it a lil interesting actually.

[@PMW3]

The test wasn't a test. They were trying to kill it

[@rockyhooks3372]

PMW3 underrated comment

[@mitchellneu]

"We call him... *Gojira*

[@patsfreak]

It failed.

[@nemguite4861]

R.I.P Dr. Serazawa

[@okidokiliteratureclub706]

@elite13 there's actually a creepypasta about the mysterious nuke tests at the pacific and it really shows the human element and not just monsterkaiju terror.

[@styxdragoncharon4003]

6:57 odd cut there eh?

[@vicsaul5459]

@Destroy the child concur !!#;?

[@JohnDoe-ne4kg]

Yup

[@Alygoola]

Yeh what?

[@styxdragoncharon4003]

@@Alygoola I was just pointing out that it was odd.... nothing more.

[@mrcrowley2325]

Kingggg crimson!

[@louis-martinlandry2194]

I really liked the fact that you went further than the blast, and how the island is today...

[@thermojo5223]

Big thanks for halving its destructive capabilities last minute, much appreciated.

[@chriskola3822]

"Tsar walrus chops" Sponsored by dollar shave club

[@hhairball9]

That one made me laugh with a mouthful of rice. I had rice coming out my nose! Thanks, Simon.

[@Anon-cp6bm]

I love that the Russians literally called a nuclear device a "layer cake" Thats the most Russian thing you could possibly come up with.

[@farticlesofconflatulation]

Maddox Clay mmmmmm medovik. 🤤

[@Tenkai917]

Idk...I would have gone with "Matryoshka Bomb"

[@jshaw1503]

I mean yellow cake uranium is a nuclear material used in nuclear weapons

[@k7jeb]

Teller's first H-Bomb design (not the one ultimately produced) was called The Alarm Clock

[@Heliotail]

Yes, but it was a deliverable weapon from the start, unlike the first U.S. hydrogen bomb.

[@chompchompchangbin]

I usually hate hearing people do their sponsors but I love how Simon does them lol. They're actually interesting and funny. It's nice to see him as him and go back to being factual lol

[@NLynchOEcake]

Yeah this is how you do advertizing. Guy with an immaculate beard: *So anyways, when faced with an imminent nuclear holocaust of unimaginable proportions, I'd make sure I have my favorite razor*

[@humancattoy7767]

The picture of two walrus hugging was a nice touch.

[@KermitFrazierdotcom]

"The War to End All Wars" The Bomb to End All Life.

[@tonyrichards4141]

It didn't end all life though

[@charelpeffer52]

@@tonyrichards4141 unfortunately not

[@jakru9909]

Nature will live on, far after humans. We are another extinction event. Earth has endured many cataclysmic events.

[@sannidhyabalkote9536]

@@charelpeffer52 what do you mean , ' unfortunately ' , huh ?

[@charelpeffer52]

@@sannidhyabalkote9536 unfortunately it didn't end all of those ridiculous, useless lives

[@jennlynn8173]

"Made Castle Bravo look like a wet fart" 😂😂😂 internet gold, Simon

[@Biden_is_demented]

It actually made Castle Bravo look like a queef. A dry, fish smelling queef.

[@paulcarmi8130]

@@Biden_is_demented can't believe nobody responded to this. This is actual internet gold lmao

[@mattmammone2338]

There all too busy arguing over trivia and minutiae in the replies to the top comments. People that argue for weeks in the comments section are so numerous and humorless.

[@boydsinclair7606]

Sounds like a direct quote from Kruschev 🤔 he wasn't a subtle man

[@thirdwheel1985au]

It's worth noting that some 60% of Castle Bravo's yield was an accident - it was only supposed to go off with five megatons, but scientists at Los Alamos underestimated the speed of neutrons in a H bomb when it came to the supposedly inert Lithium-7 in its fusion core.

[@skip741x3]

fascinating documentary! I am really surprised that you didnt include actual video of the bombs going off instead of still pics.

[@renaldolama9517]

You should do a Geographics episode on your studio: “We now take you to the place where a thousand youtube channels were born. This little 4x4 room produced over 186,000 episodes, in just 4 years”.

[@Christopher-N]

I had forgotten that detail until you reminded me: the Tsar Bomba was intentionally reduced in yield, out of fear of the unknown of what a bomb that size could unleash. While there is a ceiling limit for mushroom clouds, the nightmare a Tsar Bomba of full yield could sow was real... and unproven.

[@k7jeb]

As the video points out, the bomb's yield was halved by eliminating the final stage of fissionable uranium. This was done to drastically reduce the radioactive fallout, an effect the Soviet physicists were well aware of, thanks to the US experience with the Castle Bravo shot.

