The Cold War - OverSimplified (Part 1) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00I've decided that in order to sell more merch, I should do a face reveal wearing it. So are you ready?
2. 0:04Here we go!
3. 0:05Boom.
4. 0:06New minimalist and Cold War merch available now.
5. 0:08And get the new limited edition Churchill character pin before it sells out,
6. 0:12with more characters coming in the future.
7. 0:14Link in the description down below.
8. 0:16The year is 1917.
9. 0:19Fighting rages on the eastern front of the First World War.
10. 0:22Both Germany and Russia are on the brink of collapse.
11. 0:25- "Soldier, I need you to bring me this man."
12. 0:28- "Got it."
13. 0:30- "Found him, sir."
14. 0:31- "Wha-... who ... NO..."
15. 0:32"Not LennON!"
16. 0:34"LenIN! The Russian communist! What!?"
17. 0:36"Why would I need a Beatle?! Lenin! The Russian communist! He was exiled to Switzerland!"
18. 0:40- "You know what? I'll do it myself."
19. 0:48- "Who wants to start a revolution?!!"
20. 0:50*USSR ANTHEM STARTS TO PLAY*
21. 1:06- The Germans put Lenin on a train and sent him all the way back to Russia,
22. 1:09hoping he and his mates would create an internal crisis.
23. 1:11And create an internal crisis they did.
24. 1:13The government was overthrown and Lenin was in charge.
25. 1:16He immediately pulled out of the First World War,
26. 1:18made the country Communist,
27. 1:19started a three-year long civil war,
28. 1:21got shot,
29. 1:22broke the economy,
30. 1:22caused a famine,
31. 1:23and then he died.
32. 1:25On his deathbed, he said,
33. 1:26- "Hey, man, tell whoever's in charge of giving people jobs not to let that jerk Stalin become the next leader."
34. 1:31"By the way, who did I put in charge of giving people jobs?"
35. 1:33- "That would be Stalin, sir."
36. 1:37*dies*
37. 1:38- Stalin was a rising force in the Communist Party.
38. 1:40He still had some opponents but conveniently, all of them were arrested or disappeared.
39. 1:44So that was lucky.
40. 1:45And so Stalin took over.
41. 1:47He implemented his Five-Year Plans
42. 1:48which transformed the country from an agriculture-based economy
43. 1:51to an industrial one.
44. 1:52And like Lenin before him, he reigned with terror.
45. 1:55Anyone who dared criticize or oppose him
46. 1:57would either be killed or left to rot
47. 1:59in the horrendous Soviet work camps.
48. 2:01Then, a short man with a silly mustache
49. 2:03tried to take over the world,
50. 2:04punched the Russians all the way to Moscow,
51. 2:06and then the Russians,
52. 2:07with some help from their faithful ally,
53. 2:08the Winter,
54. 2:09punched them all the way back to Berlin.
55. 2:11At this point, being allies,
56. 2:12America, the UK and the Soviet Union were good chums.
57. 2:15They held a couple of conferences near the end of the war
58. 2:17to decide what would happen next.
59. 2:19- "Hey Stalin, after all your trials and tribulation,"
60. 2:21"you must be pretty happy to be standing here in Berlin."
61. 2:23- "Tsar Alexander made it all the way to Paris."
62. 2:27- "Uhhh..."
63. 2:28"Hey, uh,"
64. 2:29"j-just"
65. 2:29"give me a second"
66. 2:30(whispering) "Hey man, I think something's up with Stalin."
67. 2:33- "I know, right?"
68. 2:34"What should we do?"
69. 2:35- "Shall I tell him about the bomb?"
70. 2:37- "Yeah, tell him about the bomb."
71. 2:38"That will scare him."
72. 2:40- "Sooo..."
73. 2:40"we got this crazy new big A-bomb"
74. 2:42"that can destroy an entire city in one go."
75. 2:44- "Yes, my spies told me already."
76. 2:46"Oh wait, I meant to act surprised."
77. 2:48"WOW! THAT'S AMAZING!"
