Dive into the darkest chapters of human history as we explore the most catastrophic decisions that led to unimaginable loss of life. From political blunders to devastating conflicts, these choices shaped the world in the most tragic ways possible.
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00:00Adolf Hitler, captured here aged 25, would rise to power with the promise that he would rectify Germany's post-war problems.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be diving into the history books to review humanity's worst choices that led to the most tragically lethal outcomes.
00:15A treaty had been signed, but many believed that it had been done too quickly, and that a real peace had not been made.
00:23Escalating U.S. Involvement in Vietnam
00:26The Vietnam War was a smaller part of the Cold War, a period of high tensions between America and the Soviet Union.
00:32Following Vietnam's independence from France in 1954, the country was temporarily split into two, the Communist North and the American-backed South.
00:40This prevented Ho Chi Minh from gaining control of the entire country.
00:43Instead of letting the nation peacefully vote on its government, the U.S. escalated tensions, leading to all-out war in the region.
00:49At first, only about 16,000 American troops were stationed in Vietnam.
00:53However, following the Gulf of Tonkin incident, President Lyndon B. Johnson dramatically increased military involvement, deploying over 500,000 troops within four years.
01:02The determination of all Americans to carry out our full commitment to the people and to the government of South Vietnam will be redoubled by this outbreak.
01:13This decision had devastating consequences, as over 50,000 American service members died, as well as up to 3 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians.
01:22It's important to remember, those who came home were not greeted as victors.
01:26Stalin's Terror Famine
01:28In the early 1930s, Joseph Stalin's Soviet government engineered a devastating famine in Ukraine, driven not by natural causes but by his brutal policies.
01:36These policies were the forced collectivization of agriculture and unrealistic grain quotas.
01:41As a result, Ukrainian farmers were stripped of their food supply, with countless villages being left to starve.
01:46When farmers failed to meet those quotas, Stalin's men swept their farms to confiscate all the grain they could find.
01:54Many historians agree that Stalin deliberately used his policies and the resulting famine to suppress Ukrainian nationalism.
02:00Stalin's oppressive collection policy created a famine that started spreading in grain-producing regions across the Soviet Union.
02:08Between 3.5 and 5 million Ukrainians perished due to the famine, and its impact is still felt in the nation today.
02:14It serves as a grim reminder of the horrors of authoritarianism, where leaders prioritize political ambitions over human life with no repercussions.
02:22Throughout the crisis, he outright denied that a famine ever took place.
02:27Insulting Genghis Khan
02:28History has forever known him as Genghis Khan.
02:32Most amateur historians are familiar with the Mongolian Empire, but far fewer have heard of the Khwarazmian Empire.
02:38The empire became independent in 1190, around the same time Mongolian leader Genghis Khan was rising to power.
02:44By 1218, the two empires were on friendly terms.
02:47However, that relationship quickly soured when a Khwarazmian governor decided to execute and seize a Mongolian trade caravan that the Khan had sent on a goodwill mission.
02:55With these ruthless murders, the Shah had signed his own death warrant and signaled the end of his empire.
03:01Genghis was deeply offended by this move and temporarily halted his campaign in China to launch a full-scale invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire.
03:08Somewhere between 2 and 15 million people died, which would now be considered an act of ethnic cleansing.
03:14From 1219 to 1220, in a sustained, highly coordinated, three-pronged attack, the Mongols systematically destroyed the Shah's empire.
03:23Mao's Great Leap Forward
03:24China had a rough time in the 19th century, with Britain forcing opium into their country and foreign powers scrambling to seize Chinese land.
03:32After successfully repelling Imperial Japan in World War II, Mao rose to power with a vision to rebuild his nation.
03:38His ambitious plan, the Great Leap Forward, aimed to rapidly industrialize China.
03:42Intended to take China into the promised land of the socialist paradise in less than 15 years.
03:49It was the Great Leap Forward.
03:51Unfortunately, it turned out to be a total disaster, leading to a famine that caused the deaths of 15 to 55 million people.
03:57The country sank into economic chaos, which caused an unprecedented famine.
04:02Surrounded by yes-men who were too scared to report the failures of his policies, Mao allowed the crisis to persist for four years.
04:09By its conclusion in 1962, the Great Leap Forward had only taken the Chinese people 10 steps back.
04:14I prefer not to think about it, because I feel pain when people talk about it.
04:19An Lushan Rebellion
04:20Many of humanity's deadliest events occurred in China, on account of its tremendous size and long history.
04:26In 751, during the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong appointed An Lushan, a military governor, over three prefectures.
04:33This decision ultimately proved to be a major blunder when An Lushan instigated a rebellion in 755 and declared himself emperor.
04:40The apocalyptic eight-year rebellion of General An Lushan, which saw the end of the Tang dream of a greater China.
04:50The rebellion lasted eight years, claiming an estimated 13 to 36 million lives in this short time, and leaving entire regions depopulated.
