@@HunterZeGreat Poland was actually cooperating with Japan on spying on the USSR but, according to the Japanese, they were forced by the allies, mainly the UK and the US to declare war on Japan as part of their alliance. Japan simply refused to accept the war request and continued helping with spying on the USSR and the Third Reich
@@HunterZeGreatit actually wasn’t. When Germany invaded Poland, Poland joined the Allies, and then when Japan attacked in 1941 the various allied nations declared war on Japan, but specifically towards the Polish declaration of war, Japan refused to accept it. Partially because they considered the Poles to share the spirit of the samurai or something like that and considered themselves closely tied to the Poles, and also because they considered it to just be the British forcing the Polish to declare war against their will.
One of my favorite parts of the original History of Japan video is how the video’s speed, commentary, and humor basically come to a halt for a moment of silence in respect towards the lives lost from the two dropped atom bombs.
Technically, Japan denied Poland war request during ww2. If I remember correctly both Japan and Poland share the hatred and phobia of Soviet union and their inteligence agencies worked were tightly together. So when Poland was "forced" to declare war on Japan as Poland was technically Allied nation while Japan was an Axis nation. Japanese respectfully denied the war declaration.
11:36 Funnily enough Japan actually declined a declaration of war from the polish government in exile. Previously Poland and Japan had good relations because of the soviets (they were both a little scared of Russia) and they felt like the Poles were being pressured by the UK to declare war and so just didn’t accept it.
Fun fact: when the US was still deciding whether to use the nuclear weapons on Japan or to go ahead with a land invasion instead, they commissioned a bunch of purple heart medals (to any non Americans, these are the medals handed out to soldiers who were wounded in combat) based on the number of casualties they expected to incur during the land invasion. The number of casualties they expected was so high that to this day the purple hearts they give out to wounded soldiers are still from that batch they ordered for the Japanese land invasion, they haven't given them all out yet. Another fun fact: When they were deciding which cities would be the targets of the nuclear bombs, Kyoto was high up on the list, but the Secretary Of War at the time, Henry Stimson, had had his honeymoon in Kyoto and he lobbied hard to get it removed from the list due to that city's historical and cultural significance. He went directly to President Truman and persuaded him to order the military generals to take Kyoto off the list of targets.
Another fun fact the only real reason we used the bomb was because Stalin was eyeing invading japan himself Japan was already at the brink of surrender and likely would have in a matter of months but the US was so worried about Russia invading and claiming yet more land was enough to justify using the bombs
another fun fact, the us wasn't considering "the bomb or an invasion", it was one then the other, just the bombs and the invasion of Manchuria by the USSR made the surrender happen before the American invasion of Japan (operation downfall), much to everyone's benefit also originally the A-bombs were destined to be used on Germany due to the allied policy of "Germany first", but they had the audacity to surrender before the first bomb was ready, so the US went to Japan to test their new toy
Another fun fact: by the time the bombs were actually dropped on Japan, Japan was already trying to sue for peace. The only condition they wanted was for the emperor to remain in power. The US also wanted the emperor to remain as a puppet figure, but they couldn’t take the knock to their pride of allowing the Japanese to be the ones to require that condition because Truman had been pumping himself up that he would only accept unconditional surrender. We also wanted the war to end before the soviets invaded Japan, (which they had already geared up to do) which would mean Stalin would be at the negotiating table. So we dropped the bomb on cities full of civilians because we were already gearing up for the stupid Cold War and because Truman couldn’t bring himself to say “okay you can have the emperor which we already wanted to be the case anyway. An invasion was not realistically on the table. It is a fiction invented after the war to cover up one of the top 3 most evil things my country has ever done.
I very much enjoyed your reactions to both this and to the World video. Fact is, Hiroshima survived and thrived and now has more than 1 million residents; Nagasaki has over 400,000. The US used airbursts on both cities, and while they killed many people in the short term, they didn't leave a lot of fallout in either city that would have spoiled them for future habitability. It's a far cry from what happened in Pripyat, Ukraine, after all the radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl reactor fire forced many of the atomgrad's 50,000 residents to relocate to Slavutych, a new city purpose-built to receive them. It will be decades more before it's truly safe to live in Pripyat, and even 50 km away in Slavutych, the soil was so contaminated by the Chernobyl fallout that for some years, residents were not allowed to harvest food from the land.
@@tfolsenuclear Theres now millions of people living there (since 1990 already) and it is a "Kurort" (sry for german word, idk the english one, but it means as much as "people go there because they think its good for their health"). I think that is, because most released isotopes of a Nuclear explosion aren't long-lived ones, so the place recovers relatively fast, in comparison for, e.g., a "dirty Bomb" or a Nuclear meltdown. Also, i would like to see your reaction to "Timelapse of the Future: a journey to the end of time" and the follow-up Video "Timelapse of the Universe" (these aren't by Bill Wurtz, though) Congrats on 4000 Subscribers, you really would deserve more.
It's not just the surrounding area. In Šumava (and other places in central Europe), 1200km away from Pripyat, the wild boar feed on mushrooms, which take up the radiation. Any boar caught in the region have to be tested for radioactivity before they can be sold for consumption. 50% of animals are rejected just for this reason.
5:10 There wasn’t as much of a tech gap between Japan and Europe other than in gunnery and sailing, and Japan quickly closed that gap. However in the 1850s, when the Americans followed by everyone else showed up, that was a massive tech gap of pre vs post-industrial revolution societies colliding.
It's funny in America almost no one knows who Matthew C. Perry is but cause he opened up Japan to the rest of the world really he's super famous in there every one there knows about him. there are monuments that even survived ww2 to him
War drives progress? Yes. But more generally, challenging our capabilities in the most demanding ways we can imagine drives progress. Trying to kill each other directly is one such way, after all, we can't find more dangerous opponents to challenge ourselves with. Exploring hostile environments, such as outer space or the deep sea are some other ways we can present this level of challenge to ourselves and frankly I favour those hugely over killing each other directly.
it drives progress in a roundabout way like we make new weapons and such then we find civilian uses or use them in a way that is different kinda like radar and I wanna say radio but might be wrong there.
@@nonpondo_ You're slightly painting with broad brush strokes Art, like advancement in tech is influenced by a multitude of factors like geography, access to resources, proximity to other civilizations for trade and war, etc.