78. 2:50- "He already knew!"
79. 2:51"How?!"
80. 2:51- "Ummm..."
81. 2:53- "Am I sure I want to send nuclear secrets via"
82. 2:55"unsecure, public, coffee-shop Wi-Fi?"
83. 2:57"AM I EVER!"
84. 2:59"AM I EVER!" *SENT*
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113. 3:55Now, where were we?
114. 3:56Oh, yeah.
115. 3:57- "Does the 'A' stand for atomic or ass?"
116. 4:00- Then America dropped their big 'A' bomb on Japan
117. 4:02and World War II officially came to an end.
118. 4:04- "Hooray! We won!"
119. 4:05"Okay, so now it's time to establish the New World Order."
120. 4:08"Stalin, you're in charge of Eastern Europe."
121. 4:10"Now, we want you to let them all hold elections."
122. 4:12- "Oh, yes, of course."
123. 4:13"Elections."
124. 4:14- "And these elections will be free and fair, right?"
125. 4:16- "Oh yes. Certainly."
126. 4:18"Free and fair."
127. 4:18"Definitely free and fair."
128. 4:20"Communist, Communist, Communist, Communist, Communist, Communist."
129. 4:23"If that's not free and fair, I don't know what is."
130. 4:26- Throughout Eastern Europe,
131. 4:26Soviet puppet governments were established
132. 4:28as a buffer zone between the USSR and the West,
133. 4:31with Churchill proclaiming an Iron Curtain
134. 4:32had descended across the continent.
135. 4:34The relationship between the old Allies
136. 4:36was deteriorating fast.
137. 4:38Over the next few years,
138. 4:39the British intervened in the Greek Civil War
139. 4:40to prevent a communist takeover.
140. 4:42In Turkey, the Russians began demanding more control
141. 4:44of Turkey's sea access routes,
142. 4:45which prompted the US
143. 4:46to send their largest battleship to Turkey
144. 4:48for a friendly visit.
145. 4:49After World War II,
146. 4:50Iran was now occupied
147. 4:51by both the Soviets and the British,
148. 4:53with an agreement to both pull out
149. 4:55once the war was over.
150. 4:56The British pulled out;
151. 4:57Stalin was like,
152. 4:57- "You know what, I think I might stick around."
153. 5:00- "All in favor of kicking Russia out of Iran?"
154. 5:03- "You want to know something?"
155. 5:06- "You guys suck."
156. 5:06- Pressure from the UN forced the Soviets to leave,
157. 5:09and with the establishment of NATO,
158. 5:10the Soviets had no doubt
159. 5:11that the West was out to encircle and destroy them.
160. 5:14And America announced the Truman Doctrine,
161. 5:15in which they basically said,
162. 5:17- "Those guys are not cool,"
163. 5:18"cannot be trusted,"
164. 5:19"and we will do everything we can"
165. 5:20"to prevent the spread of Communism around the world."
166. 5:23- Many view this moment as the official declaration of the Cold War.
167. 5:27Back in Europe...
168. 5:27Everyone was living in a post-apocalyptic void
169. 5:29brought on by the Second World War.
170. 5:31Cities reduced to rubble,
171. 5:32not enough food...
172. 5:33It was terrible.
173. 5:34- "This is great!"
174. 5:35"The more they suffer,"
175. 5:36"the more likely it is they'll turn to communism!"
176. 5:38- "Dude, you're really messed up."
177. 5:40"What's wrong with you?"
178. 5:41- "My father used to punish me severely."
179. 5:43- America realized what was going on,
180. 5:44and quickly made a move.
181. 5:46Under the Marshall Plan,
182. 5:47they sent 12 billion dollars to Western Europe for its economic recovery.
183. 5:50The countries of Stalin's Eastern Bloc looked on with envy.
184. 5:53- "Hey Czechoslovakia."
185. 5:54"You want to come get some economic aid?"
186. 5:55- "Yeah, but I have to check with my mom first."
187. 6:01- "Sorry America..."
