NATO: "USSR can't join, because its a dictatorship" Portugal: *unsuspicious whistling* edit: could y'all please stop replying with "and Spain", it's been 3 years, 50 other people said it and it's still wrong, Spain didn't join NATO until after Francos death.
@Ninja Crackpot we like you, but that does not mean we want to get steamrolled for you. We learned our lesson with Nappy, and this time going to Brazil is not an option.
@@citizenfoffie7605 haven’t the French assassinated about 22 elected African PMs? Nothing has stopped their imperialism even when they’re not even a world power anymore lol
"So You Prefer To Have A Useless State In Iberia Rather Than The Full Might Of The USSR By Your Side?" "Yes" "You Also Get Red Army To Keep Peace" "Wait We Get To Use The Red Army?" "Yes" "You Mean That Insane Massive Conglomerate Of A Military That You Have Togheter With All The Veterans... *AS PEACEKEEPERS?"* "Yes" "Ok You Can Join" And Thus World Peace Was Achieved Because Anyone That Said No To Nato Got The Full Might Of The US Military And The Red Army At Their Doorstep.
Portugal has been an ally of the UK for centuries and Portugal didn’t go waging wars in Europe and trying to spread some stupid ideology. seems very straight forward to me that they got a membership while the Soviet empire did not.
@@Novusod NATO is the anti-Russian club, no matter communist or not. Though, Russia is just a bogeyman and an excuse for NATO existence, the real purpose of the "club" is US neo-imperialistic dominance over Europe.
Kiiiinda. It was also largely a diplomatic move to get the goodboy points needed to start the Warsaw Pact, which I'm pretty sure was what they wanted really.
I love how the video frames it as "Well maybe they would alll be drunk or something and say yes" and then it turns out CHURCHILL was the one pushing to yes
Almost like the USSR helped the Nazis start a world war, funded the Nazi Holocaust for years thereafter, and then turned right around and started the Cold War by getting the north to invade South Korea
There's a universe where the US said yes and instead of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy and Krueschev were clanking Coca Colas at a summer retreat in Crimea.
I get that this is a US-based channel but the Cuban Missile Crisis begun when America put its missiles in Turkey and Greece and Soviets retaliated. And Kruschev was given the promise that if he disarms Cuba, then America would pull out of Turkey and Greece. Obviously Americans never held their word. Anyway my point was imagine a universe where the US doesn't bully and threaten the USSR by putting missiles at their doorstep
@@Velin_official I’m pretty sure that’s not what happened. The Russians didn’t want to join NATO after initial inquiries because they would have been treated as a junior partner to several other NATO nations despite being militarily superior to those nations. The irony is that Russia is now in an alliance with China as the junior partner.
@@Velin_official I suspect (but did not check) the condition was not so much to split Russia, but to abandon all attempt to re-unify with the other former Soviet states. Which is what Putin wants, to rejoin the 3 Russia (White, Black and normal)
@@NorthernChimpWhen Spain joined they weren’t a dictator When Turkey join they weren’t a dictator The coup happened when they were a full nato member lol
@@irenaveksler1935 You are right, my bad. I had no idea Spain had joined so late. And in Greece and Turkey, the coups happened after, but still, they were US-backed, like in Chile, Indonesia, etc. Both NATO and those regimes were items of the same American ant-Soviet toolset.
0:32 Soviet officer: “Okay so we’re looking to weaken the UK however we can, we have a lot of leverage over them with our massive army so what should we plan to do?” Other Soviet officer: “Alright, hear me out” **takes Northern Ireland**
Anyone know if this was referencing anything in particular? From what I remember the Republic at this time would have been significantly more open to socialism than the North
Little detail that I love : In 0:15 you can see a portrait of the King Leopold I of Belgium in the background, as the NATO headquarters are in Belgium it makes perfect sense
Ironically the Russian Federation came pretty close to joining NATO in a period of co-operation between 1998-2001. They had observers at high level NATO standardisation committees as a Partnership for Peace nation along with 33 other non NATO countries including Brazil, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Finland and all the nations that subsequently became NATO members from eastern europe who were former Warsaw Pact nations. I personally witnessed a Senior UK MoD civil servant being presented with the Russian Federation's peace medal by the Russian Defence Minister. We came that close to uniting the whole of europe and the US with Russia.