I really miss this bare bones recording format: It's wholesome, genuine, not bogged down with jump cuts, edits or tech, and it's succinct in its purpose. Great stuff sir. I'd be very interested to know your thoughts on Kyle Hill's research into the proliferation of nuclear energy and why we haven't made greater strides toward it being the replacement for fossil fuels. He has an entire series dedicated to the nuclear age from its beginnings to the present and I'd love to hear you speak on it as well.
The bomb as the 'lesser of two evils' is a position that I only learned to question recently, when I watched Shaun's video titled "Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima & Nagasaki" th-cam.com/video/RCRTgtpC-Go/w-d-xo.html I imagine its two hour long runtime is hardly proportionate to a react-video, but it's an extremely in-depth look into the actual situation that played out at the time. Japan was already seeking to end the war by that point, and moreover the United States military _knew_ that this was the case! The reason why Japan was postponing surrender was because they were seeking to avoid an unconditional surrender. They were really banking on Russia throwing them a bone. Russia was never going to throw them that bone however, and Japan's own diplomats knew this. Their superiors unfortunately were intent on trying until Russia slammed the door on them. I don't remember all the specifics from the video anymore, but the gist of it was this: That 'slam the door'-moment _was coming._ The US had reasons to get in the door before that moment however, as US leadership was rapidly turning hostile towards the Soviet Union and wished to establish a more advantageous position on the world-stage. Shaun shows records of the sorts of conversations that American officials were having at the time, and the 'loss of life' argument is so far from what they were discussing that it's honestly incredibly insulting that we were ever made to believe that that was the priority. I cannot recommend Shaun's video enough, as he cites statements and records from not just American officials but Japanese as well- and boy is it so much more of a shit-show than I ever could have imagined.
absolutely, its well known by now that japan was already on the brink of surrender, even if we didnt drop nukes, the war woulda been over before any invasion even started, so hearing people still trying to justify the nuking of civilians as a "lesser of two evils" really pisses me off because it just isnt true, its an asinine way to not feel guilty over mass murder
Yeah. The us just wanted to see how practical this shiny new weapon they had was and wanted to do it very publicly so the soviets would take note. The Japanese populace was just cannon fodder/Guinea pigs to them. And yet Americans compare the bombs to pearl harbor as if the two can ever compare.
That idea about nuclear energy driving the Industrial Revolution instead of Fossil Fuels is called Atomic Steampunk. Typically, it's not nuclear driving electricity, but mechanical power driven by smaller (fictitiously much less radioactive) nuclear reactors. It's a niche thing, but it does exist.
It's the other way around. The History of Japan video was the 1st video Bill made & since it's the history of Japan, the 2 atomic bombings are HUGE in their recent history. They are the only nation attacked w/ nuclear weapons. They are the only nation that had their citizens irradiated w/ fallout. So much of their media post WWII that is post-apocalyptic is a direct result of being nuked. The History of the World, I Guess, video came out later. He already did the long pause for the atomic bombs so repeating that would just be repeating himself. And because in the long run the end of the war is more important than the bombs used. Those attacks are minimized but so is the Holocaust in the video.
Just curious: would you be interested in doing a long-form reaction? Like, a full on, "grab a drink & some popcorn, because this is going to be a long one" kind of video? It's a three-part documentary series about supercolliders. It covers some seriously interesting events, and I think it would be really cool to get your thoughts on it, as an engineer (granted, as a nuclear engineer and not a particle physics engineer).
At 4:28, he comments on the arrival of Europe in Japan. The introduction of matchlock guns dramatically changed Japan's approach to warfare, intensifying the battles. The spread of Christianity gave rise to Christian daimyos, but tragically, they were later suppressed by the Japanese government. Regardless, the impact of Europe's diverse cultures on Japan was immeasurable. I believe African samurai Yasuke was also a part of this cultural exchange.😅
Man i watched both the videos in a row crazy i just found your channel and you just uploaded this. I agree that nuclear reactors could help the would i appreciate you educating people on them due to the "scary" stigma against them ya know
4:47 I was watching a historical documentary done by Japanese historians and one pointed out that Japan went from fighting with bows and swords to helicopters and machine guns in 1 person's lifetime. As the Europeans and their technology was officially allowed into the country during the Meiji Restoration in 1868. World War 1 was in 1918. Thats a 50 year gap, one man could of served in the Boishin War as a child/young man, and served in World War 1 as an old one.
"The war would have gone on longer and more of our soldiers would have died if we didn't commit war crimes" is uh, not, in fact, a good reason to commit war crimes.
When you laughed at the Intermission in the 'history of the world' video, it was basically where this video takes place, it was the intermission for this video to be made/watched
It's interesting that "and then Europe showed up" shows up so rarely in japanese media; at least in recognizable ways. I can only remember a single instance in "Saving 80,000 Gold Coins in the Different World for My Old Age" and even there it is treated more like Columbus arriving in America.
One of the reasons why Japan westernized so fast is their ridiculously high literacy for it's time. Higher than a lot of countries in Europe. Higher literacy usually means higher education and thus ability to accept new knowledge. And the one of the first things they did to actually successfully westernize is to copy good education ideas from leading countries and based on that very forcefully implemented new education system to make people even more educated. It was a little thorny - they had a lot of problems with religion - but in the end very successful in reaching it's goals.
Very much agreed. I believe that the invention and use on every major city of Napalm was the true reason that Japan surrendered rather than the narrative that the 2 atomic bombs we dropped were the reason that there was a surrender. We had already decimated almost every major city by firebombing them with Napalm the nuclear drops were just the over the top display of what we could still deliver. even though it would had taken us many months if not a year to put another bomb together as those 2 were the only 2 we had in the military arsenal. Love the reactions and insight!
On the topic of progress, human progression tends to move forward when there is a vision ahead. Typically it's "win the war" but sometimes it happens when a country has a dictatorship that cares just a little bit more about the progress and image of the nation vs their own individual comfort and security of power. Under a dictator you can have a singular focus, one person saying "get this done this way" which is faster than a government of two parties bickering with each other and always trying to play an uno reverse when they get a turn. Not that dictatorships are a model to follow, especially since most of the time the leader just lets everyone else suffer at the expense of the leader and their supporters. If we could get a benevolent dictator who would look after the people's well-being above all else... well that would be something to see.