188. 6:02"I can't come."
189. 6:03This was a full-on economic battle
190. 6:05raging between capitalism and communism in Europe.
191. 6:08If the Western nations developed faster and better than the East,
192. 6:11that would be a defeat for Stalin.
193. 6:12So he set up his own rival economic recovery plan,
194. 6:14which he called 'COMECON'.
195. 6:16And he also set up 'COMINFORM',
196. 6:17which gave him more political control
197. 6:19over the Eastern Block.
198. 6:20But nowhere did this economic battle rage harder
199. 6:22than in the city of Berlin.
200. 6:24Caught over a 100 miles (160 km) behind Soviet lines,
201. 6:27the city had been divided up between the Allies.
202. 6:29And the western segments were still under Western control.
203. 6:32East Berliners could travel freely to West Berlin,
204. 6:34see the economic prosperity and think,
205. 6:36- "Hmmm..."
206. 6:36"Maybe this communism thing ain't so great after all."
207. 6:39"I'm gonna have fun tonight!"
208. 6:42*opens door*
209. 6:43*turn on lights*
210. 6:44- "You're home late."
211. 6:45- "Oh,"
212. 6:46"Stalin..."
213. 6:47"I was just out with my friends."
214. 6:48- "Friends?!"
215. 6:49"You stink of capitalism!"
216. 6:50"You wrere out engaging in imperialist debauchery again!"
217. 6:52"I swear, Ivan, I can't keep doing this."
218. 6:55- Stalin wanted the West out.
219. 6:56So he said,
220. 6:57- "Hey, guess what?"
221. 6:58"I'm blockading all of your supply routes to West Berlin."
222. 7:00"What are you gonna do about it?"
223. 7:02- "I suppose we'll just fly the supplies in."
224. 7:09- "Alright Truman,"
225. 7:10"You win this round."
226. 7:12The Berlin Airlift was an incredible undertaking
227. 7:14and a major success for the Western Allies.
228. 7:16And Stalin ended his blockade of West Berlin.
229. 7:19His aggressive actions worried the West,
230. 7:21but not as much as this did.
231. 7:23*A-Bomb kaboom*
232. 7:26The Soviet Union had developed their very own atomic bomb.
233. 7:28The USA no longer had a nuclear monopoly.
234. 7:31The world now knew that if a major war broke out
235. 7:33between the two superpowers,
236. 7:34It would be more destructive
237. 7:35than anyone could imagine.
238. 7:36So it was comforting when Stalin came out and said
239. 7:38that war between the Soviet Union and the West
240. 7:40was unlikely.
241. 7:42Oh wait, inevitable!
242. 7:43He said it was inevitable.
243. 7:44- "Hey, you know who I haven't checked in on in a while?"
244. 7:47"My good friend, China!"
245. 7:48- "Whoa, what happened to you?"
246. 7:50What happened to them was
247. 7:51a full-blown civil war that had been going on since 1927.
248. 7:54The People's Liberation Army,
249. 7:55under the leadership of Mao Zedong,
250. 7:57successfully defeated the Republic of China,
251. 7:59who fled to Taiwan.
252. 8:00The now communist China and the Soviet Union
253. 8:02signed a mutual defense treaty.
254. 8:03This was terrible news for the West.
255. 8:05But wait!
256. 8:06There's more!
257. 8:07After the Second World War,
258. 8:08Korea was divided along the 38th parallel.
259. 8:10In the north, the Soviets set up a communist regime.
260. 8:13In the south, America set up an anti-communist regime.
261. 8:15Both were led by very sweet-looking old men.
262. 8:17But don't let that deceive you.
263. 8:18They were both ruthless dictators,
264. 8:20and both dreamed of reuniting Korea
265. 8:22under their own regime.
266. 8:23Now that he had the bomb,
267. 8:24Stalin was feeling a little more cocky
268. 8:26and he finally gave Kim permission to attack.
269. 8:28The North launched a surprise invasion of the South
270. 8:30on June 25th, 1950.
