These mistakes continue to rear their ugly heads. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the worst errors that seem to have been repeated over and again throughout human history.
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00:00In the summer of 1941, Hitler orders a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union,
00:07catching his ally completely off guard.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the worst errors that
00:13seem to have been repeated over and again throughout human history.
00:16The COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow, so are the parallels being drawn between it
00:22and another deadly virus that struck the globe more than a century ago.
00:26Imperialist misadventures turn into quagmires, the Boer War and the Vietnam War.
00:32After centuries of war in Vietnam, the one that began in 1955
00:37would be internationally reported news and last for 20 years.
00:42For the English-speaking world, the 20th century began with one imperialist quagmire,
00:46the Boer War, and was in part defined by another, the Vietnam War.
00:51Both saw powerful nations, the UK and the US, seeking to impose control over smaller,
00:56resistant countries, driven by strategic and economic interests.
01:00The Boer War was fueled by Britain's desire to control South Africa's mineral wealth.
01:05By 1899, British troops were massing in their colony of Natal,
01:09and the Boers feared an invasion was imminent.
01:12So rather than await the inevitable, the Boers decided to strike first,
01:17and on October 11, 1899, the Second Boer War began.
01:21To achieve this, they employed brutal tactics,
01:24leaving scorched earth and concentration camps in their wake.
01:27Similarly, the Vietnam War was rooted in Cold War ideology,
01:31as the US aimed to contain communism.
01:34In both wars, foreign powers underestimated local resistance.
01:38These conflicts were moral, financial, and tactical quicksand,
01:42inflicting immense human suffering and widespread devastation.
01:45We have made a national pledge to help South Vietnam defend its independence,
01:54and I intend to keep that promise.
01:58RUSHED ENGINEERING COLLAPSING DAMS
02:00Johnstown Flood, the St. Francis Dam, and the Ban Kieu Dam
02:04If history has taught us anything,
02:06it's that greed and hubris are often at the heart of human tragedies.
02:09The Johnstown Flood, St. Francis Dam failure, and Ban Kieu Dam disaster
02:14were a trio of foreseeable catastrophes.
02:16With every passing minute, the internal stresses on the dam were multiplying.
02:22At around 11.20pm, the structure finally began to give way.
02:26In each case, flawed engineering, poor oversight,
02:29and disregard for safety warnings set the stage for massive loss of life.
02:34The Johnstown Flood occurred when a poorly maintained dam collapsed,
02:38destroying entire towns.
02:40And water is such a powerful force,
02:42it would pick up locomotives off of the track that were in this flood's way,
02:47and bulldoze everything that was in its way.
02:50Similarly, the St. Francis Dam in California failed due to structural flaws,
02:55flooding communities downstream.
02:57In China, the Ban Kieu Dam was overwhelmed by unprecedented rainfall.
03:02This exacerbated problems stemming from design failures and political mismanagement,
03:07causing the dam to collapse, killing thousands.
03:10Though decades apart,
03:11these disasters highlight the repeated risk of underestimating nature's power.
03:17Deregulation helps lead to economic collapse,
03:20the Great Depression, and the Great Recession.
03:22Time and time again, America and the world pay the price
03:25for a cycle of laissez-faire economics and deregulation.
03:29In the 1920s, minimal government oversight allowed for rampant speculation
03:33and risky investments in the stock market.
03:35By the end of the decade, the stock market crashed
03:38and spread economic devastation around the world.
03:41Wherever you looked, boys and girls, men and women,
03:45were wondering what was ever going to happen to them.
03:48Similarly, in the early 2000s,
03:51decades of financial deregulation enabled irresponsible lending practices.
03:56The housing market was utterly poisoned by subprime mortgages,
04:00leading to a bubble that burst in 2008.
04:03Federal Reserve has moved quickly to bring order to the financial markets.
04:09Both crises were fueled by the belief that markets could self-regulate.
04:13Unchecked greed and the erosion of safeguards created systemic risks.