4:59 Indeed, we, the Europeans, arrived with: A trans-global fleet of Blue Water Galleons armed with cannon. Our metallurgy was at the point of us having spring-steel swords, Japanese sword smithing never made it past soft and hard steel. Don't know if we had muskets by that point as well. So yeah, skips the size of buildings rocked up and blasted their villages while our at sea.
About "declining war requests"; Poland (the government in exile, in Britain) was preassured to declare war on Japan (a long time anti soviet ally) after Pearl Harbour and Hideki Tojo... rejected it 😁 Japan kept supporting Poles, cooperating with Polish spies in the USSR, providing support for Poles escaping Gulags, rescuing Polish Jews etc. Never black and white, this world of ours.
If you enjoy historic documentaries , you could also watch Oversimplified videos. In regards to history , those 2 billwurtz video and Oversimplified are the greatest way to approach history from a "basic" and fun point of view. Glad to see a reactor that is so prepared on his field but so curious and knowledgeable about so many other stuff.
On the wartime progress vs peacetime progress; In wartime it's let's just try everything and see what works, in times of peace, and applies more to modern times I think, it's more like how far can we push the current ideas and maybe a genius will spring up that can change the way we look at things.
14:02 - You might consider reacting to some of Count Dankula's "Absolute Mad Lad" series. It came to mind at the end of the video due to his recent-ish video on the Yama-Ichi War of the Yakuza.
When Japan is in peace is when the economy and progress increased. In the opposite side, America is always in war, so most of the money they spend goes to the army, increasing poverty and infra-structure problems. War is the economy's worst enemy, and the war economy is the less profitable
"Russia rushes in I see what you did there". XD Actually Wurtz does this several times, like in "history of the entire world, i guess" we have "Khmer!" for "C'mere!", "I wonder if there's room for Moors?" (more) and 'Damn.' said Amsterdam. I gotta start pillaging some stuff.'" I'm probably missing at least a couple. The wordplay on both these videos is just mwah! (chef's kiss)
4:45 The comparison of aliens showing up being similar to Europeans showing up in Japan has been made before in an anime called "Gintama". Literally a big part of Japan's history was the Meiji Restoration which was when Japan modernized and Gintama takes that point in history and makes it actual space aliens coming to Japan instead
Regarding the advances in wartime, I'm sure I've heard somewhere that you were more likely to die from getting hit by a car outside a hospital with the best possible treatment than getting shot because a load of medical advances were around wartime when nurses and doctors had copious amounts of injured people to learn how to un-injure them. 😅
The people of japan definitely would have recognised European technology. They were about on par technologically but used it (primarily gunpowder) very differently. Europe was "more advanced" in that it focused its advancement towards wartime.
Also (as someone who studied this a lot) japan was *very* likely to surrender anyways very shortly. The war was becoming *increasingly* unpopular and the military was losing morale due to heavy losses due to suicide craft and other "honour" policies. It is *incredibly unlikely* the war would've even lasted another year regardless of the bombs being dropped.
Was your mic behind something ? it sounds a little bit scuffed in this video compared to the older ones I watched from you. I mean not horrible or anything just enough I noticed it but I have a... high perception stat
Kyoto was originally supposed to be a target for the atom bomb, but the then secretary of defense fought to have it removed because he honeymooned there with his wife.
well the war with japan probably wouldn't have gone on much longer in any case, as Japan surrendered as soon as the USSR declared war on them as that was the end since now their main army that was still in china would be destroyed. About 44 cities were firebombed and some were destroyed as much as the atomic bombs destroyed them, so when the atomic bombs fell, it wasn't that much of a surprise to the Japanese leadership and they continued as usual until the USSR declared war.
I want to actually go against the idea that "If USA had not nuked japan, the war would have been worse!" as entirely false. Very long story short. The war was about to end and Japan was already willing to give up, just not a unconditional surrender. The reason for not wanting to go with an unconditional surrender was because then the emperor could be deposed and tried for the war. The allies on the other hand was not interested in deposing the emperor either way and that was LITERALLY the only sticking point that kept the negotiations stalling as no one could understand the problem the other was having. What accelerated the plan on using the bomb was the nearing end of the Non-Aggression Pact Japan had with the Soviets. The Allies, and more specifically USA, did not want USSR in on the negotiations with Japan as they'd demand land for declaring war. Finally, Japan did not actually surrender after the bombs. Because up until then, they had TRIED to get into an alliance with USSR that the soviets just answered with a derisive laugh, so they kind of went "Oh, it is not a No, at least! Keep trying!" up until the soviets invaded Manchuria. If you want to hear more about this, I'd recommend Shaun's video "Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima & Nagasaki" that goes through the timeline in detail over a 2 hours and 20 minutes long video.
12:50 Not only that but Japan sent its capitulation in between the fall of those two bombs. But this was ignored until the second one fell because they wanted to try it out (and as some former member of the military said after retirement, if there would have been a third type of bomb, a third one would have fallen).
Colour me not surprised, after WW2 and during the bomb testing phase they had the UK had launched its first ever satellite from the US and the US decided to deploy the Starfish Prime high altitude test in the same year and it fucked up the satellite. To say the UK wasn't happy is an understatement but the US's response was basically "Tough shit" even though the UK had paid for the thing to be built and then launched. That does seem to be how the US military works though, they get a shiny new toy and even if they are told not to use it they go ahead and do it anyway and fuck the consequences....
The "casting a shadow" thing was kinda true? Like there was a ban on a lot of western trade, but the Portuguese had an exception to the ban so other countries sold through them. And in a lot of cases it was things like flintlock rifles that could turn a non-samurai into a "serious" threat. Also the ships they came over in were painted black, so you'd just see this black mass approaching from the horizon on some days. And for a time, all western ships were called "black ships" because of the connection to the initial arrivals. Also also, WW2 is still technically ongoing. Because Russia refuse to sign the peace treaty with Japan. The Kuril Islands are disputed territory, but Japan agreed to give it up some time a decade ago. But Russia not got in touch with them after an official request from the Japanese embassy in Moscow.