[@TeeTafoya87]

Definitely the best of all your videos.

[@Trstevens318]

Simon's transition statements are gold

[@ElijsDima]

"Severny" basically means "northern" in Russian.

[@havolei]

The Norwegians call it "Gåselandet" - "The Goose land" (if it be of any interest).

[@artman7780]

Isn’t North Macedonia also known as Severna Macedonia?

[@sammysam2615]

da

[@bremnersghost948]

So the Test Site is the North End of the New Earth/Land?

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

_In Russian, "Zombie" means, Zombie._

[@sirandrelefaedelinoge]

_"The Tsar Bomba explosion was like nothing the world had ever seen..."_ *TUNGUSKA:* _"WOULD YOU LIKE A REMATCH...?"_

[@julpm1826]

I loved your shaving add and it’s the first time I wasn’t annoyed with a product advertisement in the middle of my video. Transition and all lol

[@jackmioff000]

That was the boldest most shamelessly unapologetic transition into an ad from a sponsor lmao I love it. "I wouldn't want to be the scruffy guy on the trail of tears, I'd grab my dollar shave club razor with one hand and one of my two children with the other"

[@robinwells8879]

It is mildly reassuring to me to have found out that the bombs have quite short "best before" dates at which point they must be stripped down and remade from the constituent raw material level up. This is complex work, so those bombs that may have been spread out as a result of the collapse of the USSR are likely largely useless by now. Even the fissile material degrades significantly enough to be requiring of re processing to achieve critical mass once again. Love them, or hate them, they kept a sort of peace for sixty years based almost entirely on the unimaginable futility of there offensive use. Arguably an ironic twist on the legacy that their inventors feared for them. Rest in peace Oppenheimer and Sakharov.

[@thevoicestoldmetoagain4627]

I would assume this is due to radioactive decay or an elements half-life

[@BionicleJackson]

Don't feel overly reassured, the "stripping down and remade" is akin to changing the oil filter and a flat tire on an car for those whom have the knowledge.

[@mr.bigglesworth1970]

yeah man after like 50/60 years any explosive that has been sitting is for sure no longer safe to use. Bump into it wrong and it blows up or you try to use it and its non functional. At least thats what i assume

[@robinwells8879]

Bionicle Jackson it's the "those who have the knowledge" bit that's key. Very specialist and not as simple as you might imagine thankfully.

[@BionicleJackson]

@@robinwells8879 I don't have to imagine, it was my job for the USAF.

[@Reddotzebra]

That the detonation was so clean just points to how much energy they were able to squeeze out of that thing. The sloppier you make a nuke the more fallout you get, generally.

[@puncheex2]

No, not really. The highest pusher for fallout is the amount of fission done in the bomb - fission of the primary core, it's tamper, the secondary sparkplug and it's tamper; the radioactive materials in fallout is 95% the fission products. The only "stuff" left to make fallout was the neutron activated vaporized bomb case, spread to hell and gone. The fallout was simply bomb materials still close enough together to condense into dust grains. Serious fallout comes when the mushroom is able to suck up dirt and coral and whatever else from the surface to mix with the fission products - that dilutes the radioactive materials but also makes it much more plentiful. The difference between a dirty weapon and a clean one is the presence of the final uranium tamper in the design

[@Gradient2000]

@@puncheex2 Late but great comment!

[@aBetterMove]

How absurd is that blinky Sakharov bit 😹

[@outdoorrelaxation5511]

I swear he is so slick with his advertising...if I were evacuated I'd grab my razor from dollar shave club..... now u actually got my attention ive seen them in so many other youtubers videos but you push product way better . Your marketing is on point 👌

[@rnhubble]

"Dragged into World War 2" ? Simon, I think Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland would like to have a word with you.

[@gmoney4980]

Simon doesn't write the scripts, nor is he a historian. He just reads them. Now I do agree with you. However, the blame is not on totally on Simon.

[@tnightwolf]

If he was to check out all the facts small details you wouldn't be seeing a 25 minute KZbin video, but having a 2 hours History Class... And there are actually places for that... It's just a informative "broad stroke" about what lead to the creation of the Tsar bomb and where it happened.

[@nathanhowlett8893]

Ww2 is a myth perpetrated by the toy company's to sell GI joes

[@user-hq8de8qn1n]

Hm. If not for Russia, there would be no Finland after all. And Finland volunteered into the war, although taking only the land it decided was theirs. And Finland instituted mass cleansings Hitler was shocked by, for example, killing half of population of Vyborg in one day.

[@shebbs1]

@@nathanhowlett8893 That might wash if WW2 hadn't been going long before America joined.

