I am from Pakistan, our history books hide the genocides and this conflict widely. I was taught Yahya Khan was a dictator, a bad person, he ruled with iron fist. But when it comes to topic of Bangladesh we are taught different thing. We are taught our brave soldiers got surrounded between rebellious Bangladeshi and Indian forces. They had to make sacrifices to protect Bangladeshi citizens who in return murdered them. A big part of this war is hidden from us. This storm has never been part of our history books
Like in all stories of this kind, there are as many different perspectives as people involved. West Pakistani soldiers were told what their leaders wanted them to hear. No doubt many were brave. It’s a sad fact of history that corrupt leaders abuse the trust of people they should protect, including military personnel under their command.
I can often be critical of India and its policies, especially their purchase of Russian oil currently. But 1971 Bangladeshi incident was one event where India was unambiguously correct. India saved the world in 1971. India if anything doesn't get enough credit for it.
@@TheRishijoesanu those countries who were blaming the crude oil purchase deal of India are now buying refined petroleum products from India. So they are indirectly contributing to the war right? I think it was just a plot to humiliate India because Europe buys more oil than India
@@rohand04 Indian media says so as well. And many conflicts on the borders can easily be used to point this out as well. The Pakistani Army follows a motto of preparing for anything and I support this idea.
Bangladeshi here. (Not so) fun fact: All throughout 70s and 80s, Bangladesh was mostly thought of as 'the country with cyclones and floods'. And like all good famine stories, Henry Kissinger is intertwined in all of these. The nation continues to have challenges, but now we're more famous for manufacturing the tshirt/pair of jeans you're wearing right now. I wish my history classes back in school days were half as engaging as what Joe has done here. And I didn't know about Ukrainian 'Holodomor' at all. Thank you Joe.
“Like all good famine stories, Henry Kissinger is intertwined…” LOLOL. Fun history fact: The first recorded genocide in history was in 88 BC, it is known as the “Asiatic Vespers”… King Mithridates IV of Pontus had all Italics (Roman’s/people from the Italian peninsula) in eastern Asia Minor (Turkey) killed, in a single day. About 100,000 altogether. Amazing he was able to coordinate that to all happen in 1 day without the secret getting out, given the communication at the time)
"Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin" by Snyder The Holodomor was not a badly handled natural disaster. Stalin seized all the grain Ukrainian farmers had grown to sell overseas for badly needed cash. He also wanted to punish the farmers who were resisting collectivizing their farms. Did this for several years. Cannibalism was not unknown. Ukraine knows why they're fighting Russia.
my family on my mother's side ran away from bangladesh to india during the genocide. i've been told countless stories about the circumstances of their escape, and how they began their new life in india. lets just say, it was not easy at all. but i never knew that this cyclone had started the chain of events. damn.
The cyclone was the tipping point.Your and my families struggled for decades to win freedom. Im just sad that you could not return to your motherland even after the independence.
I can often be critical of India and its policies, especially their purchase of Russian oil currently. But 1971 Bangladeshi incident was one event where India was unambiguously correct. India saved the world in 1971. India if anything doesn't get enough credit for it.
@@t.a6159 if you look at the reports of operation search light it's clearly mentioned how Hindu bengalis were more targeted than thier Muslim counterpart.
I was a sophomore in high school in '70 and a HUGE 'Beatles' fan. George Harrison and friends gave a 'Concert for Bangla Desh' and I bought the vinyl box I did some research on the tragedy and learned a lot about cyclones. That in turn led to my fascination with severe weather and I joined the USAF on Halloween 1973 and became a Weather Equipment Specialist 302X0 and specialized in weather radar (CPS9, FPS77 and FPS103). Just shows you that events that happen thousands of miles away can effect anyone's life.
I was in 4th grade in 1970 and remember that our class had a bake sale with the proceeds going to East Pakistan due to the flood. I don't recall being told it was due to a cyclone, but my memory could have lapsed on that fact. It was most of our first experience with personal civic duty as a global citizen, and I have to say, it felt very rewarding to me. Thanks for telling 'the rest of the story' I never knew about.
Dr. Neal Frank was the meteorologist I watched on the news growing up in Houston. I had a severe storm phobia, that caused crazed panics when I even saw just dark clouds in the sky. My parents took me to meet with Dr. Frank and other meteorologists and they took time to try to ease my fears by teaching me about storms and storm safety. It was incredibly kind. It didn’t work instantly but it did help, and I’ll never forget that kindness. I eventually got more and more relief from my phobia, after a lot of hard work. I don’t go into blind panic over every dark cloud anymore, but I am hyper vigilant about severe weather. In Houston, it isn’t unusual! The extremes we’ve had in the last decade would’ve undone me as a kid. Dr. Neal Frank is a legendary figure in Houston history, but especially to me.
I grew up in Ohio in the 1970's, and had a severe weather phobia as well, especially after the supercell outbreak of April 3-4, 1974. Had nighmares for years after that.
I remember my parents switching between channels 11 and 13 so they could get both Neal Frank's weather and Marvin Zindler's "Slime in the Ice Machine" report.
I am from Bangladesh. So I am probably one of the few people who knew about this incident before seeing this video. Watching Joe Scott is a regular source of Joy for me. But this reminded me of the tales of tragedy that my grandmom used to tell. We used to seat around her horrified and used to listen to her stories in vivid terror. Anyways, shoutout to the other bangladeshis who sees the video.
Also Bengali here, but from the other side. Have been hearing stories of a massive flood in the 70s that basically reshaped our town(some 30kms from the sea) from my mother.
Bangladeshi here, these events are taught to us in school since childhood. But this was immaculate, unbiased, informative storytelling at its finest. Thank you Joe! Now I'm intrigued about learning the global politics of that cold war era that very well could have prevented my existence and yours too, whoever is reading this. Take love ❤️
I recall seeing it on the BBC news. All you could see was water and the taller trees. Day after day, just water. I remember thinking "that's never going to dry out ", but then I was about six. I've never forgotten it, anyone mentions flood and I see Bangladesh in the 70s. I can't even imagine what that's like and how you move on from it.
When I first started working I had a coworker who was an older engineer from Bangladesh, he took all of us young engineers under his wing and mentored us. Had us over for dinner and was a great guy. He talked about the war once, he would have been a young tween then. Never mentioned the crazy storm but he learned to play bridge during the hard times and became a dang good engineer and great human. Thanks for sharing more of the backstory. No wonder he didn't talk about it much 😢
Thank you so much for talking about this. I am from Bangladesh and very few people from the outside world actually know how much we have suffered. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you for talking about this Joe. I feel like the atrocities done on the night of "Operation searchlight" and how it crippled Bangladesh as a country for years to come isn't talked about enough. I'm from Bangladesh and have been a long time fan of the channel.
I was part of a cyclone relief effort in Bangladesh in 1991. While not on the same scale as this tragedy, there were still over 250,000 killed and over 10 million homeless in a day. I was part of a Marine Expeditionary Brigade that had taken part in Desert Shield and Desert Storm and were on our way back to the United States via Navy ship when we got the call to provide humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh. We were around the southern tip of India when we were ordered to Bangladesh. Upon entering the Bay of Bengal and steaming north toward Bangladesh we were horrified to see bodies floating in the ocean by the hundreds, if not thousands in view of each ship. Our part was called Operation Sea Angel and we participated in relief efforts until our stocks were depleted and our mission was complete. We brought food, helped construct desalination plants and provided medical assistance. A few of the Bangladeshi folks spent a few hours on our ship and were given hot showers and hot food. I'd never seen true desperation until those days in Bangladesh in 1991 and I've never forgotten those poor folks. This had more of an impact on me psychologically than any of the combat action I was involved in as a Marine infantryman in Desert Storm.
Thank you very much for your generous help and support at that much needed time. It was a horrific situation in 91 too. Much gratitude. May God bless you and your family. ❤️
Recently India and Bangladesh have faced quite a few severe cyclones. That is when, searching for worst cyclones of all time, I came to know about the Bhola cyclone, but couldn't find any substantial information about it on the internet, other than some technical information in Wikipedia. Thanks for coming up with this episode Mr. Scott!
I am from Bangladesh and my mom has one of the most incredible birth stories. So, my mom was born the night before the Bhola Storm Cyclone. My grandmother (mom's mom) ran away for her love and married her loved person. My grandmoms family house was an estate on a riverbank not far from BHOLA island and they were rich by 1970s standards. Even her father told her to come to their house and deliver the baby so, but her extended family was planning to kill the child and remarry her off to a West Pakistani army officer. When she was about to give birth, her mom came to her house to deliver the child. No one else her brothers or father or anyone else didn't came to see her because she ran away and wouldn't listen to her. That night on the Bhola cyclone my grandmom lost all her family and no one except her mom survived because she was at my grandmom's house and if she were to listen to her father and went to her house instead, today not my mom and also me and my siblings wouldn't have existed on this planet.
Watching your video "operation searchlight" on nebula brought tears to my eyes. As a Bengali, it's hard to put into words the pain and trauma that my people have endured as a result of the genocide in 1971. My family has shared with me the stories of their experiences during the Bangladesh Liberation War, and the fear and violence that they faced on a daily basis. Thank you for sharing the video and raising awareness about the genocide. It's important that we continue to honor the memory of those who were lost and work towards creating a world where such atrocities do not occur. We must never forget the victims, and I hope that by sharing the video, we can continue to educate others about the importance of human rights and justice. Joy Bangla!
Hey Joe, I have been following you for years now and one of the few channels I’ve subscribed to. As a diehard fan from Bangladesh, you won’t believe how emotional I became while watching this! My eyes were literally full of tears!!! Thank you so much for showcasing our struggle and hardship for the world to see! Love and respect ❤
I was especially concerned about the response I would get from Bangladeshis, hoping I didn't get any details wrong. So this is good to hear. Thanks man.
It makes me happy to see how much it means to you to have this story told. Respect to your people! As someone who's fascinated with history I was speechless when I started watching this video and realised that indeed I had never heard of this tragedy despite my recent deep research dives into the Cold War.