I do want to correct a common misconception about the use of the nuke. Japan was already weeks away from surrendering to the United States after the Soviets declared war on them because they were fully aware of just how bad a joint invasion would have been and feared the Soviets would divide up the country, completely dissolve their culture (as they would do in North Korea), depose the Emperor, and be far harsher on military leadership sentencing. This is proven by the fact that the US acquitted a lot of Japanese war criminals, including most of their leadership, and allowed the Emperor to remain -- as a figurehead, yes, but that's still better than death). The bomb's true purpose was a show of US military supremacy, to send a message to the Soviets that the US possessed a superweapon and had every intention of using it on Moscow if they tried anything. Japan's citizens were simply the unfortunate souls that caught caught in the middle of it all.
4:55 That's funny because yesterday I had to write a scenario of aliens invading Earth in 2050 as a similar comparison to Europe invading Native Americans lol
it's so wild to me that, in the relatively brief span of mass mongol expansionism, they sent an invasion fleet to Japan twice, and it got scattered/destroyed by a typhoon each time after they had just enough time to make Japan realize having mongols invading was VERY bad news. (like, there's a reason these two storms are known as the divine wind, Japan was very much aware of what those storms did for the country.
I don’t remember where I heard this but I’m quite sure that before the atom bombs were dropped, millions of warning pamphlets were dropped over Japan warning the citizens what was going to happen. However the Japanese were a proud sort of people and refused to surrender and/or evacuate. Yayyyy history
There's also an unmentioned civilian militarization that happened during the latter part of WWII in Japan, where children and women were being trained to fight and being taught that the Americans eat children and people. The estimated losses by the Americans to not only these militarized civilians, but also our own troops if we were to invade with foot soldiers was in the range of three quarters of a million to possibly millions. That estimate was a big part of why the nukes were used - to reduce loss of life for both sides. The shocking thing to me was how fast those cities were cleaned and rebuilt, which makes me think that nuclear war would be utterly horrific but definitely something recoverable. Unless dirty bombs were used. But it wouldn't be Fallout or Metro if they had been used in future wars. Not that I'm condoning that whatsoever, I'm just noting that the destruction and fallout was remarkably tame. And current nukes are far cleaner with their denotation.
I've heard you recommend using nuclear energy. Besides meltdowns like what happened in Chernobyl, what is the largest environmental risk to using nuclear energy? For example the cooling ponds that could cause environmental effects like with Chernobyl
korean war has apparently offically ended now, i was in history class few years back and our teacher was like "okay so you know last week i told you about korea well theyve actually finally declared peace" and we watched the video. uncomfortable peace mind, but its no longer a war at ceasefire.
I think firebombing and the first usage of nuclear weapons provides different psychological effects. While firebombing may eventually flatten an entire city, it happened for many hours from the night of March 9th and into the morning of March 10th, not to mention that things continued to burn likely for several days afterward, if that wouldn't cause them to surrender, it'd continue to be a war of attition as the japanese people were extremely resilent in their support of the war. Nuclear Weapons, which hadn't been achieved or even conceived by most other countries, had never been used before. Could you imagine what would have gone through the heads of some of their generals hearing that two of cities were glassed in an instant? I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't believe the offifcials reporting it.
I came across this a while back "A study done for Stimson's staff by William Shockley estimated that invading Japan would cost 1.7-4 million American casualties, including 400,000-800,000 fatalities" I know people like to joke and say that 'oh har har nuclear bomb' but in the eyes of all the admirals and generals its more of a sensible choice to prevent massive casualties.
you missed the part where an invasion never would have happened, japan was already surrendering by the time the bombs dropped, the only reason the bombs dropped was to make them surrender before the soviets officially invaded because the US didnt want the USSR to gain any land in the peace deal, thats it, even if a nuke didnt go off, no invasion would have been done, peace would have simply happened a couple weeks later with russia managing to snag a bit of manchurian land in the peace deal
I've always found it weird how Japanese people don't seem to resent being forcefully opened during the 1800's, and Commodore Perry seems to even be a somewhat famous and positively viewed figure
It seems like you take offense to the statement that the atomic bombs ended the war, is there a reason for that? Just curious, since you make a point of interjecting each time about how there were other factors at play that ended the war. While you're correct, it seems like there is something more?
6:48, I think more constructive progress can be done during times of peace. Times of war can certainly unite those who may not have gotten along otherwise, though I question why it can require conflict for unifying to happen.
Fun fact
When Poland declared war on Japan one Japanese official said "we do not accept"
Wasn't it the other way around, considering how Japan was an ally of the Nazis?
@@HunterZeGreat Poland was actually cooperating with Japan on spying on the USSR but, according to the Japanese, they were forced by the allies, mainly the UK and the US to declare war on Japan as part of their alliance. Japan simply refused to accept the war request and continued helping with spying on the USSR and the Third Reich
@@HunterZeGreatit actually wasn’t.
When Germany invaded Poland, Poland joined the Allies, and then when Japan attacked in 1941 the various allied nations declared war on Japan, but specifically towards the Polish declaration of war, Japan refused to accept it. Partially because they considered the Poles to share the spirit of the samurai or something like that and considered themselves closely tied to the Poles, and also because they considered it to just be the British forcing the Polish to declare war against their will.
Poland: i declare an all out WAR on japan!
Japan: no thank you
Poland: oh ok
@@spcyndles I was expecting the standard
understandable have a nice day
One of my favorite parts of the original History of Japan video is how the video’s speed, commentary, and humor basically come to a halt for a moment of silence in respect towards the lives lost from the two dropped atom bombs.
I thought it was also kind of a moment of humor because you see the little white flag
Technically, Japan denied Poland war request during ww2. If I remember correctly both Japan and Poland share the hatred and phobia of Soviet union and their inteligence agencies worked were tightly together. So when Poland was "forced" to declare war on Japan as Poland was technically Allied nation while Japan was an Axis nation. Japanese respectfully denied the war declaration.
Damn, I love this. Thanks for sharing.
That's why the Japanese don't manufacture lots of polish removers.
@@ackaston8746I see what you did there
11:36
Funnily enough Japan actually declined a declaration of war from the polish government in exile. Previously Poland and Japan had good relations because of the soviets (they were both a little scared of Russia) and they felt like the Poles were being pressured by the UK to declare war and so just didn’t accept it.
decline a declaration of war
@@I_Am_Transcendentem Is that a command?