[@olgastepanov8479]

1:51 Novaya Zemlya literaly translates New Land P.S it even resembles New Zealand and is similar in size.

[@polina-xm2cc]

Sometimes Google Translator likes to translate it's name into a New Zealand

[@alfredorotondo]

It's roughly ⅔ of Italy

[@mysticmermaid333]

Tzar Walrus-Chops 😂 that's amazing!

[@GodlikeIridium]

Interesting facts: Castle Bravo was planned as a 5 MT bomb. Not 15 MT. Which caused tons of damage and irradiated innocent people, especially a Japanese fishing boat. They thought, that one lithium isotope in their lithium deuteride fuel wasn't reacting. Well in turned into a reaction component during the blast. And the zar bomba was the cleanest nuke ever dropped, causing almost no fallout, because they removed the 3rd stage at the last moment.

[@jlinn543]

Can I get the source on the "cleanest nuke" claim? With my knowledge of how a nuke works, I don't see that as possible.

[@WonderDerek]

​@jlinn543 thermonuclear fusions produce much less . 97% of its yield was thermonuclear, so it produced far less fallout than it would have if it were like the first nukes, just with a bigger yield. They had to do that to prevent ruining the USSR. It still poisoned countless lifeforms and a ridiculous area of earth. The result of such a high yield. Impossible to split atoms like that without enormous radiation and fallout, regardless of the method used.

[@jodycarrithers6160]

Simon, I love your videos. You're one of the only channels (meaning all of the channels you have) that I can binge watch and never get bored, upset, or worried about current events all while learning something. Thanks for all that you do.

[@truthsRsung]

Did you have it Muted, Jody? If forced labor, transplantation of indigenous people and thermonuclear annihilation don't ruffle your feathers, what does?

[@stephenbrand5661]

When you look at Russia on a map it really just seems to be all the land in Eurasia that nobody else wanted.

[@user-sn5cx1yt6v]

It’s quite literally how it happened. In 16th century there was a great expedition to the east, where army was just marching across the land and was saying “join or get bonked”. Some joined, some got bonked, the result you can see on the map.

[@timekeeper2738]

and so much of it is uninhabited its truly mind boggling

[@TheJcrist]

Well, many did want and some attempted to take it from Russia but failed miserably.

[@delgermuruntsagaankhuu6951]

@@timekeeper2738 it was inhabited, but forgotten genocides and modern day oppression took care of that problem

[@delgermuruntsagaankhuu6951]

@@TheJcrist do you mean take back their lands? Cuz yes

[@user-dv5fx6nk4d]

Your accent and script writing skills are truly delightful to listen to,

[@daniellocke282]

God bless and protect you Simon I love all your channels and videos, respect.

[@Nymfaelar]

I've heard these measurements before Simon, but it's difficult to imagine. When you described distance from popular cities, I got appropriate chills down my spine hearing about this for the first time. Well done.

[@JamesAllmond]

In 2015 I camped on the Tersky coast, with a bunch of motorcyclist, and discovered it was on the flight path of that flight...that was after I was told it was ok to ignore the signs that said no foreigners, in English in the middle of nowhere, said it was from Soviet Times...then got interviewed by the head of the local governent (really nice lady) for a radio show. Turns out I was the 1st American tourist there - ever. I sure didn't know that, was invited back. beautiful place, just might...

[@andysPARK]

Thanks for the presentation. It's important to know these things when if it would be much better for none of it to have happened.

[@mcnallica2382]

great video as always

[@Sacto1654]

An interesting tidbit about Tsar Bomba: the nuclear fallout was actually better measured far from the detonation downwind, due to the bomb detonating 3.9 km off the ground. The _Ivy Mike_ and _Castle Bravo_ tests had far more immediate fallout because both bombs were essentially tested at ground level, blowing up radioactive soil and coral from the island.

[@Rusty_Gold85]

I had so many nightmares about them during the 80's .They all settled down when the Berlin Wall came down and the USSR collapsed . It didnt help when a lot of movies and shows came out with that theme

[@conors4430]

Rusty Gold that’s the thing though, they are just as real today. Take the presidential football for example, it is supposed to give the impression that only the president can launch a nuclear attack, it’s not true, it makes absolutely no strategic sense to have a nations capability of retaliation based on the continued health of one man. In the case of the United States and Russia, there is a certain amount of automation involved, so if systems believe an attack is happening wheels will be set in motion automatically, likewise there are plenty of people who can initiate an attack who aren’t the leaders of The country in case they are taken out. That’s why it’s called mutually assured destruction, because it is set up to destroy your enemy no matter what you do pre-emptively. And that’s not even taking into account the United Kingdom, France, Israel, India, Pakistan , China and North Korea. It’s a matter of when, whether it’s an accident or intentional, it will likely set off a chain reaction of retaliation from countries who can’t take the chance that it wasn’t intentional. And then we all die

[@ABW941]

@@conors4430 Only the president can do so if he is well and alive, just with all the things he can do. Same goes for the russian "Dead hand" system, it will only be in charge if no one is left to give orders. MAD is ment as deterrent, and if you are in charge of what you believe to be the 2nd strike arsenal, which is in any case well protected, you have time to verify if an attack has taken place or not.