271. 8:32With Soviet aid,
272. 8:32the North Koreans steamrolled through,
273. 8:34taking Seoul in just three days,
274. 8:36and replacing one ruthless dictator
275. 8:37with another.
276. 8:39The UN were freaking out,
277. 8:40and quickly created an emergency force
278. 8:41made up of troops from 16 countries
279. 8:43to defend the south.
280. 8:44The West still held Busan,
281. 8:45and made landings at Incheon near Seoul.
282. 8:47They pushed the North Koreans out of Seoul,
283. 8:49replacing the ruthless dictator
284. 8:50that had replaced the first ruthless dictator
285. 8:51with the same ruthless dictator
286. 8:52that had previously been replaced by the new ruthless dictator.
287. 8:55And the West then continued
288. 8:56all the way up the Korean Peninsula.
289. 8:58At this point China was getting worried
290. 8:59that the UN may just keep going.
291. 9:01The US had sent this guy to lead the operation.
292. 9:03After winning the Pacific theater of World War II,
293. 9:05General Douglas MacArthur's head was big,
294. 9:07and his balls were bigger.
295. 9:08He reassured President Truman
296. 9:09that there was absolutely no way at all
297. 9:11that the Chinese would ever get involved.
298. 9:13Meanwhile, half a million Chinese troops
299. 9:15were crossing into Korea.
300. 9:16- "Nuke 'em."
301. 9:17- "No."
302. 9:17- "NUKE 'EM!"
303. 9:18- "NO!"
304. 9:18- "Aw, c'moooon."
305. 9:19- "You're fired!"
306. 9:20- The US considered the nuclear option,
307. 9:22but now that the Soviets also had the bomb,
308. 9:24they didn't want to risk all-out global destruction.
309. 9:26The Communists pushed the West right back
310. 9:27almost to the exact same spot they had all started from,
311. 9:29and they ended up in a stalemate,
312. 9:31where they remained until both sides finally agreed
313. 9:33to work towards a peace settlement in 2018.
314. 9:35Back in America,
315. 9:36Americans decided they wanted a new president
316. 9:38who would be tough on communism.
317. 9:40So they elected famed World War II general,
318. 9:42Eisenhower,
319. 9:42who is really hard to draw.
320. 9:44It's 1953.
321. 9:46Hey Stalin, how you doing--
322. 9:47Oh, he's dead.
323. 9:48He had a cerebral hemorrhage,
324. 9:49and his reign of terror kinda came back
325. 9:51to bite him in the ass.
326. 9:52Because he had imprisoned all of his best doctors,
327. 9:54and those that were left were too terrified to treat him.
328. 9:56The new leader, Nikita Khrushchev,
329. 9:58called a meeting, and said,
330. 9:59- "Hey guys."
331. 10:00"You know how Stalin was imprisoning"
332. 10:01"and murdering us all for doing basically nothing?"
333. 10:03"Yeah, he was kind of a jerk."
334. 10:05*gasp omg*
335. 10:06- "I'm really not sure how this is news to you."
336. 10:08Khrushchev went on a campaign of
337. 10:09de-Stalinization.
338. 10:10Statues of Stalin were taken down,
339. 10:12Stalingrad was renamed,
340. 10:13and Khrushchev announced
341. 10:14that he wanted the Soviet people to be happy
342. 10:16and would allow greater freedom in the Soviet Union.
343. 10:19So how did that work out?
344. 10:20Well, an uprising in East Germany
345. 10:22was brutally suppressed.
346. 10:23A revolution in Hungary
347. 10:24was brutally suppressed.
348. 10:25And demonstrations in Poland
349. 10:26were brutally suppressed.
350. 10:28Although he did finally allow some mild reforms.
351. 10:30Back in the Soviet Union,
352. 10:31he permitted more cultural expression,
353. 10:33but then began banning stuff
354. 10:34based on his own personal taste.
355. 10:36- "Modern art looks like a child"
356. 10:37"urinated on a canvas."
357. 10:38"Banned!"