@@Anonyomus_commenter no. I'm just imagining America declaring war on Japan, and Japan just saying "no"
@@I_Am_Transcendentem"Nah I'll pass"
@@I_Am_Transcendentem "I don't want to do that actually"
Fun fact: when the US was still deciding whether to use the nuclear weapons on Japan or to go ahead with a land invasion instead, they commissioned a bunch of purple heart medals (to any non Americans, these are the medals handed out to soldiers who were wounded in combat) based on the number of casualties they expected to incur during the land invasion. The number of casualties they expected was so high that to this day the purple hearts they give out to wounded soldiers are still from that batch they ordered for the Japanese land invasion, they haven't given them all out yet.
Another fun fact: When they were deciding which cities would be the targets of the nuclear bombs, Kyoto was high up on the list, but the Secretary Of War at the time, Henry Stimson, had had his honeymoon in Kyoto and he lobbied hard to get it removed from the list due to that city's historical and cultural significance. He went directly to President Truman and persuaded him to order the military generals to take Kyoto off the list of targets.
Another fun fact the only real reason we used the bomb was because Stalin was eyeing invading japan himself Japan was already at the brink of surrender and likely would have in a matter of months but the US was so worried about Russia invading and claiming yet more land was enough to justify using the bombs
Very funny indeed
another fun fact, the us wasn't considering "the bomb or an invasion", it was one then the other, just the bombs and the invasion of Manchuria by the USSR made the surrender happen before the American invasion of Japan (operation downfall), much to everyone's benefit
also originally the A-bombs were destined to be used on Germany due to the allied policy of "Germany first", but they had the audacity to surrender before the first bomb was ready, so the US went to Japan to test their new toy
imagine we wouldnt have nintendo
Another fun fact: by the time the bombs were actually dropped on Japan, Japan was already trying to sue for peace. The only condition they wanted was for the emperor to remain in power. The US also wanted the emperor to remain as a puppet figure, but they couldn’t take the knock to their pride of allowing the Japanese to be the ones to require that condition because Truman had been pumping himself up that he would only accept unconditional surrender. We also wanted the war to end before the soviets invaded Japan, (which they had already geared up to do) which would mean Stalin would be at the negotiating table. So we dropped the bomb on cities full of civilians because we were already gearing up for the stupid Cold War and because Truman couldn’t bring himself to say “okay you can have the emperor which we already wanted to be the case anyway.
An invasion was not realistically on the table. It is a fiction invented after the war to cover up one of the top 3 most evil things my country has ever done.
I very much enjoyed your reactions to both this and to the World video. Fact is, Hiroshima survived and thrived and now has more than 1 million residents; Nagasaki has over 400,000. The US used airbursts on both cities, and while they killed many people in the short term, they didn't leave a lot of fallout in either city that would have spoiled them for future habitability. It's a far cry from what happened in Pripyat, Ukraine, after all the radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl reactor fire forced many of the atomgrad's 50,000 residents to relocate to Slavutych, a new city purpose-built to receive them. It will be decades more before it's truly safe to live in Pripyat, and even 50 km away in Slavutych, the soil was so contaminated by the Chernobyl fallout that for some years, residents were not allowed to harvest food from the land.
More like centuries.
Glad you liked the videos! Yes, those cities have recovered, just like many others that were damaged in WWII.
@@tfolsenuclear Theres now millions of people living there (since 1990 already) and it is a "Kurort" (sry for german word, idk the english one, but it means as much as "people go there because they think its good for their health"). I think that is, because most released isotopes of a Nuclear explosion aren't long-lived ones, so the place recovers relatively fast, in comparison for, e.g., a "dirty Bomb" or a Nuclear meltdown.
Also, i would like to see your reaction to "Timelapse of the Future: a journey to the end of time" and the follow-up Video "Timelapse of the Universe" (these aren't by Bill Wurtz, though)
Congrats on 4000 Subscribers, you really would deserve more.
It's not just the surrounding area.
In Šumava (and other places in central Europe), 1200km away from Pripyat, the wild boar feed on mushrooms, which take up the radiation. Any boar caught in the region have to be tested for radioactivity before they can be sold for consumption. 50% of animals are rejected just for this reason.
@@Library_Of_Gurkistan isn't that a Russian word?
5:10 There wasn’t as much of a tech gap between Japan and Europe other than in gunnery and sailing, and Japan quickly closed that gap.
However in the 1850s, when the Americans followed by everyone else showed up, that was a massive tech gap of pre vs post-industrial revolution societies colliding.
It's funny in America almost no one knows who Matthew C. Perry is but cause he opened up Japan to the rest of the world really he's super famous in there every one there knows about him. there are monuments that even survived ww2 to him
Huh, what a coincidence, I finished watching Bill Wurtz "history of the entire world, i guess" a couple hours ago! Good video, my friend
same
Bill Wurtz is very good at making clear how silly war actually is.
War drives progress? Yes. But more generally, challenging our capabilities in the most demanding ways we can imagine drives progress. Trying to kill each other directly is one such way, after all, we can't find more dangerous opponents to challenge ourselves with. Exploring hostile environments, such as outer space or the deep sea are some other ways we can present this level of challenge to ourselves and frankly I favour those hugely over killing each other directly.
it drives progress in a roundabout way like we make new weapons and such then we find civilian uses or use them in a way that is different kinda like radar and I wanna say radio but might be wrong there.
@@jacksmith-vs4ct Yep, that's the way it works, same with space exploration etc.
Yeah, that's why when no one is fighting, art advances cause they're trying to solve the problem of being bored
@@nonpondo_ You're slightly painting with broad brush strokes Art, like advancement in tech is influenced by a multitude of factors like geography, access to resources, proximity to other civilizations for trade and war, etc.
I really miss this bare bones recording format: It's wholesome, genuine, not bogged down with jump cuts, edits or tech, and it's succinct in its purpose. Great stuff sir. I'd be very interested to know your thoughts on Kyle Hill's research into the proliferation of nuclear energy and why we haven't made greater strides toward it being the replacement for fossil fuels. He has an entire series dedicated to the nuclear age from its beginnings to the present and I'd love to hear you speak on it as well.