I am from Bangladesh and you are absolutely right about your narrative! I had just come from E Pakistan in August 1970 and I was doing my internship in Kansas City during that period. In April 1971 I went to Washington DC and NY to lobby along with many others for Bangladesh ! And later I went to the front line and served as a volunteer doctor with the Liberation Front ( Mukti Bahini) for about four months on a special visitor visa from India! Then I returned to continue my medical residency etc and later became an American citizen. It was overwhelming to experience the natural disasters and the inhumanity of genocide for the people of Bangladesh. Warning system were not in place and there were no evacuation procedures. Currently there are better warning systems and evacuation plans in place from what I understand. Regards.
as a pakistani-american, did high school in pk. we were never taught. always thought that between sh mujib may have had some more seats, never realizing that he had simple majority just in his party, didnt need coalition partners. it took someone of IK's stature to denude PA in our eyes. the brainwashing done by PA over us is of such calibre, that Goebbles would have failed out of PA school of propaganda. To my erstwhile EP/BD brothers (was born quite a bit after 71), Joy Bangla.
10:57 if there’s anything I’ve learned about late 20th century geopolitics is that anytime a head of state is seen in a photo with a figure wearing sunglasses inside…it ain’t good.
As a Bangladeshi PhD student in the US studying storm surge mechanisms, I cannot thank you enough Joe! From the history to the cyclone, each and every information is absolutely immaculate. This also adds value to the effort you have put in making this video, as a lot of this history have been subject to heavy manipulation and it is hard to find accurate information. You are absolutely right, the struggle we have been through as Bangladeshis, is almost unknown to the western hemisphere. Thanks for putting us on the map Joe. I am buying you a coffee, God bless you.
Can't express how happy I am when my favorite TH-camr does a video about my country. My grandfather was living in Bhola at the time of the disaster. Growing up we always heard these stories and how barely they survived. Thank you for doing such a wonderful video and reminding me how my country survived though the worst situations and how rich the history is. **Had no idea that the liberation war of 1971 was as horrifying as Cuban missile crisis** Thank you 🇧🇩
Thank you so much for this upload. Bangladesh never ever gets coverage in the media, much less our difficult history. It truly is so comforting to hear someone speak of us in a positive light and tell the stories of how much our parents and grandparents struggled just so we could have the freedom we have today. Joy Bangla!
The part about the bodies in the water... I'm in South Central Louisiana, just west of New Orleans. I was working on the boats when Katrina happened. We were tasked with delivering fuel/water barges to those devastated areas that could be reached. While the scope of what we saw was nowhere near the scale of what happened in Bangladesh, what we saw are memories that I would wish on NO person. What I saw nearly broke me... I actually CAN imagine the aftermath of the storm mentioned here, and while it terrifies me, it's something I feel must not be forgotten. 😢
Imagine right after the storm your government using the storm as a weapon to kill you off, by withholding supplies, then launching Genocide on you? Thats what these people went through, just insane.
I was in high school when Katrina happened, on the other side of the country, and I remember seeing pictures of the bloated bodies in the water. I'll never be able to scrub that image from my mind, and that was just a picture. I can't imagine how deeply traumatizing it must have been to have actually been there and dealing with it in person. I hope you've been able to work through that trauma in the nearly 20 years since. I'm sure you helped a lot of people in the time you were there.
Mexica tried to deliver help, just a few hours after news broke out about the disaster. But Bush junior didn't want to lose face, so he was negating the permission for Mexican troops (who were already at the border with foods filled to the rim with food, water and medical supplies, plus troop transports with Navy and Army doctors) to enter the USA. In the end the governor of Texas gave the permession (I believe this was him overstepping his authority) and so Mex troops entered Texas for the first time in 150years... and couldn't reach New Orleans, US Army stopped them at Texas' border. Still, they delivered relief at the Texan Cajun communities who'd be hard hit by Katrina, though none were as hard hit as New Orleans. Remember: politicians would rather see the world end than admitting their faults
A brilliant and comprehensive re-telling of history, parts of which we ourselves didn't know of. This needs to be translated (subtitles, voice-overs etc.) into Bengali, Hindi, Urdu - and many other languages. Way to go, Joe!!!
Came here from nebula after seeing your video (operation searchlight) on the genocide of Bangladesh in 1971. I thank you for raising awareness. Tears come to my eyes when I think of how much my people, my country suffered. 🇧🇩
I am from Pakistan, and I can say with absolute certainty that Yahya Khan was a mad man. This is the part of my country's history that I always need to know and remember for us to not repeat these mistakes.
I can often be critical of India and its policies, especially their purchase of Russian oil currently. But 1971 Bangladeshi incident was one event where India was unambiguously correct. India saved the world in 1971. India if anything doesn't get enough credit for it.
@@UmerAqdas28 It seems to me - a foreigner - that Pakistan's problems with dictators and such things are largely a result of fear of India. In your opinion, is there any hope for some kind of easing of tensions between the two countries? Also, again in your opinion, what would be one thing that the US could do that most Pakistanis would appreciate (that doesn't involve antagonizing India)? One last question, since I feel this comment of mine so far is a little too negative (or serious). What's one thing that you like very much about your country, something that makes you proud to be Pakistani?
I'll 2nd jeffbenton6183 comments and questions, From my distant viewpoint and knowing little about how Pakistan works, it seems to want to jail all their past leaders. And like many places, the military seems ready to step in to defend its particular set of desires. Is the US supposed to friendly with Pakistan right now, or are we enemies? It's hard to keep up.
A Bangladeshi here. It is good to see you are discussing a topic that changed and defined our nation. As a long time follower of this channel, it means a lot to me. So I would like to say Thank you
This affected George Harrison so much, and he cared so deeply that he organized the Concert For Bangladesh to raise money for the people there. The concert was turned into a film and a double disc record album. It was the first such project nearly 25 years before Live Aid.
Just found your channel. I really like the fact that you don't cut the video immediately after you finish saying a sentence. I really like the brief pauses, adds a lot of character and personality.
This is absolutely shocking and horrifying, Thank you for sharing the details of this horrific history, I was a child of seven at this time, but I recall many relief campaigns on television to help people living in this region.
Joe, I can't express in words how much I appreciate you talking about this history regarding my country for the world to know. Being a regular viewer to your channel, I could ask for nothing more than this from your channel. Thank you so much! love from a Bangladeshi
Bangladesh has geography where the river delta provides fertile soil, but the shape of the Bay of Bengal literally funnels storm surge up the bay. The worst surge is on the eastern side of a land-falling cyclone, so a storm coming up on the western side is the most catastrophic like this cyclone was. This causes storm surge to be even higher than what you might see with cyclones in other parts of the world. One only has to look at what Hurricane Ian did to SW Florida (this storm was of similar intensity) where buildings are constructed much better to see what what would have happened in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is also very close to sea level on a good part of it's coastal plain which is densely populated. While now you have a system that can get people out of the way of severe storms, the destruction is still horrible. This doesn't even take into account sea level rise
To be more apt on the geographical situation is while Florida is a carbonate reef complex so there is at least a form of bedrock albeit porous and depending on ion concentrations particularly acidity water soluble bedrock, Bangladesh is a river delta meaning that the land is just piled up sediment dumped by slowing river waters as they reach the ocean gradually expanding the land with fill material from the Himalayas where the river meets the sea. This means that not only is Bangladesh low lying but it is also constantly subsiding with only new sediment deposition keeping the delta above water much as the case with river deltas across the world.
as a category 5 hurricane survivor, it was definitely a trauma healing exercise to watch this vid... great way to show how the disaster is a social aspect and not a natural/environmental one... how the systems that are supposed to protect us fail and the casualties are endless...
The fact they used a scale from 1 to 10 and someone just decided to update that to 1 to 5 without letting the people know, it just broke my heart how many leadership figures, parents, grandparents, community leaders must've heard that "red 4" alert and tried to calm everyone and tell them it was not going to be that bad, and then they all likely died on that night...
I am so glad someone is talking about it. I am from Bangladesh and I heard stories from my grandmother about how she and my dad as well as her community survived this storm while living in a coastal area and how she saw basically flood of dead people every single day.
I’m a meteorologist, and didn’t know about this. Epic story. The Bangladesh region is such an extreme microclimate. The deadliest tornado in recorded history also struck that area in the 80s, killing 1.5k people. That would make an interesting follow-up video from this too… perhaps even on that microclimate as a whole. It’s crazy!
Now as the world warms, it also has the title as one of the "place with highest heat index in the entire world" The highest summer temperature itself is "only" barely above 40C, but the extreme humidity makes it feel like over 50C
As a Bangladeshi watching this form Dhaka, i appreciate this video and the Irony of the timing. 21st February is the International Mother Language Day. It was proposed by Bangladesh at the 1999 UN summit to celebrate Linguistic and Cultural Diversities world wide after people back here in 1952 gave up their lives to fight for the right to keep theirs. This whole month is held in high reverence in the country. Thank you Joe for trying to educate people on the Bangladeshi Suffering in such an engaging way. And about other atrocities I didn't know about like the Ukrainian Holodomor.
I was completely unaware of this string of tragedies that befell Bangladesh. Never heard of them. But these are important stories to tell, to learn from, and never forget. Thank you for bringing wider awareness to this. My heart goes out to everyone who suffered through loss and trauma during those times.
Bangladesh has really never fully recovered. India helped them get independence, then didn't help in reconstruction. Because it was more about weakening Pakistan than helping Bangladesh. The rest of the world didn't help Bangladesh either. By almost every metric their GDP, education, poverty rate, all are significantly worse than any other country around them.
I'm not surprised, after all people still deny the holocaust and countries still deny the Armenian genocide. Something like this would be well hidden, then when discovered denied.
You are right about learning from these events, unfortunately there is always some nutcase leader on the planet wanting to take over some other country, mankind will never evolve To be smart. Just greedy.
@@Giganfan2k1 now things has changed. Bangladesh has higher average income, life quality, lower poverty rate, more gender equality than India and Pakistan
You covered this with a lot of humanity. Much appreciated. I only heard of stories of the horror before this video from my grandparents and aunts/uncles old enough to remember it...