04:17The resultant unemployment, widespread foreclosures, and economic collapse
04:22reflected the dangers of prioritizing short-term profits over long-term stability.
04:28REPUBLICS FALLING TO TYRANNY
04:30THE ROMAN REPUBLICS AND THE WEIMAR REPUBLICS FALLS
04:34Democratic institutions are only as strong as a nation's willingness to keep it afloat.
04:38Instability and internal strife work hand-in-hand to bring democracies to their knees.
04:44The Roman and Weimar Republics each struggled with political polarization,
04:48economic crises, and corruption.
04:50Discontent and distrust in institutions spread like viruses,
04:54weaponized by ambitious authoritarians.
04:57The Roman Republic's decline was marked by social unrest and economic inequality.
05:02Elites struggled for power.
05:04Amidst the chaos, Julius Caesar rose quickly and eventually established imperial rule.
05:10Likewise, the Weimar Republic was strangled by hyperinflation and factionalism.
05:15From 620,000 marks to the dollar in August 1923 to 630 billion three months later.
05:24Political extremists took advantage of the uncertainty and eventually seized power.
05:29In the end, Adolf Hitler rose to prominence, dominating both Germany and most of Europe.
05:35THE ATTACKS THAT CREATED EMPIRES
05:37THE SPANISH ARMADA AND THE JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR
05:41Though the raid only lasted 75 minutes, the Japanese destroyed or damaged nearly
05:4620 American naval vessels, including eight battleships and more than 340 airplanes.
05:52Attacking first has often determined the outcome of a war.
05:56Some of those outcomes, though, weren't so rosy for the attackers.
05:59In 1588, Spain's armada set out to crush England's growing navy and restore Catholic rule,
06:06only to be slammed by powerful storms.
06:09Decimated, the survivors were ultimately outmaneuvered by England's smaller ships.
06:13It's a sea battle that changed the balance of world power for 300 years.
06:18Spain's attack led to England's centuries-long dominance over the seas.
06:23In 1941, Japan, too, sought to hamstring their naval rival.
06:28Their attack on Pearl Harbor was swift and devastating.
06:31It did not, however, deliver a crippling blow to the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
06:35Instead, it galvanized America, dragging it into World War II.
06:39On December 8, 1941, one day after the attack,
06:43the United States Congress declared war on Japan, officially entering World War II.
06:49In each instance, the attacked nation went on to become the world's most formidable superpower.
06:55Spiraling alliances, the Peloponnesian War and World War I.
06:59Most would say World War I started with a gunshot, but there's a lot more to the story.
07:05The Peloponnesian War and World War I both erupted when a spiraling web of alliances
07:11escalated local conflicts into devastating region-wide wars.
07:15Both were proud city-states who eyed each other with great suspicion.
07:20Each was certain that it should wield supreme authority.
07:24But as we all know, there can only be one leader.
07:27In ancient Greece, tensions between Athens and Sparta, along with their respective allies,
07:32led to the Peloponnesian War.
07:34This prolonged struggle destabilized the entire Greek world.
07:38Many city-states were left weakened or destroyed.
07:41World War I began thanks to a series of military treaties between European powers.
07:46The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand triggered a diplomatic and military chain reaction,
07:51pulling nations into a catastrophic global conflict.
07:54Both wars ended with a deadly aftermath.
07:57The Peloponnesian War left Greece in ruins, and vulnerable to conquest.
08:01World War I's devastation left political instability and economic collapse,
08:06leading to the rise of fascism in Europe.
08:09Human Atrocities
08:10The Holocaust and Rwandan Genocide
08:13For 100 days in 1994, the African country of Rwanda suffered a horrific campaign of mass murder.
08:21The Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide share chilling similarities in both their origins
08:26and outcomes.
08:27Both were driven by deeply ingrained ethnic hatred, propaganda, and political manipulation.
08:45The Nazis systematically dehumanized Jews through years of anti-Semitic rhetoric.
08:51Eventually, they industrialized their bigotry,
08:54killing upwards of 12 million people, half of them Jewish.