358. 10:39- "Jazz music sounds like"
359. 10:40"the feeling of needing to fart."
360. 10:41"Banned!"
361. 10:42- "Your poetry is really depressing!"
362. 10:44"How could anyone in the Soviet Union be depressed?"
363. 10:46"You're banned!"
364. 10:47Khrushchev wanted the Soviet people to be happy,
365. 10:49but not like that,
366. 10:49or that,
367. 10:50or that.
368. 10:51Young people began enjoying
369. 10:53abhorrent Western pop culture.
370. 10:55- "Son, remove that disgusting imperialist apparel at once!"
371. 10:58- "Shut up, Dad!"
372. 10:59"You can't tell me what to do!"
373. 11:00"Well would you look at that."
374. 11:01"Turns out he CAN tell me what to do."
375. 11:04The West had initially liked the cut of Khrushchev's jib,
376. 11:06but world events soon soured relations even more.
377. 11:09The two sides were spying on each other a whole lot
378. 11:12throughout the Cold War.
379. 11:13The KGB had spies and informants
380. 11:14in nearly every aspect of Western life and government;
381. 11:17so much so that whenever the US tried to send spies
382. 11:19into the Soviet Union,
383. 11:20the KGB were usually ready to arrest them on the spot.
384. 11:23Members of the Manhattan Project aided the Soviet Union in acquiring the bomb.
385. 11:27Some American officials believed they were on the wrong side.
386. 11:30- "I'll sell you three secrets for five million dollars."
387. 11:32- "Okay, go ahead."
388. 11:33- "The Allies are digging a tunnel under East Berlin to tap your communications,"
389. 11:36there's an American agent living at this address in Moscow,"
390. 11:38"and sometimes when I'm home alone,"
391. 11:40"I like to put on my wife's dresses, sit in the corner,"
392. 11:42"and cry for hours" *weird*
393. 11:44- "Very interesting."
394. 11:45In America fear took hold during the Red Scare and the McCarthy trials.
395. 11:49American values imploded as fear of communism collided with freedom of thought and expression,
396. 11:53and "Communist" kind of became a buzzword thrown around to describe anything people didn't like;
397. 11:57Hollywood?
398. 11:58Communist!
399. 11:58Your next-door neighbor's dog?
400. 12:00Communist!!
401. 12:01When the grocery store cashier asks If you need a bag
402. 12:03when you clearly can't carry ten tups of Baconnaise in your hands?
403. 12:05COMMUNIST!!!!!!!*that face tho*
404. 12:06But one area in particular where the US had an edge
405. 12:08over the Soviet Union was in its espionage technology. In particular,
406. 12:11U-2 spy planes flew across Russia carrying out surveillance from the skies
407. 12:15There was a nasty incident in 1960 though, when one was shot down and Khrushchev was furious.
408. 12:21- "Who the hell is this?"
409. 12:21- "He's a... high-altitude weather enthusiast, who flew off course."
410. 12:25- "OK, that sounds plausible... Waaaaaiit a minute,"
411. 12:27"Why does he have a gun and a poison needle?"
412. 12:29- "Because..."
413. 12:30"He's a... very NAUGHTY high-altitude weather enthusiast."
414. 12:34But much to America's concern,
415. 12:35the Soviet Union appeared to be ahead in the space race.
416. 12:38Everyone freaked out when Russia launched the world's first satellite,
417. 12:40and then they actually sent a man into space. (Yuri Gagarin)
418. 12:43Even worse, there also appeared to be a missile gap in the Soviets favor,
419. 12:46and Khrushchev was so confident that he even allowed the US to set up a technology exhibit in Moscow,
420. 12:51attended by a certain Vice President Richard Nixon.
421. 12:53- "Check this out. We have color TV."
422. 12:55- "Yes, but we've been to space and can obliterate you with our massive nuclear arsenal."
423. 13:00- "Check out this vegetable peeler."
424. 13:02Tensions increased further when both sides upgraded their atomic bombs to hydrogen bombs.