The bomb as the 'lesser of two evils' is a position that I only learned to question recently, when I watched Shaun's video titled "Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima & Nagasaki" th-cam.com/video/RCRTgtpC-Go/w-d-xo.html I imagine its two hour long runtime is hardly proportionate to a react-video, but it's an extremely in-depth look into the actual situation that played out at the time. Japan was already seeking to end the war by that point, and moreover the United States military _knew_ that this was the case! The reason why Japan was postponing surrender was because they were seeking to avoid an unconditional surrender. They were really banking on Russia throwing them a bone. Russia was never going to throw them that bone however, and Japan's own diplomats knew this. Their superiors unfortunately were intent on trying until Russia slammed the door on them. I don't remember all the specifics from the video anymore, but the gist of it was this: That 'slam the door'-moment _was coming._ The US had reasons to get in the door before that moment however, as US leadership was rapidly turning hostile towards the Soviet Union and wished to establish a more advantageous position on the world-stage. Shaun shows records of the sorts of conversations that American officials were having at the time, and the 'loss of life' argument is so far from what they were discussing that it's honestly incredibly insulting that we were ever made to believe that that was the priority.
I cannot recommend Shaun's video enough, as he cites statements and records from not just American officials but Japanese as well- and boy is it so much more of a shit-show than I ever could have imagined.
absolutely, its well known by now that japan was already on the brink of surrender, even if we didnt drop nukes, the war woulda been over before any invasion even started, so hearing people still trying to justify the nuking of civilians as a "lesser of two evils" really pisses me off because it just isnt true, its an asinine way to not feel guilty over mass murder
Yeah. The us just wanted to see how practical this shiny new weapon they had was and wanted to do it very publicly so the soviets would take note. The Japanese populace was just cannon fodder/Guinea pigs to them. And yet Americans compare the bombs to pearl harbor as if the two can ever compare.
14:16 "It's just, humanity, we gotta laugh at ourselves sometimes"
I 100% agree with this
That idea about nuclear energy driving the Industrial Revolution instead of Fossil Fuels is called Atomic Steampunk. Typically, it's not nuclear driving electricity, but mechanical power driven by smaller (fictitiously much less radioactive) nuclear reactors. It's a niche thing, but it does exist.
After seeing you react to the history of the entire world video I was hoping you’d also do the Japan one! Great insights and fun reaction!
Glad you enjoyed it!
It's funny how differently the atomic bombings are treated between this video and History of the World.
It's the other way around. The History of Japan video was the 1st video Bill made & since it's the history of Japan, the 2 atomic bombings are HUGE in their recent history. They are the only nation attacked w/ nuclear weapons. They are the only nation that had their citizens irradiated w/ fallout. So much of their media post WWII that is post-apocalyptic is a direct result of being nuked.
The History of the World, I Guess, video came out later. He already did the long pause for the atomic bombs so repeating that would just be repeating himself. And because in the long run the end of the war is more important than the bombs used. Those attacks are minimized but so is the Holocaust in the video.
Just curious: would you be interested in doing a long-form reaction? Like, a full on, "grab a drink & some popcorn, because this is going to be a long one" kind of video?
It's a three-part documentary series about supercolliders. It covers some seriously interesting events, and I think it would be really cool to get your thoughts on it, as an engineer (granted, as a nuclear engineer and not a particle physics engineer).
I'd LOVE to see him react to that, or really any of BobbyBroccoli's stuff!
At 4:28, he comments on the arrival of Europe in Japan. The introduction of matchlock guns dramatically changed Japan's approach to warfare, intensifying the battles. The spread of Christianity gave rise to Christian daimyos, but tragically, they were later suppressed by the Japanese government. Regardless, the impact of Europe's diverse cultures on Japan was immeasurable. I believe African samurai Yasuke was also a part of this cultural exchange.😅
Man i watched both the videos in a row crazy i just found your channel and you just uploaded this. I agree that nuclear reactors could help the would i appreciate you educating people on them due to the "scary" stigma against them ya know
was hoping you'd do this one too :)
4:47 I was watching a historical documentary done by Japanese historians and one pointed out that Japan went from fighting with bows and swords to helicopters and machine guns in 1 person's lifetime. As the Europeans and their technology was officially allowed into the country during the Meiji Restoration in 1868. World War 1 was in 1918. Thats a 50 year gap, one man could of served in the Boishin War as a child/young man, and served in World War 1 as an old one.
"The war would have gone on longer and more of our soldiers would have died if we didn't commit war crimes" is uh, not, in fact, a good reason to commit war crimes.
When you laughed at the Intermission in the 'history of the world' video, it was basically where this video takes place, it was the intermission for this video to be made/watched
It's interesting that "and then Europe showed up" shows up so rarely in japanese media; at least in recognizable ways.
I can only remember a single instance in "Saving 80,000 Gold Coins in the Different World for My Old Age" and even there it is treated more like Columbus arriving in America.
Bill Wurtz was planning on making more, but both this and the world one burned him out since he was doing everything on his own
Wow, that is a LOT of work!
One of the reasons why Japan westernized so fast is their ridiculously high literacy for it's time. Higher than a lot of countries in Europe. Higher literacy usually means higher education and thus ability to accept new knowledge. And the one of the first things they did to actually successfully westernize is to copy good education ideas from leading countries and based on that very forcefully implemented new education system to make people even more educated. It was a little thorny - they had a lot of problems with religion - but in the end very successful in reaching it's goals.
Very much agreed. I believe that the invention and use on every major city of Napalm was the true reason that Japan surrendered rather than the narrative that the 2 atomic bombs we dropped were the reason that there was a surrender. We had already decimated almost every major city by firebombing them with Napalm the nuclear drops were just the over the top display of what we could still deliver. even though it would had taken us many months if not a year to put another bomb together as those 2 were the only 2 we had in the military arsenal. Love the reactions and insight!
On the topic of progress, human progression tends to move forward when there is a vision ahead.
Typically it's "win the war" but sometimes it happens when a country has a dictatorship that cares just a little bit more about the progress and image of the nation vs their own individual comfort and security of power.
Under a dictator you can have a singular focus, one person saying "get this done this way" which is faster than a government of two parties bickering with each other and always trying to play an uno reverse when they get a turn.
Not that dictatorships are a model to follow, especially since most of the time the leader just lets everyone else suffer at the expense of the leader and their supporters.
If we could get a benevolent dictator who would look after the people's well-being above all else... well that would be something to see.
4:59 Indeed, we, the Europeans, arrived with:
A trans-global fleet of Blue Water Galleons armed with cannon.
Our metallurgy was at the point of us having spring-steel swords, Japanese sword smithing never made it past soft and hard steel.