@@sombraarthur Pretty much. The goal of NATO to members is for national defence. The US however uses NATO as a tool ensure their top spot as a global hegemon. Russia and China are serious contenders for creating a multipolar world. USA policy since the intentional dissolution of the Soviet Union has been keep Russia contained. I am against the current invasion of Ukraine, but before it started the Russians had a reasonable demand, stop expanding NATO east. To them they correctly recognise it as a threat which will put nuclear weapons on their doorstep. Personally I think the whole situation would be a lot better if NATO was disbanded and replaced with an EU alliance with no USA. I doubt the Russians would feel threatened by this. They may even want to join.
The USSR actually requested to join NATO during the Berlin Conference of January-February 1954. The request to join NATO was bluntly rejected by the UK, US, and French governments. British General Hastings Ismay, the first Secretary General of NATO, went as far as to say that "the Soviet request to join NATO is like an unrepentant burglar requesting to join the police force".
@@user-pf3kv4bv5sThe entire point was to point out that NATO’s existence was an anti-Soviet one and not a defensive alliance. Stalin fully expected to be rejected, just to prove a point. The whole “no authoritarian dictatorships” bs falls apart when Authoritarian Portugal was allowed in
I believed the first time someone in Russia asked was Putin when he admitted he asked Clinton. Had no idea this happened before the Warsaw pact was created. So dissapointed in our modern history coverage in school and media ... And those are the same people that preach inclusiveness to everyone that uses a wrong word ...
@@elvirhurem2013 This little tid bit of history doesn't change anything. All it did was show the political posturing for the USSR in how they were able to make a pact of their own. It was always a counter to NATO.
Could you possibly make a video about what Germans outside of Germany during WW2 thought about Germany and its invasions? (That's a lot of "Germany" but that's the best I could word it)
For what it's worth I come from a very Germanic part of Canada and quite a few people went to fight against Germany in both wars. I can't say much about the whole world but German-Canadians didn't seem to be big fans of the 3rd Reich. This is most evidenced by the fact that a lot of the local war memorials are covered in German names.
That BS about democracy is just a convenient excuse whenever US have to say NO for less pleasant reasons. For example, they don't want Russia selling gas to Europe because it's "undemocratic" and as the alternative push the pipeline project to Turkmenistan which actually has "democracy" and freedom of speech levels worse than North Korea; and as this is not enough, the pipeline goes through Turkey where Erdogan rules longer than Putin with more authoritarian regime. "Undemocratic" in US-speak means only one thing - "we can't puppet them".
For anyone wondering what flag is on the wall at 0:57 it is the Red Ensign, specifically Canada's variant which was used as a national flag for much of it's history before settling on the current Maple Leaf rather recently. Several Provincial flags are also variants of the Red Ensign with different configuration of crests on their shields. I only registered what I saw on the second watch through, so thought I should mention it in case anyone else missed it.
@@brcycaCanada has a major part of starting the Cold War, because a member of the USSR Embassy in Ottawa told the Canadian Government what he was doing which was sending information and if anybody ever found out he would shot, which never happened.
"it all happened after the entire nato organization got drunk after a party and as a joke they accepted the request, thus uniting germany earlier and allowing the ussr some degree of freedom to invest into the population and not the military development after this the ussr collapsed into smaller states in 2005 not overnight but in a more slow and organized manner where the population live standard wasnt too diferent to the west"
@bang bang Government locking me up? nahhhhh i think you're desperate cause usa locked you in Uyghur usa concentration camp, if u need help please blink your eyes twice
I love that you get to the heart of the real reasons behind events and the motives driving them. You call a “physical device for extracting loose ground cover’ a “shovel” rather than going with the political language used by most historians. Very refreshing.
Given that the West had nothing to lose, either, these Soviet leaders showed that the entire charade was a shakedown to fill the military industrial complex coffers. They actually took Eisenhower's stepping down message to heart, as the world order would need a de-facto villain. Now the USSR was vile, sure, and committed long-lasting atrocities against the west via subversion, but they had nothing to gain from being the perpetual target for money-wars and having to sink half of their GDP into defense just to keep them at bay.
Wouldn't that be similar to if league of nations was nice to Japan and Japan stayed a British ally? Sure war would be different, but still so much suffering
@@darrenjackson4804 actually the Anglo Japanese alliance was one of the conditions of the Washington naval arms treaty just by the americans as it would mean they would in a possible outbreak of war with them mean having to fight two of the other three largest navy's + having to fight them on the two fronts.
@The Caliphate That's authoritarian, not undemocratic. If a non-secular, Turkish speaking nation was voted for, then that would be democratic. FTR idk if Turkey actually was a dictatorship or not but your argument isn't exactly convincing.