425. 13:06And after West Germany was allowed to join NATO in 1955,
426. 13:09Khrushchev set up the defensive Warsaw Pact,
427. 13:11strengthening the military ties between the Soviet Union and its satellites states.
428. 13:15In 1960, Americans decided they wanted a new president who would be tough on communism.
429. 13:19So they elected John F. Kennedy.
430. 13:21The Soviet Union was advancing its technology,
431. 13:23but it was also bleeding its coffers dry
432. 13:25and all of the money was going towards the military,
433. 13:27not the people.
434. 13:28Life under communism was still as hard as ever, and Berlin remained a thorn in the Soviet side.
435. 13:33The contrast between the economically prosperous West
436. 13:35and the struggling East was clearer day-by-day
437. 13:38and East Berliners were still able to freely travel to the West.
438. 13:41Now, many of them were deciding to stay there.
439. 13:43Millions defected to West Germany via West Berlin,
440. 13:46causing Eastern factories to lose workers, and taking a heavy toll on the economy.
441. 13:50Soviet leaders decided this couldn't continue any longer.
442. 13:53First, Khrushchev tried this:
443. 13:54- "Leave West Berlin... or else"
444. 13:57- "Or else what?"
445. 13:58- "Or else... I'll be really mad at you."
446. 14:00- "Yeeeeah, no, we're gonna stay. Listen man. "
447. 14:02"West Berlin is ours, East Berlin is yours."
448. 14:04"That's just how it is.”
449. 14:06Kennedy felt pretty good about the show of American resolve.
450. 14:08But wait a second. Did you catch that? Let's replay it.
451. 14:12- "Eeeeeaaaasssst Beeeeeeeerrrliiiinn iiiissssss yooouuurrrrsss."
452. 14:16Uh-oh. Kennedy just told Khrushchev that the USA wouldn't interfere
453. 14:19in what the Soviets did with their section of Berlin.
454. 14:21So Khrushchev came up with a new idea:
455. 14:23- "We're gonna build a wall, and it's gonna be a big beautiful wall,"
456. 14:26"and it's gonna keep out all the Mexicans."
457. 14:27*Whisper* No, Sir that's wrong, its going to keep in the East Berliners.
458. 14:29- "Oh, sorry. It's gonna keep IN all the Mexicans."
459. 14:32*facepalm*
460. 14:33On August 13th, 1961,
461. 14:35Berliners woke up to find their city divided into two;
462. 14:37with barbed wire and guards blocking the border
463. 14:40between East and West.
464. 14:40Over time, a wall was constructed throughout the city.
465. 14:43Families were torn apart.
466. 14:45Thousands would risk their lives escaping over the wall
467. 14:48and hundreds would die trying.
468. 14:49To the despair of Berliners, the West were unable to do anything about it.
469. 14:53But the wall did put on full display the failure of the communist system.
470. 14:56As Kennedy said:
471. 14:57"Democracy is not perfect,"
472. 14:59"but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in."
473. 15:02As part of the agreement between the two sides
474. 15:04US diplomats were still allowed to travel to East Berlin.
475. 15:06But suddenly East Berlin crossing guard started giving them the business
476. 15:10and Kennedy was like: "nu-uh".
477. 15:12In October the US rolled tanks up to the crossing point at Checkpoint Charlie as a show of strength.
478. 15:16The Soviets did the same and the two were in a standoff.
479. 15:19They stayed like that for sixteen hours and the world braced for nuclear Armageddon.
480. 15:23Thankfully though, Kennedy called Khrushchev directly and was like:
481. 15:26- "Hey man, this is getting way too hot!"
482. 15:28"How about you back your tanks up by an inch and we'll do the same?"
483. 15:30- "Sounds good. Okay."
484. 15:31- "How about you back your tanks up by another inch and we'll follow suit?"
485. 15:34- "All right... Hey, you wanna do another inch?"
486. 15:36And they both very slowly inched away from the apocalypse.
487. 15:39- "PHEW! Let's hope that's the biggest crisis of my presidency!"
488. 15:42It wasn't...