Thank you Joe. Not only am I completely hooked on your videos, but my kids are now too. My ex and I are separated, so during the school year I only really get to see them on weekends. Now we have a call each week to talk about your newest video. Thank you for that.
As a Bangladeshi who is watching your videos for years now, it makes me happy that amongst all the youtubers you covered this very important piece of history of Bangladesh. This cyclone and the election was the last nail in the coffin of Pakistan's integrity. 20 years of oppression just exploded after this. Bangalis suffered a lot in last few decades at that time. Multiple famine, not getting equal rights, straight up dividing the entire culture and ethnicity in half, British divide and rule killed millions in religious genocide and so many more... that war was just do or die for us at that point.
The genocide of Bengalis in 1971 is so horrifying. I live in West Bengal India and i have heard stories of it from my friend's grandparents and grandmothers. They ere some of the people who actively saw what happened. Walked hundreds of miles to India and settled as a refugee
Not just hirricanes but the 1989 Daulatpur-Saturia tornado which killed over 1500 people as well. For a country with such beauty, Bangladesh seems to only make it in the news or negative reasons though. I knew about the hurricane in passing since CarlyAnnaWX mentioned it very very briefly in one of her vids, but to find out more on it is both fascinating, and horrifying as well. Which makes me wonder what else you'll cover from Asia as well
"It is possible that no other country has suffered so much as Bangladesh in the last 50 years" - Thank you Joe from the bottom of my heart for bringing all the history of our suffering to the light. Especially because America was so eagerly on the side of our genocidal oppressors.
I'm from sri lanka and I've never heard about any of this. All of these are my neighbour countries and are currently helping my countrymen survive the worst economic crisis of my country (due to corruption basically ). These are the things that should be taught in school to never have a repeat. So proud of Bangladesh for building from the ground up.
Sorry to say the reason you aren't taught about this is because during the 1971 war Sri Lanka was Helping Yahyah Khan by providing stop over and refuelling for West Pakistani military. 🙄
George Harrison, Concert for Bangladesh, August 1, 1971. Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, etc was to raise public awareness of the genocide & raise money for relief. Although the funds were held up by the IRS for quite some time, AFTER a lengthy process of obtaining rights from the record companies of all the artists that performed, in 1985 it was reported that the revenue from the concert, album & film had provided Bangladesh $12 million. It also paved the way so that charity concerts like LiveAid could have a more streamlined system in place. ✌🏼
As an Indian whose ancestors were from Bangladesh, it broke my heart into pieces. That extent of devastation 😢😢 I can't even imagine what the people had to go through. My grandfather was a schoolboy when he left Bangladesh and came to India, in 1948.
Dude from Argentina here. Incredible support from Bangladesh during the World Cup, luckily we won and in doing so shared the joy with the Bangladesh people 🇦🇷❤️🇧🇩
The fact that something this terrible, this drastic happened and affected an entire part of the world, and I have never once heard of it even to the point of vague familiarity has relit my interest in history. I didn't even know Bangladesh used to be Pakistan territory. Thanks Joe. Very respectfully done video, if shocking as hell.
Yeah, such a shame that it is so unknown. As Joe said in the video, many of us almost wouldn't have been born if things had gone just slightly differently :(
Similar thing - Indian here, we know about the Bangladesh war and the refugee crisis, but Cyclone Bhola is not so well known. Then there's the Holodomor which I only learned of last year. There was also an earlier famine in Bengal, caused by British Raj's scorched Earth policy which led to about 3 million Bengali deaths in 1943. This was caused to a significant extent by Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet.
@@decomposedthoughts7955 no, the biggest reason is because it didn't affect the United States in the least, and the US had other shit going on at the time anway.
Thank you so much for the video. Very well researched. As a Bangladeshi, I truly appreciate it. Just a couple of fact checks. The Pakistani army surrendered to the joint Indo-Bangla forces, not just the Bangla forces. India intervened in December that year to bring an end to the slaughter which was affecting them too (lots of refugees to feed). Also, Sheikh Mujib, the father of the nation, was in power in independent Bangladesh for 4 years and not 8 months. He along with most of his family members were assassinated by overzealous officials of the Bangladesh Army. The rest is history. It is only after 50 years can Bangladesh look forward to a better economic future even though the domestic politics of the country still remains rotten.
One correction, it was the Indian Army who captured the Dhaka with the Muktibahini freedom force, in the picture at 18:26 , it's the Indian general getting a surrender from the Pakistani general with his army of 90000 personal.
Joe doesn't lie when he says that hardly anyone knows of this in the West as I have only seen one other English Language Video on TH-cam coving the Bangladesh Liberation War and the role of the US in it, shout out to the Gravel Institute. As a Bengali and an Indian, I am extremely happy that you shed light on this Mass Tragedy that is all but forgotten in the West. The 71 War is still commemorated here in India and is one of our most proudest post Independence events and it would be an understatement to say that the repercussions of this series great Tragedies is still felt to this day. So thank you so much for covering it Joe Scott! And I will subscribe to Nebula to see your more indepth study on these events.
Im from West Bengal India , beside Bangladesh again the same loop is being played today. Its a full moon night tonight with a cyclone heading towards mainland. "Remel" expected speed 130 kmph + high tide. Please pray for us.😔😔🙏
Bangladeshi here. My mother was a renouned local meteorologist until recently. She was the head of forecasting department of our national weather service. Once she showed me around her office. In there I've seen documents upon documents of many cyclones that ravaged our land but among that list the one that caught my eyes was the Bhola cyclone. I can't imagine how people endured such a devastating event. She told me about why proper forecasting save lives and why funding is necessary for them to do their work. Sadly we as a country don't talk about those events and our younger generation doesn't know about their past.
I had no idea about this in 1970 but I was there in 1991 building desalinization tanks for fresh water. We had to pile up bodies to give us some place to put them. Many family members of the dead helped us and praised us for our work. I know the smell you described very well.
That is so awesome, yet sad for you and those families. Awesome that you went and helped them and that they got it! Very sad they lost their love ones and that you had to also experience it. I hope you're doing good! And I hope the families are healing.
It was the Mukti Bahini with the assistance of the Indian Armed Forces that took the capital. The image you show in 18:26 is actually Indian Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Arora (seated left) and Pakistani Lieutenant General Niazi signing Pakistan's instrument of surrender, officially ending the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
@@joescott I know the topic is about the cyclone but the war of 1971, was won with colossal assistance from the Indian armed forces under Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw.
You just impressed me so much, of course i will subscribe. You combined the weather, military, government reaction times if any, and how a storm surge works on high tide. Well done.
Hey @Joe Scott, I have watched your videos for about 3-4 years now and just yesterday I was at Best Buy and ran into a guy who was watching your video so I stopped and said hey to him. Come to find out that was his first time ever watching you. We had a conversation for about 15 mins about your videos and how interesting they are and how he should watch them. He ended up subscribing. Just thought this was cool and how your videos lead me to having a friendly interaction and made my day better. Thanks:)
Greetings from Bangladesh! Honestly a total encompassing video you made, Joe! Many history books, documents, even youtube videos shy away from the things you have mentioned like correlation of the cyclone, following famine and war as well as USA USSR geo-political tension over our liberation war. Thank you!
Bangladesh was very much in the news in 1971, in part from The Concert for Bangladesh, organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar. This was the first humanitarian concert of its kind to achieve world-wide publicity and served as a model for subsequent events. The concert, record album, and film raised over $12 million in aid for Bangladesh.
While I don't claim to have known all the facts I was aware of the storm, the genocide, and the Indo-Pakistan war because of the one highlight that came out of all of this which was George Harrison's "Concert For Bangladesh" performances in 1971 and their accompanying film and album inspired by a plea from his friend and sitar player Ravi Shankar to help raise funds and awareness after the disasters. "My friend came to me with sadness in his eyes / Told me that he wanted help before his country dies" - "Bangla Desh" by George Harrison
These are difficult stories and recounts the tell but it must be done. It's important to not forget those people who encountered tragedy that day. Thanks for sharing.
This could very quickly turn into one of those "I stayed up until 3AM on a work night" kinda rabbit holes. Yet another example of things that aren't talked about enough - or at all. Every time I watch your videos I learn something new, and I think I can speak for a lot of us and say we appreciate that.
Surprised you didn't mention the big concert George Harrison of The Beatles organized to raise money to help Bangladesh after the hurricane. Also, Rick Nelson wrote his song Garden Party for how he was treated at that fund raising event. I remember the hurricane and all the fund raising to help them, did not know of all the other stuff going on after the hurricane. Joe can you do a video on Permaculture? Seems to be working in India, might be a great thing for the American mountain west and deserts.
@@joescott sorry, don't do Nebula. Just thought Permaculture would be a great topic for your Answers With Joe channel because it demonstrates how proper action can produce positive environmental change. Really think the American deserts and western mountain region could benefit from it like is happening in India.
Mate, love your style. I feel like I've just had a 22 minute, one on one conversation with you in your living room. And come away so much better informed about something I only remember from news bulletins at the time.
As a Bangladeshi guy I can say that you've covered the topic very well. This shows how much research you do for a video. Thanks, man for this video and also for all the videos.
I’m older than most of you so I remember this event. Yes even then I thought it was terrible, but by the time I was aware of it a lot had happened. You may think that’s terrible nobody cared, that wasn’t the way it was. Any information available was delayed (not deliberately in my opinion). I do think it is one of the worst things to happen to humanity in my lifetime.
I really appreciate this video, I learned something. I was a year old in 1970, and the only thing I and probably a lot of Westerners ever knew about the events you described was George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh. While I can certainly appreciate the former Beatle caring enough about the plight of the people there to get his rockstar buddies together for a charity concert to bring money and awareness, it now seems like peanuts in comparison to the various disasters (natural and man-made) the piled one on top of the other. So thank you for that, Joe!
I just went through the wrath of hurricane Ian. The eye went right over us when it made landfall in SW Florida. The storm was the easy part. I can only imagine what the fallout would be like in the 1970's, and on the other side of the planet. Thanks for bringing this history to our attention.