How I think Global Superpowers use diplomacy to gain leverage: Intricate & elaborate spy games How the game is actually played: "Can we join?" "No" "Aww, ok."
Seeing the thumbnail, I seriously thought this could've happened in the early 90s, Yeltsin may have signed something he didn't remember in the morning Apparently, no, much more clever than that
I reckon it's implied that the USSR would back some kind of nationalist takeover of NI, and since the nationalists are typically left leaning at least, it makes sense that they would in turn become a soviet ally/puppet.
@@Deridus was anti German unification, had relatively pro Soviet sentiment and carried out attacks against the Irish, which she admitted she was putting innocent lives to death by doing so.
USSR: Can we join nato? NATO: If you agree to give germany back its territory and start a joint disarmament program. USSR: Nah, wasnt really serious. NATO: we know.
@@TheQWER9 Russia is just trying to keep nato bases and missiles off their border. NATO has been boxing in Russia for years each NATO country has a nato base with missiles on it. Think about it.
I didn't know this, i thought they straight up just formed the Warsaw pact right after ww2. It's very interesting and a rabbit hole worth digging into.
@@amazed2341 it's not really accurate though since a lot young people aren't interested in it and the kne who are are being brainwashed by whatever side they grew up in.
stalin actually died due to the aftermath of a stroke, which is different than brain failure, your brain can actually still function after having a stroke, it's just that you lose learning capacities and a lot of knoweldge. a stroke is an accident when a vein pops in the brain, leading to the destruction of diverse neurons.
I love this channel so much. One character saying "your mother" to another to demonstrate hostilities is already a great gag, but Stalin saying "your collective mothers" gave me a beaming grin
@HistoryMatters an important detail for why the whole reunification and neutrality of Germany was refused, was that the soviet's wasn't prepared to withdraw their troops from German territory. This was obviously an important detail, as the western powers feared that the Soviet union wouldn't really allow a reunified Germany to be neutral. They also feared that the Soviet union may have wanted to use Germany as a staging ground for further communist spread.
Thank you for clarifying that. Putin in a speech mentioned that Russia asked to join NATO and I was puzzled by that. The next question I have is why we promised to not expand NATO to the Soviet Union but broke that promise with Russia. The tactical reasons, not the legal reasoning.
Just imagined if they joined, peace would be an option lol. From Russia's point of view I can imagine NATO being the agressor, adding countries so close to Russia to the alliance etc. Was bound to happen at some point.
It honestly seems to me that NATO should have been courting Russia to join. If the fear is Russian military aggression, binding them into a huge defensive treaty that expands over time makes aggression increasingly difficult for anyone involved. At the same time, globalization tends to result in more democratization over time, so strengthening ties with Russia would be a vector for ideology as well. Even now, if Russia were a part of NATO, Russia wouldn't have cause to be concerned about sharing borders with NATO states(Not that it truly matters, tbh. The difference between missiles coming from your neighbors and missiles coming from the nearby seas is like 2 mins), and the rest of NATO could rest easy that Russia wasn't going to try and gobble them up piecemeal.
Yea, however one of the requirement to join nato is to have unanimous agreement from current members. This means if russia join, then they could prevent any other unprotected countries to join.
@@kosmas7713 This is, in my opinion, a weakness of NATO. However, I still think that being in NATO would have increased the political leverage other countries had over Russia.
@@GhostedJackal This attempt to join wasnt very serious. Like the video said, they knew they wouldnt be allowed in and instead asked to gauge their response.
It goes to show that they were genuine when they the concern is a national security threat on their borders. Joining NATO would have prevented them from invading their neighbours and it would have also guaranteed that nobody would attack them. NATO evidently didn't want that. So when NATO arms and trains an army on the Russian border to fight Russians, what are the Russians suppose to think? Trust me bro it's a defensive army I pwomise.
NATO: “USSR is coming! USSR is coming! Lock the doors, hit the lights! Hide!” USSR: “Hello!? I saw your lights on! I know you’re in there! My mom said I can stay overnight! But you gotta let me in first! Heeeelllloooooo!?”
This right here. This is basically the perfect showcase of what happened from USSR’s perspective. And truth be told if the USSR wasn’t shunned as much (which actually has a historical precedent dating back to as far as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and more), no Cold War would have happened. But *nope!* The Soviet bogeymen gotta be bogeymen. (In truth, there were problems with the USSR too, but confrontation is not the way to safety. The way to safety is mutual COOPERATION).