Don't know if we had muskets by that point as well.
So yeah, skips the size of buildings rocked up and blasted their villages while our at sea.
About "declining war requests"; Poland (the government in exile, in Britain) was preassured to declare war on Japan (a long time anti soviet ally) after Pearl Harbour and Hideki Tojo... rejected it 😁
Japan kept supporting Poles, cooperating with Polish spies in the USSR, providing support for Poles escaping Gulags, rescuing Polish Jews etc.
Never black and white, this world of ours.
And Germans were rescuing the Chinese from the Japanese at the same time.
If you enjoy historic documentaries , you could also watch Oversimplified videos. In regards to history , those 2 billwurtz video and Oversimplified are the greatest way to approach history from a "basic" and fun point of view. Glad to see a reactor that is so prepared on his field but so curious and knowledgeable about so many other stuff.
Thanks for the recommendation!
On the wartime progress vs peacetime progress; In wartime it's let's just try everything and see what works, in times of peace, and applies more to modern times I think, it's more like how far can we push the current ideas and maybe a genius will spring up that can change the way we look at things.
14:02 - You might consider reacting to some of Count Dankula's "Absolute Mad Lad" series. It came to mind at the end of the video due to his recent-ish video on the Yama-Ichi War of the Yakuza.
No way! I just saw your other video from bill and saw this was uploaded when I finished. What luck!
4:37
Humans will be human regardless when or where
When Japan is in peace is when the economy and progress increased. In the opposite side, America is always in war, so most of the money they spend goes to the army, increasing poverty and infra-structure problems. War is the economy's worst enemy, and the war economy is the less profitable
"Russia rushes in I see what you did there". XD Actually Wurtz does this several times, like in "history of the entire world, i guess" we have "Khmer!" for "C'mere!", "I wonder if there's room for Moors?" (more) and 'Damn.' said Amsterdam. I gotta start pillaging some stuff.'" I'm probably missing at least a couple. The wordplay on both these videos is just mwah! (chef's kiss)
Also, "Sikh!", said India "New trade routes"
CK, EU, AND Total War? Ok, I'm very glad I found your channel.
4:45 The comparison of aliens showing up being similar to Europeans showing up in Japan has been made before in an anime called "Gintama". Literally a big part of Japan's history was the Meiji Restoration which was when Japan modernized and Gintama takes that point in history and makes it actual space aliens coming to Japan instead
Regarding the advances in wartime, I'm sure I've heard somewhere that you were more likely to die from getting hit by a car outside a hospital with the best possible treatment than getting shot because a load of medical advances were around wartime when nurses and doctors had copious amounts of injured people to learn how to un-injure them. 😅
The people of japan definitely would have recognised European technology. They were about on par technologically but used it (primarily gunpowder) very differently. Europe was "more advanced" in that it focused its advancement towards wartime.
Also (as someone who studied this a lot) japan was *very* likely to surrender anyways very shortly. The war was becoming *increasingly* unpopular and the military was losing morale due to heavy losses due to suicide craft and other "honour" policies. It is *incredibly unlikely* the war would've even lasted another year regardless of the bombs being dropped.
Was your mic behind something ? it sounds a little bit scuffed in this video compared to the older ones I watched from you. I mean not horrible or anything just enough I noticed it but I have a... high perception stat
Kyoto was originally supposed to be a target for the atom bomb, but the then secretary of defense fought to have it removed because he honeymooned there with his wife.
The existence of TH-cam follows directly from the desire to defeat the Axis.
This man has one humble opening. 🤙🤝🍻
well the war with japan probably wouldn't have gone on much longer in any case, as Japan surrendered as soon as the USSR declared war on them as that was the end since now their main army that was still in china would be destroyed. About 44 cities were firebombed and some were destroyed as much as the atomic bombs destroyed them, so when the atomic bombs fell, it wasn't that much of a surprise to the Japanese leadership and they continued as usual until the USSR declared war.
I want to actually go against the idea that "If USA had not nuked japan, the war would have been worse!" as entirely false.
Very long story short.
The war was about to end and Japan was already willing to give up, just not a unconditional surrender. The reason for not wanting to go with an unconditional surrender was because then the emperor could be deposed and tried for the war. The allies on the other hand was not interested in deposing the emperor either way and that was LITERALLY the only sticking point that kept the negotiations stalling as no one could understand the problem the other was having.
What accelerated the plan on using the bomb was the nearing end of the Non-Aggression Pact Japan had with the Soviets. The Allies, and more specifically USA, did not want USSR in on the negotiations with Japan as they'd demand land for declaring war.
Finally, Japan did not actually surrender after the bombs. Because up until then, they had TRIED to get into an alliance with USSR that the soviets just answered with a derisive laugh, so they kind of went "Oh, it is not a No, at least! Keep trying!" up until the soviets invaded Manchuria.
If you want to hear more about this, I'd recommend Shaun's video "Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima & Nagasaki" that goes through the timeline in detail over a 2 hours and 20 minutes long video.
When I was in exchange in Japan we got shown this in class
12:50 Not only that but Japan sent its capitulation in between the fall of those two bombs.
But this was ignored until the second one fell because they wanted to try it out (and as some former member of the military said after retirement, if there would have been a third type of bomb, a third one would have fallen).
Colour me not surprised, after WW2 and during the bomb testing phase they had the UK had launched its first ever satellite from the US and the US decided to deploy the Starfish Prime high altitude test in the same year and it fucked up the satellite. To say the UK wasn't happy is an understatement but the US's response was basically "Tough shit" even though the UK had paid for the thing to be built and then launched. That does seem to be how the US military works though, they get a shiny new toy and even if they are told not to use it they go ahead and do it anyway and fuck the consequences....
Another channel who makes good history videos with comedy is oversimplified
The "casting a shadow" thing was kinda true?
Like there was a ban on a lot of western trade, but the Portuguese had an exception to the ban so other countries sold through them.
And in a lot of cases it was things like flintlock rifles that could turn a non-samurai into a "serious" threat.
Also the ships they came over in were painted black, so you'd just see this black mass approaching from the horizon on some days.
And for a time, all western ships were called "black ships" because of the connection to the initial arrivals.
Also also, WW2 is still technically ongoing. Because Russia refuse to sign the peace treaty with Japan.
The Kuril Islands are disputed territory, but Japan agreed to give it up some time a decade ago.