Bangladesh is now one of the fastest growing economies in the world. We started with nothing, survived this storm, and a genocide but we will persevere.
Hi @Joe, Thanks for featuring my country. You should also checkout the origin story of International Mother Language Day, declared by UN. It started in 1952, when the Police started shooting at a procession in Dhaka (Decca, East Pakistan). The procession was in fact a protest rally to keep our rights to speak in Bengali, our mother tongue. Many people died that day (21st February) and later declared as the language day in Bangladesh. UN recognized this event in 2002 , probably because we had to shed blood just to keep speaking in our mother tongue. Another FYI, the war in 1971 not only killed 3 million people, the Pakistani (west) army and they allies also raped more than 200,000 women. Some details of those events can be found in Susan Brownmiller's 1975 book, Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape. Anyway, thanks again. Take love from Bangladesh.
@@joescott That's a bit shit how this "TH-cam is for Children" mentality is going. That and their Premium per month is more than I pay for Nebula and Curiosity Stream in a year. I guess they can afford to demonetise and demote.
This video helped me understand something that's been in the back of my mind for a long time. As a kid in the late 60s, I remember learning about East Pakistan and West Pakistan. How I learned that as a first grader, I'm not sure, but I did. My dad was a history major in college, and he taught me a lot, so maybe this was something I heard of from him. But then years later when I was in high school, we learned about Pakistan and Bangladesh, and I could never quite understand what happened there -- it was almost like I didn't trust my own memory of what I'd learned as a child and didn't want to ask my teacher about it. (I don't know why not -- I was pretty brash about everything else!) Thank you, Joe, for clearing that up for me! LOL
Same with me. As a kid, I was always into maps, so I'd look at a map with East Pakistan and West Pakistan and not understand how you could have one country with the two parts of it a thousand miles apart and another huge country in between. It would be like if Virginia and West Virginia were one state (yes, I know they were at one time) and Virginia was where it is and West Virginia was out in Idaho.
14:20 You know that is one of the things wrong with youtube. If you have to worry about being demonitized for covering history so you can cater to most delicate sensibilities is just atrocious
Remember when this happened. People went around the next day saying, “how many thousand? No! That can’t be right” it was correct but hardly any media attention.
I like knowing that you truly care about human suffering. Sometimes there seems to be more hate in the world than there is empathy. Thank you for doing your part to correct that imbalance.
I remember Cyclone Bhola as it was in the news a fair bit, way down here in Aotearoa-New Zealand. I remember collections of toys and clothes to be sent there but the one thing I remember the most clearly was, in 1975 a new face at school. I can't remember her name but she looked so different to we of predominantly British decent whities. I asked her where she was from and all I heard was a whispered, 'Bangladesh'. When I tried to be friendly with her she told me that she wasn't allowed to talk about Bangladesh. Later there were rumours that her parents aided Khan's forces but who knows? She was a refugee from the fighting and you could tell she'd seen some shit. I sometimes think of her and wonder how she's doing now as a sixty year old woman.
I was training to teach EFL (English as a foreign language) 20 odd years ago and one of the volunteer students we 'taught' was a refugee from the (then recent) Balkan wars. I spent an hour in the morning trying to teach him grammar I barely understood myself, and then chatted to him over lunch. It turned out that this unassuming and eager student (that I had failed so badly) had seen his entire family shot and his house burnt down as a young child - only he survived. There's an unimaginable gulf between people like him and your schoolfriend and those of us lucky enough never to have known such terror. That conversation haunts me still.
@@paulhaynes8045 I think it's stories like ours that make me angry that people don't support those that try to escape their miserable situations. Very few people in these places want to permanently leave their homeland for a strange land in the hope of not even a better life so much as straight out survival. We may have our own misfortunes in life, I've survived earthquakes that spanned years, a cyclone (what the US call 'hurricanes' and in the eastern nations, 'typhoons'), three significant floods and as traumatising as those events were, they cannot compare to what living through the misery of Cyclone Bhola or the Balkans war among so many other dreadful events. We could do so much better for our fellow humans and the planet but as long as the measure of success is the amount of money you appear to possess, I fear we may never figure out that the real wealth is in seeing others given opportunities to live a meaningful and safe existence.
@@paulhaynes8045 Thanks Paul. Sometimes I do feel like we're going backwards where human kindness is concerned but then I realise that people resist change out of fear more than anything. It just amazes me how powerful and mouthy the religious right are. But that is probably an indicator of the US empire failing, and then they'll be racing to cross a border to safety. Not that I'd wish that on anybody in all seriousness.
I'm a Bangladeshi and I have actually found out about the Bhola storm just a few years back. Can't imagine how callous the West Pakistani Generals were about their own citizens. Murderous monsters.
As an Indian, this episode filled up so many gaps in the 1972 war history taught in Indian history books. Now things are as clear as crystal water. Thank you Joe !
As a Bangladeshi American, this is a very good summary of events. I recently stayed in Dhaka for 3 months, and the country while super densely populated, is doing quite well.
I do remember this, but then, I'm old. I remember the horrific photos, the threat of a 'Cuban Missile Crisis' repeat, and the genocide. We really don't seem to learn from past mistakes very often.
My dad is from Bangladesh he was a 17 year old kid back then. Things weren’t good let’s put it that way at the time. And Scott is right it was just bunch of rice farmers, fishermen, brick layers & the college students that didn’t get wiped out on first two nights who fought for 9 months. 😂
Thank you for covering this subject Joe! Operation searchlight and the effects it had on a huge amount of the world is rarely talked about in history books. Keep highlighting important history that is forgotten about all too much. 🙏
Recent cyclone impacts in Bangladesh have been reduced due to two improvements in the response systems. First, as the video implies, better deployment of warnings means more people hear them and understand what they mean. Second, the government has focused on provision of elevated concrete shelters for people in the low-lying areas that are most prone to flooding from storm surge. This means people who can't afford to evacuate their island can still survive the surge. A few years ago when Bangladesh was hit by a cyclone very similar to the Bhola cyclone in track and intensity, fatalities were less than 1% of the 1970 storm. The combination of better technology and a government that uses it for the benefit of the society is a lifesaver.
That was a great tragedy. I remember it, as I was at high school. I live in New Zealand and the worst storm we have had was called cyclone Bola in 1988. It caused about $200 US million of damage. We have just been hit by cyclone Gabrielle which has caused $6.5-$13 US billion of damage. We have asked Australia for help.
![PASULOL รามเกียรติ์ ตอนที่ 4 นนทกพบรัก [Ramakien Ep.4: Nonthok in love]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tMUQgmZzf_A/mqdefault.jpg)
I am from Pakistan, our history books hide the genocides and this conflict widely. I was taught Yahya Khan was a dictator, a bad person, he ruled with iron fist. But when it comes to topic of Bangladesh we are taught different thing. We are taught our brave soldiers got surrounded between rebellious Bangladeshi and Indian forces. They had to make sacrifices to protect Bangladeshi citizens who in return murdered them. A big part of this war is hidden from us. This storm has never been part of our history books
I pray that you learn the truth and spread it
Like in all stories of this kind, there are as many different perspectives as people involved. West Pakistani soldiers were told what their leaders wanted them to hear. No doubt many were brave. It’s a sad fact of history that corrupt leaders abuse the trust of people they should protect, including military personnel under their command.
I can often be critical of India and its policies, especially their purchase of Russian oil currently.
But 1971 Bangladeshi incident was one event where India was unambiguously correct. India saved the world in 1971. India if anything doesn't get enough credit for it.
@@TheRishijoesanu those countries who were blaming the crude oil purchase deal of India are now buying refined petroleum products from India. So they are indirectly contributing to the war right? I think it was just a plot to humiliate India because Europe buys more oil than India
@@rohand04 Indian media says so as well. And many conflicts on the borders can easily be used to point this out as well. The Pakistani Army follows a motto of preparing for anything and I support this idea.
Bangladeshi here. (Not so) fun fact: All throughout 70s and 80s, Bangladesh was mostly thought of as 'the country with cyclones and floods'. And like all good famine stories, Henry Kissinger is intertwined in all of these. The nation continues to have challenges, but now we're more famous for manufacturing the tshirt/pair of jeans you're wearing right now. I wish my history classes back in school days were half as engaging as what Joe has done here. And I didn't know about Ukrainian 'Holodomor' at all. Thank you Joe.
You guys seriously stop religious extremism and put effort to grow else every time you guys can’t not be saved at our expense ..
at least the English taught you how to sew our jeans together :o)
“Like all good famine stories, Henry Kissinger is intertwined…” LOLOL.
Fun history fact: The first recorded genocide in history was in 88 BC, it is known as the “Asiatic Vespers”… King Mithridates IV of Pontus had all Italics (Roman’s/people from the Italian peninsula) in eastern Asia Minor (Turkey) killed, in a single day. About 100,000 altogether. Amazing he was able to coordinate that to all happen in 1 day without the secret getting out, given the communication at the time)
"Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin" by Snyder
The Holodomor was not a badly handled natural disaster. Stalin seized all the grain Ukrainian farmers had grown to sell overseas for badly needed cash. He also wanted to punish the farmers who were resisting collectivizing their farms.
Did this for several years. Cannibalism was not unknown.
Ukraine knows why they're fighting Russia.
@@veramae4098 while i'm 100% pro Ukrain vs Russia... you scare the fuck out of me!
my family on my mother's side ran away from bangladesh to india during the genocide. i've been told countless stories about the circumstances of their escape, and how they began their new life in india. lets just say, it was not easy at all. but i never knew that this cyclone had started the chain of events. damn.
The cyclone was the tipping point.Your and my families struggled for decades to win freedom. Im just sad that you could not return to your motherland even after the independence.
@@rohand04 Bangladesh is not a religious state,It never has been. Stop spreading misinformation.
I can often be critical of India and its policies, especially their purchase of Russian oil currently.
But 1971 Bangladeshi incident was one event where India was unambiguously correct. India saved the world in 1971. India if anything doesn't get enough credit for it.
@@t.a6159 A Muslim majority country or comunity does not let people of any other religion live. Fact proven numerous times.