[@peter-8483]

That’s the job of the media, keeping people cowering and complacent

[@N_0968]

Me too. They were talking about atomic bombs on tv and mum had nightmares about them and told me (a child with an anxious mind already). I had a very real nightmare inspired by On The Beach series (about effects of nuclear war when people were going to die of radiation) later in life.

[@tinafoster8665]

@@conors4430 theatre commanders have launch authority, 4 star colonel generals/vice admirals who are directly empowered by the president. HOWEVER the Corporation is who actually design n build them. SO the heads of the Corporate have the codes also, altho you'll never hear them admit it. It always amazes me when people actually think "the government" runs US foreign policy

[@RamminRanch]

This is exactly why aliens don’t want anything to do with us

[@rachelc.2828]

Ah no mention of the miraculous 1500s shipwreck and survival story of a Dutch crew (led by Willem Barents) looking for a north east passage? Great story & first known people to survive a winter there (at the very tippy top of the island no less)!

[@indy_go_blue6048]

I remember reading a story in some magazine in the mid-60s saying that a Russian attack with just 3 Tsar Bomba type bombs detonated over eastern PA, central IL and northern AL would start fires that'd burn out the eastern half of the USA. Living in Champaign, IL at the time, it scared the hell out of me.

[@Rick0430]

The prayer he once said after seeing his first H-Bomb test "Blyat!"

[@MF-nc9cj]

HOLY SHIT TSAR WALRUS...i played it back to make sure i hearf it right honestly some of your best work truthfully.

[@tototakto4611]

The US: we are the most powerful country in the world Russia: *hold my Tsar bomba*

[@mindspinn311]

I’m somewhat curious what might have happened if he didn’t replace the uranium with lead to half the yield.

[@jamescarter3196]

I'm no scientist but I thought it would be like hitting the earth with a hammer. However somebody else in the comments who sounds like they know it better than me, said most of the extra load would probably go upward and there would be more radiation but not so much more of an explosion.

[@DeltafangEX]

@@jamescarter3196 Sounds about right. It would indeed be like hitting the Earth with a hammer, but that is usually the case with any significantly large bomb or impact. - the rigidity of the crust will help those seismic waves along. However, earthquakes can regularly output more power than the world's entire nuclear arsenal combined and hurricanes are pretty up there too. I'd think the worry about detonating that many nukes in one place would be more the pressure wave and intense heat upsetting weather systems and wildlife for weeks to years - ignoring the obvious radiation hazard from ejecta scattered on the jet stream and other cross-planet winds.

[@cucumber623]

knock the earths orbit out of its route

[@DuckAllMighty]

@@cucumber623 Nah mate, that requires much more extreme mesuares, not even the detonation off the Worlds entire nuclear arsanal blown up in one point, would be able to do that. Not even the largest astoroid can do it. Remeber the Earth is massive and have a lot of momentum through Space, so you would have to lob another planet at it, to change it's orbit.

[@marekotec2540]

The Judas Priest Ram it down album cover would have happened

[@glennlaroche1524]

So early, Simon didn't even have a chance to tuck his shirt in......

[@phillipcasyey7313]

I didnt even have time to put one on

[@bobthebuilder1360]

@@phillipcasyey7313 same

[@cyphre]

Probably wasn't wearing pants either.

[@kyleshaw6899]

"Tsar walrus Chomps"...aaaaaaaand subscribed!

[@jameshoyle8950]

Hey! At the end of your video (24mins) you suggest that Sakharov was allowed to return to Moscow as part of Gorbachev's "Thaw". This term maybe isn't quite correct, as it's usually only used in relation with the so-called Khruschev Thaw (Оттепель) much earlier. Did you perhaps mean glasnost' ('openness')? Or perestroika? Which were the big Gorbachev policies.

[@bilbarrbarian8255]

There's a fingerprint on his glasses and it's killing me inside.