@@Homcomru Yeah if we didn't force humiliating unconditional terms on the Germans then maybe failed Austrian painters everywhere would be less disgruntled with the state of affairs. Or we could just drop atom bombs on civilian populations and threaten to do it again.
@@muricaforever2978 Actually, it's more complecated. the Soviet-Sion split happens in the middle of that and so China have to make their own. And then China developed one of the only 2 configuration of hydrogen bomb
I would like to imagine that the west would make another bloc with new rules that would prevent the soviet loop hole shenanigans. As Ultimately the two were bound to become adversaries after the preceding events.
@@abdurrehmannasir5963 A: New Bloc. B: USSR joins, germany gets demilitarized but restored, everyone's actually at peace for a short time. Sino-soviet break-up happens, and now the entire world is staring down the barrel of a gun as the USSR is just trying to inform NATO and go "hey. Uh. Guys. We have a small problem. I don't know how to handle this. H-hey? America? Can you.. ... What do we do?"
I love how the "Why not" thinking was used on such a huge scale. Why shouldn't we try to join NATO? Let's make it awkward for everyone. It is acutally very clever as was mentioned in the video. It was a WIN-WIN situation, but who would be fighting whom if the USSR really joined? The answer can be found in another parallel universe.
Who would be fighting whom? ... Well, NATO members aren't allowed to fight each other, and they fight anyone who fights them. So... ... China, probably. If the USSR or USA don't pull a reverse ribbentrop, of course. Plus germany would've been reformed if demilitarized the way modern day japan is.. so.. things like the tensions from east and west berlin would've also disappeared. It really is the question of if the USSR would actually agree to the terms of NATO and cease the aggression, and if the west would agree to do the same. Because if they did, no more cold war. Or, if there was a cold war, it'd be because of the sino-soviet split which just would've led to "All of the world VS. Commie Asia"
It could have expanded into scope to include the entire planet not just Europe. So in all likelihood it would have isolated China and Several middle Eastern countries and probably Africa. Of course one of the policies of NATO is that to join countries have to be “stable” and have a unanimous agreement from all members. So I’m not sure if Russia ever had a chance.
The cold war wasn't simply a war of tension in that it's just the nature of powerful states to oppose one another. That if they simply allied together then suddenly everything would be okay between them. It was, and still is, a war between two competing means of organizing society. The maintenance of one depends on the abolition of the other. And it was a global conflict which took place on every continent as revolutionary movements popped up all over the world. Some succeeded but most were violently stamped out by the west. Even when those revolutions were pursued through liberal democracy.
@@naberville3305 The West worried that the USSR was dangerous and they were certainly right given how prone it’s leaders were to abuse and tyranny which is why NATO was created. NATO and Russia have competing interests so there is no reality where they allied except if they agreed China had to be locked down. And if they allowed Russia in NATO Russia could certainly use its voting power to prevent its neighbors from joining NATO so they can control or conquer them and moreover there isn’t any law in NATO to plan for members attacking eachother so they have to be careful who they let in and I find it just as likely that Russia wouldn’t help NATO in case of invasion so why would they let Russia in? NATO has no interest in starting wars but that doesn’t mean they were just gonna roll over and let Russia cause havoc unchecked. As for revolts around the time due to policies of containment the U.S. would back democracies (by funding them or personally getting involved) to prevent communist spread while Russia and China would usually back Communist/Dictators who suited their means without fighting themselves
@@FrostReave my friend I think you just assumed the entirety of cold war history "The us backed democracies" what a fucking joke. The US established and backed military and fascist dictatorships around the globe. Much of the nations the US backed coups against were democracies.
"But when Stalin followed Lenin's footsteps and *died* there was a chance for the USSR's foreign policy to pivot." - The best line in History Matter history.
I sometimes feel that breaking down complex matters into short videos like this can also be a little dangerous if not everyone understands that these are complex matters with complex motivations that cannot be completely and accurately broken down into a short entertaining video. Videos like this are at the end of the day, entertainment, not education. People need to remember this before formulating opinions on the matters talked about in videos.
I cannot get over how accurate you guys are. The Canadian flag shown at 0:56 had green leaves, which would have been correct for the date. ( The changed to red leaves in 1957 and was henceforth known as _The Red Ensign._ )
@@Hand-in-Shot_Productions There was the wartime Gouzenko affair in which a Soviet defector blew the lid on a spy ring in Canada operating out of the Soviet embassy, but that was a few years before NATO was founded.