@@t.a6159 if you look at the reports of operation search light it's clearly mentioned how Hindu bengalis were more targeted than thier Muslim counterpart.
I was a sophomore in high school in '70 and a HUGE 'Beatles' fan. George Harrison and friends gave a 'Concert for Bangla Desh' and I bought the vinyl box I did some research on the tragedy and learned a lot about cyclones. That in turn led to my fascination with severe weather and I joined the USAF on Halloween 1973 and became a Weather Equipment Specialist 302X0 and specialized in weather radar (CPS9, FPS77 and FPS103). Just shows you that events that happen thousands of miles away can effect anyone's life.
I was in 4th grade in 1970 and remember that our class had a bake sale with the proceeds going to East Pakistan due to the flood. I don't recall being told it was due to a cyclone, but my memory could have lapsed on that fact. It was most of our first experience with personal civic duty as a global citizen, and I have to say, it felt very rewarding to me. Thanks for telling 'the rest of the story' I never knew about.
Wow thanks for the info
Best regards from windy Iceland.
That's really awesome! Thanks so much for sharing! Health and happiness to you, friend. Find smiles and fun wherever you can!
Thanks for sharing!
Dr. Neal Frank was the meteorologist I watched on the news growing up in Houston. I had a severe storm phobia, that caused crazed panics when I even saw just dark clouds in the sky. My parents took me to meet with Dr. Frank and other meteorologists and they took time to try to ease my fears by teaching me about storms and storm safety. It was incredibly kind. It didn’t work instantly but it did help, and I’ll never forget that kindness. I eventually got more and more relief from my phobia, after a lot of hard work. I don’t go into blind panic over every dark cloud anymore, but I am hyper vigilant about severe weather. In Houston, it isn’t unusual! The extremes we’ve had in the last decade would’ve undone me as a kid.
Dr. Neal Frank is a legendary figure in Houston history, but especially to me.
I grew up in Ohio in the 1970's, and had a severe weather phobia as well, especially after the supercell outbreak of April 3-4, 1974. Had nighmares for years after that.
I remember my parents switching between channels 11 and 13 so they could get both Neal Frank's weather and Marvin Zindler's "Slime in the Ice Machine" report.
Dr. Neil Frank was The Man back then.
I am from Bangladesh. So I am probably one of the few people who knew about this incident before seeing this video. Watching Joe Scott is a regular source of Joy for me. But this reminded me of the tales of tragedy that my grandmom used to tell. We used to seat around her horrified and used to listen to her stories in vivid terror. Anyways, shoutout to the other bangladeshis who sees the video.
love from India...God bless Bangladesh
Eyyy! I'm from Bangladesh too and love Joe's videos! Salam bhai. Shubho Boshonto 😁
@@muslimahmukbang417 Shuvo boshonto.
@@dhirajdeore434 Cheers mate.
Also Bengali here, but from the other side. Have been hearing stories of a massive flood in the 70s that basically reshaped our town(some 30kms from the sea) from my mother.
Bangladeshi here, these events are taught to us in school since childhood. But this was immaculate, unbiased, informative storytelling at its finest. Thank you Joe!
Now I'm intrigued about learning the global politics of that cold war era that very well could have prevented my existence and yours too, whoever is reading this. Take love ❤️
-
" " G O D Bless N E B U L A . " "
-
Apparently 8 of the deadliest TCs ever happened in Bangladesh.
I recall seeing it on the BBC news. All you could see was water and the taller trees. Day after day, just water. I remember thinking "that's never going to dry out ", but then I was about six. I've never forgotten it, anyone mentions flood and I see Bangladesh in the 70s. I can't even imagine what that's like and how you move on from it.
Being a Bangladeshi, I am so happy someone covered not only the Bhola Cyclone but also the liberation war at that period.
When I first started working I had a coworker who was an older engineer from Bangladesh, he took all of us young engineers under his wing and mentored us. Had us over for dinner and was a great guy. He talked about the war once, he would have been a young tween then. Never mentioned the crazy storm but he learned to play bridge during the hard times and became a dang good engineer and great human. Thanks for sharing more of the backstory. No wonder he didn't talk about it much 😢
Bless our wonderful mentors! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for talking about this. I am from Bangladesh and very few people from the outside world actually know how much we have suffered. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you for talking about this Joe. I feel like the atrocities done on the night of "Operation searchlight" and how it crippled Bangladesh as a country for years to come isn't talked about enough. I'm from Bangladesh and have been a long time fan of the channel.
yeah even if he's hoping for views on nebula, the way he has not given even a minute to it irks me
-
" " G O D Bless N E B U L A . " "
-
I was part of a cyclone relief effort in Bangladesh in 1991. While not on the same scale as this tragedy, there were still over 250,000 killed and over 10 million homeless in a day. I was part of a Marine Expeditionary Brigade that had taken part in Desert Shield and Desert Storm and were on our way back to the United States via Navy ship when we got the call to provide humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh. We were around the southern tip of India when we were ordered to Bangladesh. Upon entering the Bay of Bengal and steaming north toward Bangladesh we were horrified to see bodies floating in the ocean by the hundreds, if not thousands in view of each ship. Our part was called Operation Sea Angel and we participated in relief efforts until our stocks were depleted and our mission was complete. We brought food, helped construct desalination plants and provided medical assistance. A few of the Bangladeshi folks spent a few hours on our ship and were given hot showers and hot food. I'd never seen true desperation until those days in Bangladesh in 1991 and I've never forgotten those poor folks. This had more of an impact on me psychologically than any of the combat action I was involved in as a Marine infantryman in Desert Storm.
Thank you very much for your generous help and support at that much needed time. It was a horrific situation in 91 too. Much gratitude. May God bless you and your family. ❤️
Thank you! One of the larger islands was my dad's homeland. I still hear stories about it
Todd, thank you for sharing your humanity. The day this world lives together in peace, this we should all work toward. This planet would be a utopia.
Thank you for your assistance and for sharing your story.
Thankyou
Recently India and Bangladesh have faced quite a few severe cyclones. That is when, searching for worst cyclones of all time, I came to know about the Bhola cyclone, but couldn't find any substantial information about it on the internet, other than some technical information in Wikipedia. Thanks for coming up with this episode Mr. Scott!
I am from Bangladesh and my mom has one of the most incredible birth stories. So, my mom was born the night before the Bhola Storm Cyclone. My grandmother (mom's mom) ran away for her love and married her loved person. My grandmoms family house was an estate on a riverbank not far from BHOLA island and they were rich by 1970s standards. Even her father told her to come to their house and deliver the baby so, but her extended family was planning to kill the child and remarry her off to a West Pakistani army officer. When she was about to give birth, her mom came to her house to deliver the child. No one else her brothers or father or anyone else didn't came to see her because she ran away and wouldn't listen to her. That night on the Bhola cyclone my grandmom lost all her family and no one except her mom survived because she was at my grandmom's house and if she were to listen to her father and went to her house instead, today not my mom and also me and my siblings wouldn't have existed on this planet.
Watching your video "operation searchlight" on nebula brought tears to my eyes. As a Bengali, it's hard to put into words the pain and trauma that my people have endured as a result of the genocide in 1971. My family has shared with me the stories of their experiences during the Bangladesh Liberation War, and the fear and violence that they faced on a daily basis. Thank you for sharing the video and raising awareness about the genocide. It's important that we continue to honor the memory of those who were lost and work towards creating a world where such atrocities do not occur. We must never forget the victims, and I hope that by sharing the video, we can continue to educate others about the importance of human rights and justice. Joy Bangla!
Hey Joe, a Bangladeshi here, good to see you talk about our country and the hardship people had to go through in the past. Thank you
Hey Joe, I have been following you for years now and one of the few channels I’ve subscribed to. As a diehard fan from Bangladesh, you won’t believe how emotional I became while watching this! My eyes were literally full of tears!!! Thank you so much for showcasing our struggle and hardship for the world to see! Love and respect ❤
I was especially concerned about the response I would get from Bangladeshis, hoping I didn't get any details wrong. So this is good to hear. Thanks man.
-
" " G O D Bless N E B U L A . " "
-
It makes me happy to see how much it means to you to have this story told. Respect to your people! As someone who's fascinated with history I was speechless when I started watching this video and realised that indeed I had never heard of this tragedy despite my recent deep research dives into the Cold War.
Not Bengali’s , but Bangladeshi.
You are a credit to your countrymen, my friend.
Your people earned their freedom to decide their own destiny... Bought and paid for.
I am from Bangladesh and you are absolutely right about your narrative!
I had just come from E Pakistan in August 1970 and I was doing my internship in Kansas City during that period.
In April 1971 I went to Washington DC and NY to lobby along with many others for Bangladesh ! And later I went to the front line and served as a volunteer doctor with the Liberation Front ( Mukti Bahini) for about four months on a special visitor visa from India!
Then I returned to continue my medical residency etc and later became an American citizen.
It was overwhelming to experience the natural disasters and the inhumanity of genocide for the people of Bangladesh.
Warning system were not in place and there were no evacuation procedures.
Currently there are better warning systems and evacuation plans in place from what I understand. Regards.
Thank you for supporting Bangladesh sir. As an American born Bangladeshi, it's people like you who helped give us an identity.
My saluet to you sir.
Thank you for being a humanitarian and coming to USA. Welcome.
Namaste.
as a pakistani-american, did high school in pk. we were never taught. always thought that between sh mujib may have had some more seats, never realizing that he had simple majority just in his party, didnt need coalition partners. it took someone of IK's stature to denude PA in our eyes. the brainwashing done by PA over us is of such calibre, that Goebbles would have failed out of PA school of propaganda. To my erstwhile EP/BD brothers (was born quite a bit after 71), Joy Bangla.
Thank you, much love, gratitude and respect.
10:57 if there’s anything I’ve learned about late 20th century geopolitics is that anytime a head of state is seen in a photo with a figure wearing sunglasses inside…it ain’t good.
As a Bangladeshi PhD student in the US studying storm surge mechanisms, I cannot thank you enough Joe! From the history to the cyclone, each and every information is absolutely immaculate. This also adds value to the effort you have put in making this video, as a lot of this history have been subject to heavy manipulation and it is hard to find accurate information.