08:58In Rwanda, the Tutsi minority was demonized by extremist Hutu leaders.
09:03After ginning up that hatred to a fever pitch, the killing began.
09:06In just 100 days, Hutus slaughtered more than 500,000 Tutsis.
09:11Tutsi victims sought refuge at churches and schools,
09:14where they hoped international organizations would protect them.
09:17But no outside party came to their aid.
09:20Both genocides were marked by the use of state machinery to orchestrate mass murder,
09:24while other nations stood by, either complicit or indifferent.
09:28Both massacres left profound scars and a haunting legacy of loss.
09:38Democracy may be a net good, but majoritarianism,
09:41if left unchecked and under the right circumstances, can cause mass hysteria.
09:46There were witchcraft outbreaks all the time,
09:50all through the colonies, especially the northern colonies.
09:53With a dash of fear and a pinch of paranoia,
09:56bad actors could use a desire to root out perceived threats to cause great harm.
10:01In Salem, Massachusetts, accusations of witchcraft spiraled out of control.
10:05Witch trials led to executions based on flimsy evidence and fear of the supernatural.
10:10Angry community members in Salem pointed fingers at assertive middle-aged women,
10:15but also began to accuse married women from well-respected families.
10:19Some men and even a four-year-old child were also accused of being witches.
10:24Centuries later, Senator Joe McCarthy spearheaded his own witch hunt,
10:29this time for communists.
10:30Those accused of subversion were blacklisted and persecuted, often without real evidence.
10:36The second Red Scare perhaps took its greatest toll on artists and entertainers.
10:42People like Paul Robeson, Arthur Miller,
10:45and others who were unable to work because of being branded as suspected communists.
10:50In both cases, authorities used public fear to conduct aggressive and unjust
10:55campaigns against alleged enemies, ruining lives in the process,
10:59and fostering deep societal distrust.
11:02Pandemics, the Spanish flu, and COVID-19.
11:06The COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow.
11:08So are the parallels being drawn between it
11:11and another deadly virus that struck the globe more than a century ago.
11:15Human civilization has been ravaged by deadly pandemics over and over throughout history.
11:20The Spanish flu and COVID-19 happened a century apart,
11:24but it seems that not everyone chose to learn from the past.
11:27Discontent with public health measures spread widely during each pandemic,
11:32exacerbating the situation.
11:34Spirits will not die, and I tell you what, we will not comply.
11:40Governments implemented shutdowns to curb the spread,
11:43but uneven compliance and politicized responses prolonged the crises.
11:48During the Spanish flu, anti-mask leagues and public pushback against restrictions
11:53mirrored the protests and skepticism surrounding COVID-19 measures.
11:57The Spanish flu eventually subsided as the virus mutated into less lethal strains,
12:02whereas COVID-19's global impact was mitigated by vaccines and evolving public health strategies.
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12:25Military Miscalculations
12:27Napoleon and Hitler saw their conquests die in Russia.
12:40Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia and Hitler's 1941 Operation Barbarossa share
12:47strikingly similar fates. Overambition would doom both campaigns,
12:51in no small part due to harsh Russian winter.
12:54Napoleon sought to subdue Russia and expand his empire eastward. Unfortunately, his massive army
13:01stretched their supply lines too far. Their scorched earth tactics alienated locals,
13:06making it doubly difficult to find supplies. In the end, they were finished off by the brutal cold.
13:11Over a century later, Hitler's invasion followed a similar trajectory.
13:16Confident in a quick victory, the German army advanced deep into Soviet territory.
13:21They were met by fierce resistance, hampered by logistical failures, and nearly frozen solid.
13:26Initial success only encouraged the reckless invasions, ultimately leading to crippling
13:31and catastrophic retreats. Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
13:46What are some historical echoes that you hope don't repeat again? Let us know in the comments
13:50below. Though the Salem Witchcraft Trials lasted only a short time,
13:55they came to represent the persecution of innocents at the hands of fanatics.