But Russia not got in touch with them after an official request from the Japanese embassy in Moscow.
I do want to correct a common misconception about the use of the nuke. Japan was already weeks away from surrendering to the United States after the Soviets declared war on them because they were fully aware of just how bad a joint invasion would have been and feared the Soviets would divide up the country, completely dissolve their culture (as they would do in North Korea), depose the Emperor, and be far harsher on military leadership sentencing. This is proven by the fact that the US acquitted a lot of Japanese war criminals, including most of their leadership, and allowed the Emperor to remain -- as a figurehead, yes, but that's still better than death).
The bomb's true purpose was a show of US military supremacy, to send a message to the Soviets that the US possessed a superweapon and had every intention of using it on Moscow if they tried anything. Japan's citizens were simply the unfortunate souls that caught caught in the middle of it all.
4:55 That's funny because yesterday I had to write a scenario of aliens invading Earth in 2050 as a similar comparison to Europe invading Native Americans lol
Not gonna lie. The main reason why I clicked on this video is, because the title has the words "Nuclear Engineer" and "Japan" in the title. Sorry. ^^'
Same bro
Can you do Animation vs Math from Alan Becker next? I think you'll like that one.
it's so wild to me that, in the relatively brief span of mass mongol expansionism, they sent an invasion fleet to Japan twice, and it got scattered/destroyed by a typhoon each time after they had just enough time to make Japan realize having mongols invading was VERY bad news. (like, there's a reason these two storms are known as the divine wind, Japan was very much aware of what those storms did for the country.
I recommend the channel The Shogunate for anyone interested in the history of Japan. They do a fantastic job!!!
I don’t remember where I heard this but I’m quite sure that before the atom bombs were dropped, millions of warning pamphlets were dropped over Japan warning the citizens what was going to happen. However the Japanese were a proud sort of people and refused to surrender and/or evacuate.
Yayyyy history
There's also an unmentioned civilian militarization that happened during the latter part of WWII in Japan, where children and women were being trained to fight and being taught that the Americans eat children and people. The estimated losses by the Americans to not only these militarized civilians, but also our own troops if we were to invade with foot soldiers was in the range of three quarters of a million to possibly millions. That estimate was a big part of why the nukes were used - to reduce loss of life for both sides.
The shocking thing to me was how fast those cities were cleaned and rebuilt, which makes me think that nuclear war would be utterly horrific but definitely something recoverable. Unless dirty bombs were used. But it wouldn't be Fallout or Metro if they had been used in future wars. Not that I'm condoning that whatsoever, I'm just noting that the destruction and fallout was remarkably tame. And current nukes are far cleaner with their denotation.
You know total war!!! I respect you even more now
I've heard you recommend using nuclear energy. Besides meltdowns like what happened in Chernobyl, what is the largest environmental risk to using nuclear energy? For example the cooling ponds that could cause environmental effects like with Chernobyl
Don't forget Fukushima, now the japanese are droping to the sea radioactive water, contaminating the fish that they export to the world
korean war has apparently offically ended now, i was in history class few years back and our teacher was like "okay so you know last week i told you about korea well theyve actually finally declared peace" and we watched the video.
uncomfortable peace mind, but its no longer a war at ceasefire.
nice video dude :)
I think firebombing and the first usage of nuclear weapons provides different psychological effects. While firebombing may eventually flatten an entire city, it happened for many hours from the night of March 9th and into the morning of March 10th, not to mention that things continued to burn likely for several days afterward, if that wouldn't cause them to surrender, it'd continue to be a war of attition as the japanese people were extremely resilent in their support of the war.
Nuclear Weapons, which hadn't been achieved or even conceived by most other countries, had never been used before. Could you imagine what would have gone through the heads of some of their generals hearing that two of cities were glassed in an instant? I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't believe the offifcials reporting it.
japan even has anime im so jealous
And this video here is the reason for the intermission in the other video right when he reach the topic of Japan :P
I wonder why a nuclear engineer is watching history of japan 💀
I came across this a while back
"A study done for Stimson's staff by William Shockley estimated that invading Japan would cost 1.7-4 million American casualties, including 400,000-800,000 fatalities"
I know people like to joke and say that 'oh har har nuclear bomb' but in the eyes of all the admirals and generals its more of a sensible choice to prevent massive casualties.
you missed the part where an invasion never would have happened, japan was already surrendering by the time the bombs dropped, the only reason the bombs dropped was to make them surrender before the soviets officially invaded because the US didnt want the USSR to gain any land in the peace deal, thats it, even if a nuke didnt go off, no invasion would have been done, peace would have simply happened a couple weeks later with russia managing to snag a bit of manchurian land in the peace deal
everybody how has you day been
Another good video c: Here's a comment for the algorhythm. c:
@12:55 I don't mean to attack you, but I've never seen a purer example of how STEM people tend to view people as an afterthought 😂
Ja-pan
Inventor of the frying pan
this is the one i wanted. i think he made it first. the "of the world" was just falling into the trap of making what youdid...again!
Most of the 'history of Japan' slots into the "intermission" in the 'history of the world'.
bit small on Nanking
How anime was invented: The Movie.
Total war shogun 2 my favorite total war game
Totalwar shogun 2 fall of the Samurai is the game and for Bombing i will Point at the Carpet bombing of Dresden
I'm so confused. Between the last history of the entire world and this... does he actually believe that aliens came down and helped fight wars?
Why does a nuc- ohhhhhhh
could you play realistic boiling water reactor on roblox thats the name
I've always found it weird how Japanese people don't seem to resent being forcefully opened during the 1800's, and Commodore Perry seems to even be a somewhat famous and positively viewed figure
Cool video 👍👍👍
Thanks!
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!!!
It seems like you take offense to the statement that the atomic bombs ended the war, is there a reason for that? Just curious, since you make a point of interjecting each time about how there were other factors at play that ended the war. While you're correct, it seems like there is something more?
commenting for engagement
no no don't justify it. history happened, in its time, look at it through a thoroughly old lens
6:48, I think more constructive progress can be done during times of peace. Times of war can certainly unite those who may not have gotten along otherwise, though I question why it can require conflict for unifying to happen.
cool
People whose houses are made of wood and paper shouldn't start wars.
Americans houses are made of wood, most of them.
People who claim to be in the moral right shouldn't commit war crimes.