You are absolutely right, the struggle we have been through as Bangladeshis, is almost unknown to the western hemisphere. Thanks for putting us on the map Joe. I am buying you a coffee, God bless you.
Can't express how happy I am when my favorite TH-camr does a video about my country.
My grandfather was living in Bhola at the time of the disaster. Growing up we always heard these stories and how barely they survived.
Thank you for doing such a wonderful video and reminding me how my country survived though the worst situations and how rich the history is.
**Had no idea that the liberation war of 1971 was as horrifying as Cuban missile crisis**
Thank you 🇧🇩
Thank you so much for this upload. Bangladesh never ever gets coverage in the media, much less our difficult history. It truly is so comforting to hear someone speak of us in a positive light and tell the stories of how much our parents and grandparents struggled just so we could have the freedom we have today. Joy Bangla!
Joy Bangla!
-
" " G O D Bless N E B U L A . " "
-
The part about the bodies in the water... I'm in South Central Louisiana, just west of New Orleans. I was working on the boats when Katrina happened. We were tasked with delivering fuel/water barges to those devastated areas that could be reached. While the scope of what we saw was nowhere near the scale of what happened in Bangladesh, what we saw are memories that I would wish on NO person. What I saw nearly broke me... I actually CAN imagine the aftermath of the storm mentioned here, and while it terrifies me, it's something I feel must not be forgotten. 😢
Katrina- never forgotten by me, from a different country, living in yet a different country. Best wishes.
Imagine right after the storm your government using the storm as a weapon to kill you off, by withholding supplies, then launching Genocide on you? Thats what these people went through, just insane.
I was in high school when Katrina happened, on the other side of the country, and I remember seeing pictures of the bloated bodies in the water. I'll never be able to scrub that image from my mind, and that was just a picture. I can't imagine how deeply traumatizing it must have been to have actually been there and dealing with it in person. I hope you've been able to work through that trauma in the nearly 20 years since. I'm sure you helped a lot of people in the time you were there.
I would imagine it was worse than the river scene in War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise
Mexica tried to deliver help, just a few hours after news broke out about the disaster. But Bush junior didn't want to lose face, so he was negating the permission for Mexican troops (who were already at the border with foods filled to the rim with food, water and medical supplies, plus troop transports with Navy and Army doctors) to enter the USA. In the end the governor of Texas gave the permession (I believe this was him overstepping his authority) and so Mex troops entered Texas for the first time in 150years... and couldn't reach New Orleans, US Army stopped them at Texas' border. Still, they delivered relief at the Texan Cajun communities who'd be hard hit by Katrina, though none were as hard hit as New Orleans. Remember: politicians would rather see the world end than admitting their faults
A brilliant and comprehensive re-telling of history, parts of which we ourselves didn't know of. This needs to be translated (subtitles, voice-overs etc.) into Bengali, Hindi, Urdu - and many other languages. Way to go, Joe!!!
Came here from nebula after seeing your video (operation searchlight) on the genocide of Bangladesh in 1971. I thank you for raising awareness. Tears come to my eyes when I think of how much my people, my country suffered. 🇧🇩
I am from Pakistan, and I can say with absolute certainty that Yahya Khan was a mad man. This is the part of my country's history that I always need to know and remember for us to not repeat these mistakes.
I can often be critical of India and its policies, especially their purchase of Russian oil currently.
But 1971 Bangladeshi incident was one event where India was unambiguously correct. India saved the world in 1971. India if anything doesn't get enough credit for it.
@@TheRishijoesanu lets just say it the ruling class not the nation mostly that makes dreadful choices in regards to our world.
-
" " G O D Bless N E B U L A . " "
-
@@UmerAqdas28 It seems to me - a foreigner - that Pakistan's problems with dictators and such things are largely a result of fear of India. In your opinion, is there any hope for some kind of easing of tensions between the two countries? Also, again in your opinion, what would be one thing that the US could do that most Pakistanis would appreciate (that doesn't involve antagonizing India)?
One last question, since I feel this comment of mine so far is a little too negative (or serious). What's one thing that you like very much about your country, something that makes you proud to be Pakistani?
I'll 2nd jeffbenton6183 comments and questions, From my distant viewpoint and knowing little about how Pakistan works, it seems to want to jail all their past leaders. And like many places, the military seems ready to step in to defend its particular set of desires. Is the US supposed to friendly with Pakistan right now, or are we enemies? It's hard to keep up.
A Bangladeshi here. It is good to see you are discussing a topic that changed and defined our nation. As a long time follower of this channel, it means a lot to me. So I would like to say
Thank you
This affected George Harrison so much, and he cared so deeply that he organized the Concert For Bangladesh to raise money for the people there. The concert was turned into a film and a double disc record album. It was the first such project nearly 25 years before Live Aid.
Oh don't tell Joe that ! George was British famed for their ' infinite wisdom ' in his eyes . .
Goat Beatle happy 80th George you're the king
15 years before live aid
Terrible album. Really, it sucked.
@@uninsulatedshrimp5518 He was my favorite.
Just found your channel. I really like the fact that you don't cut the video immediately after you finish saying a sentence. I really like the brief pauses, adds a lot of character and personality.
This is absolutely shocking and horrifying, Thank you for sharing the details of this horrific history, I was a child of seven at this time, but I recall many relief campaigns on television to help people living in this region.
Joe, I can't express in words how much I appreciate you talking about this history regarding my country for the world to know. Being a regular viewer to your channel, I could ask for nothing more than this from your channel. Thank you so much! love from a Bangladeshi
That truly means a lot, thank you for saying that.
-
" " G O D Bless N E B U L A . " "
-
Thanks for speaking about!
Bangladesh has geography where the river delta provides fertile soil, but the shape of the Bay of Bengal literally funnels storm surge up the bay. The worst surge is on the eastern side of a land-falling cyclone, so a storm coming up on the western side is the most catastrophic like this cyclone was. This causes storm surge to be even higher than what you might see with cyclones in other parts of the world. One only has to look at what Hurricane Ian did to SW Florida (this storm was of similar intensity) where buildings are constructed much better to see what what would have happened in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is also very close to sea level on a good part of it's coastal plain which is densely populated. While now you have a system that can get people out of the way of severe storms, the destruction is still horrible. This doesn't even take into account sea level rise
To be more apt on the geographical situation is while Florida is a carbonate reef complex so there is at least a form of bedrock albeit porous and depending on ion concentrations particularly acidity water soluble bedrock, Bangladesh is a river delta meaning that the land is just piled up sediment dumped by slowing river waters as they reach the ocean gradually expanding the land with fill material from the Himalayas where the river meets the sea. This means that not only is Bangladesh low lying but it is also constantly subsiding with only new sediment deposition keeping the delta above water much as the case with river deltas across the world.
Never felt so lucky to be landlocked
as a category 5 hurricane survivor, it was definitely a trauma healing exercise to watch this vid... great way to show how the disaster is a social aspect and not a natural/environmental one... how the systems that are supposed to protect us fail and the casualties are endless...
Which one were you in? I have experienced a 4 but was inland enough to get out without much problem. I am thankful so much for that.
The fact they used a scale from 1 to 10 and someone just decided to update that to 1 to 5 without letting the people know, it just broke my heart how many leadership figures, parents, grandparents, community leaders must've heard that "red 4" alert and tried to calm everyone and tell them it was not going to be that bad, and then they all likely died on that night...
I am so glad someone is talking about it. I am from Bangladesh and I heard stories from my grandmother about how she and my dad as well as her community survived this storm while living in a coastal area and how she saw basically flood of dead people every single day.
I’m a meteorologist, and didn’t know about this. Epic story. The Bangladesh region is such an extreme microclimate. The deadliest tornado in recorded history also struck that area in the 80s, killing 1.5k people. That would make an interesting follow-up video from this too… perhaps even on that microclimate as a whole. It’s crazy!
Didn't even know that tornadoes could affect that area
That tornado was a “strong” tornado, but the fatalities were high due to the homes being constructed of sticks and corrugated steel.
Now as the world warms, it also has the title as one of the "place with highest heat index in the entire world"
The highest summer temperature itself is "only" barely above 40C, but the extreme humidity makes it feel like over 50C
Bangladesh had the worst buidling collapse too several years ago, a mall collapsed and killed over 1000 people
Guess we Bengalis are famous for the most messed up stuff
As a Bangladeshi watching this form Dhaka, i appreciate this video and the Irony of the timing. 21st February is the International Mother Language Day. It was proposed by Bangladesh at the 1999 UN summit to celebrate Linguistic and Cultural Diversities world wide after people back here in 1952 gave up their lives to fight for the right to keep theirs.
This whole month is held in high reverence in the country. Thank you Joe for trying to educate people on the Bangladeshi Suffering in such an engaging way. And about other atrocities I didn't know about like the Ukrainian Holodomor.
The holodomor is a Neo Nazi myth. Shame to see someone from a formerly colonized country pushing wild conspiracies from right wing European sources
I was completely unaware of this string of tragedies that befell Bangladesh. Never heard of them. But these are important stories to tell, to learn from, and never forget. Thank you for bringing wider awareness to this. My heart goes out to everyone who suffered through loss and trauma during those times.
Bangladesh has really never fully recovered.
India helped them get independence, then didn't help in reconstruction. Because it was more about weakening Pakistan than helping Bangladesh.
The rest of the world didn't help Bangladesh either. By almost every metric their GDP, education, poverty rate, all are significantly worse than any other country around them.
-
" " G O D Bless N E B U L A . " "
-
I'm not surprised, after all people still deny the holocaust and countries still deny the Armenian genocide. Something like this would be well hidden, then when discovered denied.
You are right about learning from these events, unfortunately there is always some nutcase leader on the planet wanting to take over some other country, mankind will never evolve To be smart. Just greedy.
@@Giganfan2k1 now things has changed.
Bangladesh has higher average income, life quality, lower poverty rate, more gender equality than India and Pakistan
You covered this with a lot of humanity. Much appreciated. I only heard of stories of the horror before this video from my grandparents and aunts/uncles old enough to remember it...