@@GodEmperorEnjoyer , That was not the reason. If Russia had join NATO then NATO wouldnot have had a reason to exist. USA hegemony is sustained on wars.
This just shows that the soviet union, though being a dictatorship, didn't initiated the cold war. Also: Russia tried to join Nato again, after it became a democracy and the soviet union was dissolved. It got rejected again. I really can't imagine why relations with Russia are so bad today.
scribble_dude 99 It was relatively democratic before like 2004-2008. Though the first shift to current situation happened back in 1993, when Yeltsin got rid of the Vice-President and the House of Soviets. And USA supported him in it and helped write a constitution that basically ensured a presidential dictatorship.
The algorithm is giving me a daily dose of HM's greatest hits on all things Russia or Nato related, which is a proper education we should all be getting right now.
But adding USSR or Russia or China into NATO hurts America world domination. Russia and China are the only 2 countries that can look USA eye to eye and say no. They can’t be bullied into doing America bidding. And if you add them to Nato then how will America justify the alliance and how would America be able to sell weapons of war if you have no bad guy that must be destroyed. And Russia and China are Asian countries so they are lesser in the eyes America and Europe. China,Russia and USSR did nothing wrong and did not deserve to be singled out as outcast but they necessary to NATO and America military industrial complex. They are the great evil that must be killed and best way to do that is bugs unnecessary weapons of war by America.
You know, the more I read about the early stages of the Cold War the more i think we should’ve listened to Churchill more, the man made a few good points…
NATO: "USSR can't join, because its a dictatorship"
Portugal: *unsuspicious whistling*
edit: could y'all please stop replying with "and Spain", it's been 3 years, 50 other people said it and it's still wrong, Spain didn't join NATO until after Francos death.
Yes but, Portugal could be controlled see?
@Ninja Crackpot we like you, but that does not mean we want to get steamrolled for you.
We learned our lesson with Nappy, and this time going to Brazil is not an option.
Spain 👀
@John Williamson it was a dictatorship, and you know it!
@John Williamson Please don't fail art school.
I really wish NATO said yes just for the awkward silence followed by a “who do we fight now?”
Would of been the Chinese because of the Sino Soviet split
@@citizenfoffie7605 and when they join what then!? i want to use my tanks dammit!
@@mso2013 fucking some country in Africa
@@citizenfoffie7605 haven’t the French assassinated about 22 elected African PMs? Nothing has stopped their imperialism even when they’re not even a world power anymore lol
@@citizenfoffie7605 it wouldn't last long, because China became o worthy opponent to USSR because of economical support of the West (and still is).
*99% chance they will reject us*
I love this channel.
Whaaaaat? 0:55 good luck telling me that
This channel is great 👍
I agree mate, it's way more simple than learning something from school.
TBH it woulda been way more interesting if NATO called their bluff and said "sure, you can join"
*Hoi4 vibes*
"can i join nato?"
"No dictatoriships allowed"
"But portugal is in nato!"
"No dictatorshiPSSSSSS only one is allowed"
"So You Prefer To Have A Useless State In Iberia Rather Than The Full Might Of The USSR By Your Side?"
"Yes"
"You Also Get Red Army To Keep Peace"
"Wait We Get To Use The Red Army?"
"Yes"
"You Mean That Insane Massive Conglomerate Of A Military That You Have Togheter With All The Veterans...
*AS PEACEKEEPERS?"*
"Yes"
"Ok You Can Join"
And Thus World Peace Was Achieved Because Anyone That Said No To Nato Got The Full Might Of The US Military And The Red Army At Their Doorstep.
NATO logic
@@basedperson1533 well then NATO finally can serve it purpose after all
Portugal has been an ally of the UK for centuries and Portugal didn’t go waging wars in Europe and trying to spread some stupid ideology. seems very straight forward to me that they got a membership while the Soviet empire did not.
@@Nickel_Eye no it didn’t?
"we're not an anti-soviet club"
"so can we join"
"fuck no"
LOL 😂🏆
They're an anti communist club. There is a difference.
@@Novusod Not a big difference ngl
@@Novusod Russian Federation was refused membership, even after break up of USSR
@@Novusod NATO is the anti-Russian club, no matter communist or not. Though, Russia is just a bogeyman and an excuse for NATO existence, the real purpose of the "club" is US neo-imperialistic dominance over Europe.
1:00 ''And when Stalin opted to follow in Lenin's footsteps and died'' this is one of the best jokes History Matters has made lmfao.
Yeah, I think Lenin took credit for someone else’s idea - either way, it’s a _really_ popular trend!