[@jamescarter3196]

"biggest bomb in history, burned faces and set animals on fire a hundred miles away BUT OH SHIT THE FINGERPRINT ON HIS GLASSES IS SO HORRIBLE"

[@cyruskarloff7219]

@@jamescarter3196 Shows how in affected a guy who has read the information on every crazy/biarrare thing that mankind and nature has give a try. :-)

[@Garbagejuicewaterfall]

Your probably terrible. I’m sure I’d like you🙂

[@i_smoke_ghosts]

how bout the wet fart

[@mattberg6816]

i smoke ghosts there’s dry farts?

[@patton303]

Coordinates of the det site: Latitude: 73° 32' 23.99" N Longitude: 54° 42' 12.59" E

[@jasonmatthewoliver3810]

71.633612, 52.264547 A suspicious amount of off-road traffic for there to be nothing there :P

[@Philfluffer]

Simon, don’t look down when filming, the glare off your scalp is blinding! 😂

[@brosephyolonarovichstalin2915]

Simon you are simply legendary.

[@MrMwmussel1]

“A super weapon to rival God...” God: Hold my supermassive black hole. Edit (2 months later): the reply section has gone a really weird direction.

[@Infirito_Ekra]

Lewd. >_>

[@vkqtran4721]

God: Hold my Quazar and Gamma Ray Bursts.

[@r.girouard5886]

This comment is severely underrated

[@insane_troll]

You can't hold a black hole.

[@dozette1448]

@@r.girouard5886 youre so stupid, created yet doubt a creator

[@pozzowon]

Well now that at the end of the video you talked about how clean the Tsar Bomba explosion was, you need to make a video about Castle Bravo and it's lithium-7 miscalculation....

[@raypitts4880]

us certainly had their calculations wrong DONT TELL THE RUSSIANS

[@michaelfusciardi550]

Simon is the best guy to advertise a shaving company lol

[@jameza6129]

“And told them to just get on with it.” 😂

[@james-tz8fg]

Please cover Socotra next; one of the most diverse islands in the world.

[@caitgems1]

There are some beautiful tarantulas from there.

[@boterham7144]

Brett Hazelton dude who pressed you buttons in the wrong way? Socotra is an intresting place, in Quaran folklore they say that the “false prophet” lives there... i dont believe that stuff but that tells me there is not even a small sign of SJW idiots over there

[@thomasa5619]

How dare you all be diverse enough to think about cool things! Everything should be black and white!

[@pugmom3368]

Thank you for this comment. I didn’t know about this magnificent place, and I’ve really enjoyed researching and seeing the unique animals and plant life❤️

[@mattlangstraaat3508]

Makes sense to do it after... another place we van eliminate! Geez

[@rachel_sj]

I’d watch the HBO version of this story in a heartbeat! Everything in the story of Severny and the Tsar Bomba is Epic in the true sense of the word. From the landscape, to the race to build it, to the detonation, quick escape, massive blast and aftermath, I keep coming back to it time and again and this is a video I’ve been waiting for.

[@sirandrelefaedelinoge]

@ Rachel S - "Это не было бы здорово, но это не было бы ужасно..." _"It wouldn't be great, but it wouldn't be terrible..."_

[@Fig_Bender]

Have you seen the documentaries on the tsar bomba? There a couple on youtube, a bit older but that just means it has more authentic interviews with people involved

[@shivanshna7618]

True hbo should but keep Netflix away from it

[@thesuccessfulone]

Write it, then. Send it into HBO. Add as much sex as you like, HBO loves that. I bet you could make a lot of money.

[@ivanvoronov3871]

There is an eco documentary called brotherhood if the bomb, its about the development of nuclear weapons and it o cludes the tsar bomb

[@somedandy7694]

Tsar Walrus. Now THERE'S one for the history books!

[@vitkriklan2633]

"Sloika" was an early dead end design. It was rather a boosted device that couldn't be infinatelly scaled up. Future soviet designs followed the classic design of fission first stage and fusion second stage. Tsar bomba having a uranium tamper (third stage) which by further fission boosted the yield. For the test it was not present, replaced by lead.

[@moetop]

6:56 Russian hackers editing this video.

[@tomasviane3844]

That was the moment Simon said: "I wish they did not half the power of the Tsar bomb, so it would've been over and done with humanity. Bunch of suckers!" They cut that out.

[@AirWolfAT6]

Thank you Simon and everyone at Geographics. I had requested Novaya Zemlya and you guys delivered. This was fascinating and terrifying. You have brilliant researchers and Simon did a great job telling the story of this mysterious place. Спасибо!

[@red.5475]

16:40 I can totally see Khrushchev actually saying "Wet Fart" in that sentence. Dude was straight from Central Casting. 😆