Thank you Joe. Not only am I completely hooked on your videos, but my kids are now too. My ex and I are separated, so during the school year I only really get to see them on weekends. Now we have a call each week to talk about your newest video. Thank you for that.
From Bangladesh - Thanks for your time and effort for studying and letting your audience know about our history and sufferings
As a Bangladeshi who is watching your videos for years now, it makes me happy that amongst all the youtubers you covered this very important piece of history of Bangladesh.
This cyclone and the election was the last nail in the coffin of Pakistan's integrity. 20 years of oppression just exploded after this.
Bangalis suffered a lot in last few decades at that time. Multiple famine, not getting equal rights, straight up dividing the entire culture and ethnicity in half, British divide and rule killed millions in religious genocide and so many more... that war was just do or die for us at that point.
The genocide of Bengalis in 1971 is so horrifying. I live in West Bengal India and i have heard stories of it from my friend's grandparents and grandmothers. They ere some of the people who actively saw what happened. Walked hundreds of miles to India and settled as a refugee
Not just hirricanes but the 1989 Daulatpur-Saturia tornado which killed over 1500 people as well. For a country with such beauty, Bangladesh seems to only make it in the news or negative reasons though. I knew about the hurricane in passing since CarlyAnnaWX mentioned it very very briefly in one of her vids, but to find out more on it is both fascinating, and horrifying as well. Which makes me wonder what else you'll cover from Asia as well
“Cry’n won’t help ya! Pray’n won’t do ya no good! When the levee breaks, mama you’ve got to move!” ~ Memphis Minnie, circa 1929
"It is possible that no other country has suffered so much as Bangladesh in the last 50 years" - Thank you Joe from the bottom of my heart for bringing all the history of our suffering to the light. Especially because America was so eagerly on the side of our genocidal oppressors.
Our government is good at this, most Americans have no clue.
America sure loves war.
@T Raybern Which do you think was worse. The weeklong storm itself, or the 50 years of picking up the pieces after? 🤔
@T Raybern this was during Nixon, that generation is still alive
@@wulftheghost nothing has really changed since then. They just switched from one genocidal regime to another
I'm from sri lanka and I've never heard about any of this. All of these are my neighbour countries and are currently helping my countrymen survive the worst economic crisis of my country (due to corruption basically ). These are the things that should be taught in school to never have a repeat. So proud of Bangladesh for building from the ground up.
all impoverished areas are nearly always that way because of political corruption
@@jgunther3398 100% true. That's the reason my beautiful country is in shambles
Sorry to say the reason you aren't taught about this is because during the 1971 war Sri Lanka was Helping Yahyah Khan by providing stop over and refuelling for West Pakistani military. 🙄
I love how Joe Scott has the most insane clickbait titles on TH-cam... and yet if anything, they're understating the reality of the topic.
he changed the title and thumb nail lmao, still love the man tho 🙏
@@kingturtle9999 what was it originally?
For some reason the video was tanking with that previous one. This one's only slightly better.
@@joescott 100,000+ views in 1/2 day is tanking? You're too hard on yourself. I really appreciate what you do. Thank you
@@displayname9538 OG title was something like, "The storm that literally almost destroyed the world"
Scott Carney is awesome! I recently discovered his channel & subscribed after watching only 2 videos.
My mom was a kid when the cyclone hit her hometown in Bangladesh. I’ve heard her tell so many stories about it and all of them are bone chilling
George Harrison, Concert for Bangladesh, August 1, 1971. Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, etc was to raise public awareness of the genocide & raise money for relief. Although the funds were held up by the IRS for quite some time, AFTER a lengthy process of obtaining rights from the record companies of all the artists that performed, in 1985 it was reported that the revenue from the concert, album & film had provided Bangladesh $12 million. It also paved the way so that charity concerts like LiveAid could have a more streamlined system in place. ✌🏼
Thanks for shedding light on my nation's history! I can't but be prouder to see where our journey begun and where we are now.
As a Bangladeshi listening to you for almost 4 years. This made me happy. Thank you so much ♥️♥️♥️
It’s always the vague and innocuous “operations” that are the most horrific isn’t it?
As an Indian whose ancestors were from Bangladesh, it broke my heart into pieces. That extent of devastation 😢😢 I can't even imagine what the people had to go through. My grandfather was a schoolboy when he left Bangladesh and came to India, in 1948.
Dude from Argentina here. Incredible support from Bangladesh during the World Cup, luckily we won and in doing so shared the joy with the Bangladesh people 🇦🇷❤️🇧🇩
The fact that something this terrible, this drastic happened and affected an entire part of the world, and I have never once heard of it even to the point of vague familiarity has relit my interest in history. I didn't even know Bangladesh used to be Pakistan territory. Thanks Joe. Very respectfully done video, if shocking as hell.
Yeah, such a shame that it is so unknown. As Joe said in the video, many of us almost wouldn't have been born if things had gone just slightly differently :(
If you're American the biggest reason why you didn't hear about it is that America sided with Pakistan in that war.
Similar thing - Indian here, we know about the Bangladesh war and the refugee crisis, but Cyclone Bhola is not so well known. Then there's the Holodomor which I only learned of last year. There was also an earlier famine in Bengal, caused by British Raj's scorched Earth policy which led to about 3 million Bengali deaths in 1943. This was caused to a significant extent by Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet.
@@decomposedthoughts7955 no, the biggest reason is because it didn't affect the United States in the least, and the US had other shit going on at the time anway.
Thank you so much for the video. Very well researched. As a Bangladeshi, I truly appreciate it. Just a couple of fact checks. The Pakistani army surrendered to the joint Indo-Bangla forces, not just the Bangla forces. India intervened in December that year to bring an end to the slaughter which was affecting them too (lots of refugees to feed). Also, Sheikh Mujib, the father of the nation, was in power in independent Bangladesh for 4 years and not 8 months. He along with most of his family members were assassinated by overzealous officials of the Bangladesh Army. The rest is history. It is only after 50 years can Bangladesh look forward to a better economic future even though the domestic politics of the country still remains rotten.
I was a kid, but I remember this storm. The shocking number of people killed stuck in my mind.
One correction, it was the Indian Army who captured the Dhaka with the Muktibahini freedom force, in the picture at 18:26 , it's the Indian general getting a surrender from the Pakistani general with his army of 90000 personal.
Yeah, it was not just the training of the Bangladeshi freedom fighters but Indian forces actually took part in the liberation of Bangladesh.
Joe doesn't lie when he says that hardly anyone knows of this in the West as I have only seen one other English Language Video on TH-cam coving the Bangladesh Liberation War and the role of the US in it, shout out to the Gravel Institute.
As a Bengali and an Indian, I am extremely happy that you shed light on this Mass Tragedy that is all but forgotten in the West. The 71 War is still commemorated here in India and is one of our most proudest post Independence events and it would be an understatement to say that the repercussions of this series great Tragedies is still felt to this day.
So thank you so much for covering it Joe Scott! And I will subscribe to Nebula to see your more indepth study on these events.
Being a bengoli myself this video is like someone is retelling the stories my grandmother used to tell me about her childhood....horrifying 😑
Im from West Bengal India , beside Bangladesh again the same loop is being played today.
Its a full moon night tonight with a cyclone heading towards mainland.
"Remel" expected speed 130 kmph + high tide.
Please pray for us.😔😔🙏
Bangladeshi here. My mother was a renouned local meteorologist until recently. She was the head of forecasting department of our national weather service. Once she showed me around her office. In there I've seen documents upon documents of many cyclones that ravaged our land but among that list the one that caught my eyes was the Bhola cyclone. I can't imagine how people endured such a devastating event. She told me about why proper forecasting save lives and why funding is necessary for them to do their work. Sadly we as a country don't talk about those events and our younger generation doesn't know about their past.
I had no idea about this in 1970 but I was there in 1991 building desalinization tanks for fresh water. We had to pile up bodies to give us some place to put them. Many family members of the dead helped us and praised us for our work. I know the smell you described very well.
That is so awesome, yet sad for you and those families. Awesome that you went and helped them and that they got it! Very sad they lost their love ones and that you had to also experience it. I hope you're doing good! And I hope the families are healing.
Bangladeshi here, this is such a surprising video. thanks man.
It was the Mukti Bahini with the assistance of the Indian Armed Forces that took the capital. The image you show in 18:26 is actually Indian Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Arora (seated left) and Pakistani Lieutenant General Niazi signing Pakistan's instrument of surrender, officially ending the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
Oof. Good catch. Thanks for keeping me honest.
@@joescott I know the topic is about the cyclone but the war of 1971, was won with colossal assistance from the Indian armed forces under Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw.
@@joescott It was the biggest surrender after World war 2
93000 Pakistanis surrender to Indian forces because the bangladeshis wanted them dead
You just impressed me so much, of course i will subscribe. You combined the weather, military, government reaction times if any, and how a storm surge works on high tide. Well done.
Hey @Joe Scott, I have watched your videos for about 3-4 years now and just yesterday I was at Best Buy and ran into a guy who was watching your video so I stopped and said hey to him. Come to find out that was his first time ever watching you. We had a conversation for about 15 mins about your videos and how interesting they are and how he should watch them. He ended up subscribing. Just thought this was cool and how your videos lead me to having a friendly interaction and made my day better. Thanks:)
Greetings from Bangladesh! Honestly a total encompassing video you made, Joe! Many history books, documents, even youtube videos shy away from the things you have mentioned like correlation of the cyclone, following famine and war as well as USA USSR geo-political tension over our liberation war. Thank you!
Bangladesh was very much in the news in 1971, in part from The Concert for Bangladesh, organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar. This was the first humanitarian concert of its kind to achieve world-wide publicity and served as a model for subsequent events. The concert, record album, and film raised over $12 million in aid for Bangladesh.
While I don't claim to have known all the facts I was aware of the storm, the genocide, and the Indo-Pakistan war because of the one highlight that came out of all of this which was George Harrison's "Concert For Bangladesh" performances in 1971 and their accompanying film and album inspired by a plea from his friend and sitar player Ravi Shankar to help raise funds and awareness after the disasters.