04:57This catastrophe marked the end of the Tang Dynasty's golden age.
05:00The Great Rebellion of the An Lushan period was extremely hard on China.
05:06Innocent civilians suffered the most, enduring massacres, starvation, and widespread chaos.
05:11Events like this reveal the dangers of unchecked regional power, a recurring issue in China's history.
05:16As government broke down, eight years of horror unfolded.
05:21It was a national catastrophe.
05:23Taiping Rebellion
05:24The second Chinese civil war on our list, the Taiping Rebellion, began in 1850 and raged on for 14 years.
05:31Soon, Hong had an army of 100,000 men, and they defeated the Qing forces in the south.
05:37It was sparked by Hong Xiuquan, who believed he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ and founded the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom,
05:43what would be considered a cult by today's standards.
05:45Hong Xiuquan was born in Tianjin.
05:50This conflict became the deadliest civil war in history, resulting in the deaths of between 20 and 30 million.
05:56By the end, over 20 million people had died of famine, disease, and fighting.
06:02Hong's leadership was erratic and authoritarian, driven by religious fervor.
06:06He chose Nanjing as his capital, which led to a siege that crippled the city.
06:10It also further weakened the ruling Qing dynasty, paving the way for foreign powers to invade China with ease.
06:15Censorship of Spanish Flu
06:17When the COVID-19 pandemic began, it dominated media coverage.
06:20Many may have found this exhausting, but at least it was preferable to the opposite problem faced during the Spanish Flu.
06:26In 1918, this deadly strain of influenza triggered a two-year global pandemic, killing between 17 to 100 million people.
06:33After World War I, governments enforced strict censorship to boost morale, preventing newspapers from reporting on the flu.
06:38In the U.S., some people were even afraid that reporting the flu might violate the Sedition Act of 1918.
06:44Only neutral Spain published news about it, causing many to think the outbreak began there and resulting in the Spanish Flu misnomer.
06:51This also convinced other countries they weren't at risk, including the U.S., where the virus likely originated.
06:56Those soldiers were then sent overseas in the spring of 1918, carrying flu microbes that would spread faster than the war itself.
07:03Without accurate information, mass gatherings continued, social distancing and quarantines were neglected, and healthcare systems became severely overwhelmed.
07:11The Spanish Flu killed at least 50 million people, and some believe the number may be closer to 100 million.
07:18Killing Franz Ferdinand
07:19This is their target, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
07:26On June 28, 1914, Bosnian-Serb Gavrilo Princip assassinated Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.
07:33This singular act set off a complex chain of events that led to World War I, a conflict that claimed approximately 17 million lives.
07:40World War I
07:47World War I
07:50If Ferdinand wasn't assassinated, it's likely the war would have still occurred due to a combination of complicated geopolitical factors.
07:57Still, it undeniably served as a catalyst that accelerated these events.
08:00Exactly one month after the shooting, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with the support of their ally Germany, declared war on Serbia.
08:08The resulting war lasted four years and at the time was the bloodiest conflict in human history.
08:12It also facilitated the global spread of the aforementioned Spanish Flu, taking even more lives.
08:17Harsh Terms After World War I
08:18After winning the First World War, the victors wanted someone to point the finger at.
08:22Rather than promoting reconciliation and fostering friendship between nations, they went in the opposite direction.
08:27This culminated in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, which placed sole responsibility for the war on Germany and ignored the larger role nationalism played.
08:35The treaty said that Germany was guilty of starting the war and so had to pay the full cost.
08:40The resulting international humiliation fostered resentment in the German people, enabling Hitler and the Nazis to take charge.
08:47Seeking revenge, they initiated World War II, the bloodiest conflict in history.
08:51Its most lethal incidents included the Holocaust, the atomic bombings of Japan, the German invasion of Russia, and Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.
08:59In all, at least 70 million people died in the conflict.
09:02Anyone with half a brain knew that the Treaty of Versailles was essentially the starting gun for the Second World War.
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09:25Sending Columbus to find a shortcut to India
09:28In 1492, Columbus set sail to India, but ended up in the Caribbean.
09:32This would turn out to be one of the deadliest geographical mistakes in history.
09:35Columbus made landfall in the Caribbean on an island that is part of the Bahamas today.
09:40It set in motion a series of events that led to an almost complete genocide of an entire continent.
09:45Europeans rushed to establish colonies in the Americas, bringing with them diseases and weapons, and killing at least 90% of the indigenous population.
09:53And they're forced to get gold, which is a meaningless substance for them.
09:58Another horror born from Columbus's exploration was the transatlantic slave trade, which forcibly deported millions of Africans to the Americas.
10:05Estimating the death toll from America's colonization is extraordinarily complex, but it is undeniably an extremely high number.
10:13It would take England an additional 26 years, and the U.S. another 58 years, plus a civil war, before the practice of slavery was officially abolished.
10:24What do you think was the most devastating decision in human history? Leave it in the comment section.
10:28You have chosen war. That will happen, which will happen.
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