"My friend came to me with sadness in his eyes / Told me that he wanted help before his country dies" - "Bangla Desh" by George Harrison
These are difficult stories and recounts the tell but it must be done. It's important to not forget those people who encountered tragedy that day. Thanks for sharing.
Joe, you, as usual, are amazingly adroit at telling a story. Absolutely fascinating
This could very quickly turn into one of those "I stayed up until 3AM on a work night" kinda rabbit holes. Yet another example of things that aren't talked about enough - or at all. Every time I watch your videos I learn something new, and I think I can speak for a lot of us and say we appreciate that.
Surprised you didn't mention the big concert George Harrison of The Beatles organized to raise money to help Bangladesh after the hurricane. Also, Rick Nelson wrote his song Garden Party for how he was treated at that fund raising event. I remember the hurricane and all the fund raising to help them, did not know of all the other stuff going on after the hurricane.
Joe can you do a video on Permaculture? Seems to be working in India, might be a great thing for the American mountain west and deserts.
It's a chapter in the book, Joe!
I actually do talk about it in the Nebula video. ;)
Joan Baez also made 'Song of Bangladesh' in which she covered the Genocide.
@@jasonmiklian2710 what book?
@@joescott sorry, don't do Nebula. Just thought Permaculture would be a great topic for your Answers With Joe channel because it demonstrates how proper action can produce positive environmental change. Really think the American deserts and western mountain region could benefit from it like is happening in India.
I'm from Bhola. And also one of the oldest subscribers of this channel. Thanks for doing this video.
Mate, love your style. I feel like I've just had a 22 minute, one on one conversation with you in your living room. And come away so much better informed about something I only remember from news bulletins at the time.
As a Bangladeshi guy I can say that you've covered the topic very well. This shows how much research you do for a video. Thanks, man for this video and also for all the videos.
I’m older than most of you so I remember this event. Yes even then I thought it was terrible, but by the time I was aware of it a lot had happened. You may think that’s terrible nobody cared, that wasn’t the way it was. Any information available was delayed (not deliberately in my opinion). I do think it is one of the worst things to happen to humanity in my lifetime.
Thank you for sharing this viewpoint
I love Joe's videos too and very insightful. But, he's a bit of a dreamer when it comes to sociology and geopolitics.
I really appreciate this video, I learned something. I was a year old in 1970, and the only thing I and probably a lot of Westerners ever knew about the events you described was George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh. While I can certainly appreciate the former Beatle caring enough about the plight of the people there to get his rockstar buddies together for a charity concert to bring money and awareness, it now seems like peanuts in comparison to the various disasters (natural and man-made) the piled one on top of the other.
So thank you for that, Joe!
I just went through the wrath of hurricane Ian. The eye went right over us when it made landfall in SW Florida. The storm was the easy part. I can only imagine what the fallout would be like in the 1970's, and on the other side of the planet. Thanks for bringing this history to our attention.
I am absolutely certain they white washed the ugliest effects on humans, after what happened from Katrina... RIP
How did i not know about this?...i kinda pride myself on knowing alot of world history and in 48 years never heard about it......thank you good sir
Bangladesh is now one of the fastest growing economies in the world. We started with nothing, survived this storm, and a genocide but we will persevere.
Hi @Joe, Thanks for featuring my country. You should also checkout the origin story of International Mother Language Day, declared by UN. It started in 1952, when the Police started shooting at a procession in Dhaka (Decca, East Pakistan). The procession was in fact a protest rally to keep our rights to speak in Bengali, our mother tongue. Many people died that day (21st February) and later declared as the language day in Bangladesh. UN recognized this event in 2002 , probably because we had to shed blood just to keep speaking in our mother tongue.
Another FYI, the war in 1971 not only killed 3 million people, the Pakistani (west) army and they allies also raped more than 200,000 women. Some details of those events can be found in Susan Brownmiller's 1975 book, Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape.
Anyway, thanks again. Take love from Bangladesh.
Yeah, I talk about that in the Operation Searchlight video. If I so much as say the word "rape" in a TH-cam video, it'll be demonetized.
@@joescott That's a bit shit how this "TH-cam is for Children" mentality is going. That and their Premium per month is more than I pay for Nebula and Curiosity Stream in a year. I guess they can afford to demonetise and demote.
-
" " G O D Bless N E B U L A . " "
-
This video helped me understand something that's been in the back of my mind for a long time. As a kid in the late 60s, I remember learning about East Pakistan and West Pakistan. How I learned that as a first grader, I'm not sure, but I did. My dad was a history major in college, and he taught me a lot, so maybe this was something I heard of from him. But then years later when I was in high school, we learned about Pakistan and Bangladesh, and I could never quite understand what happened there -- it was almost like I didn't trust my own memory of what I'd learned as a child and didn't want to ask my teacher about it. (I don't know why not -- I was pretty brash about everything else!) Thank you, Joe, for clearing that up for me! LOL
Same with me. As a kid, I was always into maps, so I'd look at a map with East Pakistan and West Pakistan and not understand how you could have one country with the two parts of it a thousand miles apart and another huge country in between. It would be like if Virginia and West Virginia were one state (yes, I know they were at one time) and Virginia was where it is and West Virginia was out in Idaho.
@@RRaquello That's a very good analogy -- I like that!
14:20 You know that is one of the things wrong with youtube. If you have to worry about being demonitized for covering history so you can cater to most delicate sensibilities is just atrocious
Remember when this happened. People went around the next day saying, “how many thousand? No! That can’t be right” it was correct but hardly any media attention.
I like knowing that you truly care about human suffering. Sometimes there seems to be more hate in the world than there is empathy. Thank you for doing your part to correct that imbalance.
I remember Cyclone Bhola as it was in the news a fair bit, way down here in Aotearoa-New Zealand. I remember collections of toys and clothes to be sent there but the one thing I remember the most clearly was, in 1975 a new face at school. I can't remember her name but she looked so different to we of predominantly British decent whities. I asked her where she was from and all I heard was a whispered, 'Bangladesh'. When I tried to be friendly with her she told me that she wasn't allowed to talk about Bangladesh. Later there were rumours that her parents aided Khan's forces but who knows? She was a refugee from the fighting and you could tell she'd seen some shit. I sometimes think of her and wonder how she's doing now as a sixty year old woman.
I was training to teach EFL (English as a foreign language) 20 odd years ago and one of the volunteer students we 'taught' was a refugee from the (then recent) Balkan wars. I spent an hour in the morning trying to teach him grammar I barely understood myself, and then chatted to him over lunch. It turned out that this unassuming and eager student (that I had failed so badly) had seen his entire family shot and his house burnt down as a young child - only he survived. There's an unimaginable gulf between people like him and your schoolfriend and those of us lucky enough never to have known such terror. That conversation haunts me still.
@@paulhaynes8045 I think it's stories like ours that make me angry that people don't support those that try to escape their miserable situations. Very few people in these places want to permanently leave their homeland for a strange land in the hope of not even a better life so much as straight out survival. We may have our own misfortunes in life, I've survived earthquakes that spanned years, a cyclone (what the US call 'hurricanes' and in the eastern nations, 'typhoons'), three significant floods and as traumatising as those events were, they cannot compare to what living through the misery of Cyclone Bhola or the Balkans war among so many other dreadful events.
We could do so much better for our fellow humans and the planet but as long as the measure of success is the amount of money you appear to possess, I fear we may never figure out that the real wealth is in seeing others given opportunities to live a meaningful and safe existence.
@@annakeye wise words. All we can do is the best we can as individuals and hope for progress. I fear it will always be very slow though.
@@paulhaynes8045 Thanks Paul. Sometimes I do feel like we're going backwards where human kindness is concerned but then I realise that people resist change out of fear more than anything. It just amazes me how powerful and mouthy the religious right are. But that is probably an indicator of the US empire failing, and then they'll be racing to cross a border to safety. Not that I'd wish that on anybody in all seriousness.
I'm a Bangladeshi and I have actually found out about the Bhola storm just a few years back. Can't imagine how callous the West Pakistani Generals were about their own citizens. Murderous monsters.
Very nicely connected the dots. I am Bangladeshi, its nice to see a "birds eye view" of our history. Wish you more success.
As an Indian, this episode filled up so many gaps in the 1972 war history taught in Indian history books.
Now things are as clear as crystal water.
Thank you Joe !
What did they teach school kids about this conflict in India? Was it a major or minor section of the curriculum?
As a Bangladeshi American, this is a very good summary of events. I recently stayed in Dhaka for 3 months, and the country while super densely populated, is doing quite well.
I do remember this, but then, I'm old. I remember the horrific photos, the threat of a 'Cuban Missile Crisis' repeat, and the genocide. We really don't seem to learn from past mistakes very often.
If ever - look at Ukraine.
My dad is from Bangladesh he was a 17 year old kid back then. Things weren’t good let’s put it that way at the time. And Scott is right it was just bunch of rice farmers, fishermen, brick layers & the college students that didn’t get wiped out on first two nights who fought for 9 months. 😂
Thank you for covering this subject Joe! Operation searchlight and the effects it had on a huge amount of the world is rarely talked about in history books. Keep highlighting important history that is forgotten about all too much. 🙏
Recent cyclone impacts in Bangladesh have been reduced due to two improvements in the response systems. First, as the video implies, better deployment of warnings means more people hear them and understand what they mean. Second, the government has focused on provision of elevated concrete shelters for people in the low-lying areas that are most prone to flooding from storm surge. This means people who can't afford to evacuate their island can still survive the surge. A few years ago when Bangladesh was hit by a cyclone very similar to the Bhola cyclone in track and intensity, fatalities were less than 1% of the 1970 storm. The combination of better technology and a government that uses it for the benefit of the society is a lifesaver.
Thank you for telling this story. NEBULA is RAD.
That was a great tragedy. I remember it, as I was at high school. I live in New Zealand and the worst storm we have had was called cyclone Bola in 1988. It caused about $200 US million of damage. We have just been hit by cyclone Gabrielle which has caused $6.5-$13 US billion of damage. We have asked Australia for help.