I spat out my drink then came to the comments to see if anyone else appreciated this as much as i did 😂
@@patchworkfellow it’s such a popular trend that everyone does it eventually!
@@marshmellow6152 ikr
Yes
"your collective mothers"
The humor of this channel is unmatched.
0:54
@@abdirahmanmusse8738 wot?
Was just coming to post that.
0:25
OUR mothers
In an alternate universe
USSR: hey, can we join NATO?
NATO: okay sure. So now what?
USSR: I don’t know, I didn’t think I’d get this far
Alternate universe USA asks to join warsaw pact
@@jackhardy3905alternate universe the brits win
@@chri-k In alternate universe nazi won they make the USSR slave and the allies
the good ending
Rule Britania @@chri-k
The real life version of “ you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”
Your chances of joining NATO are slim.
But never zero.
As an XCOM player I can say that you miss 100% of the shots you take as well
@@steelbear2063 Except the ones with 3% chance of hitting. Which means it is somewhat surprising that Soviet Union did not end up in Nato.
Michael Scott
Kiiiinda. It was also largely a diplomatic move to get the goodboy points needed to start the Warsaw Pact, which I'm pretty sure was what they wanted really.
I like how Churchil is the only one who isn't drunk. The man could hold his whisky
The end of that sentence hurt me
He e whiskey his would too yes
You, on the other hand...
Indeed he should be a could would whiskey 😂😂
He could but apparently you can’t hold your liquor
I love how the video frames it as "Well maybe they would alll be drunk or something and say yes" and then it turns out CHURCHILL was the one pushing to yes
Churchill is the Yeltsin of the U.K.
Churchill was a mumbling drunk slob.
@@oilersridersbluejays You mean the guy that stood resolute against the Nazis practically alone and had a quick wit?
@@troysdownfall6547 yea he only had the biggest empire ever
@@everybeat3664 with a weak military, lesser technology, and most of that empire was in some sort of rebellious state
USA: creates NATO to oppose the USSR
USSR: knowing this, asks to Join anyway.
Chad move
Almost like the USSR helped the Nazis start a world war, funded the Nazi Holocaust for years thereafter, and then turned right around and started the Cold War by getting the north to invade South Korea
😂😂😂
“Chad move”
Gigachad USSR.
There's a universe where the US said yes and instead of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy and Krueschev were clanking Coca Colas at a summer retreat in Crimea.
No it be Pepsi.
@@brandonlyon730 the real cold war: coke Vs Pepsi
@@brandonlyon730 with the Soviet ships ironically sold to them
@@kameronjones7139 there’s a video on this channel that explains that deal between pepsi and the USSR never happened lol
I get that this is a US-based channel but the Cuban Missile Crisis begun when America put its missiles in Turkey and Greece and Soviets retaliated. And Kruschev was given the promise that if he disarms Cuba, then America would pull out of Turkey and Greece. Obviously Americans never held their word. Anyway my point was imagine a universe where the US doesn't bully and threaten the USSR by putting missiles at their doorstep
History Matters: "Why did the USSR ask to join NATO?"
Me: "They did what now?"
didnt russia do the same at some point
@@Velin_official how can you split russia though? That's a stupid thing, so probably didn't happen.
@@Velin_official I’m pretty sure that’s not what happened. The Russians didn’t want to join NATO after initial inquiries because they would have been treated as a junior partner to several other NATO nations despite being militarily superior to those nations.
The irony is that Russia is now in an alliance with China as the junior partner.
@@Velin_official
"us", "our", "us"
My apologies, but aren't you german?
@@Velin_official I suspect (but did not check) the condition was not so much to split Russia, but to abandon all attempt to re-unify with the other former Soviet states. Which is what Putin wants, to rejoin the 3 Russia (White, Black and normal)
In an alternate universe...
"Why did the US ask to join the Warsaw Pact?"
Lmao
"well really it was a win-win"
@@ThomasonCG if the Warsaw Pact rejected the United States' application, it would be clear that the Warsaw Pact is an anti-capitalist alliance.
@@alinek2289 it is really a win win
@@alinek2289 But if it was accepted the dynamic of the Warsaw Pact would have drastically changed.
USSR: "Hey fellas can I join?"
West: "No dictators."
USSR: "But you let Portugal join."
West: "I said no dictator(S), we're allowed to have 1."
Classic Simpsons line!😂
Spain, Greece, Turkey?
@@NorthernChimpWhen Spain joined they weren’t a dictator
When Turkey join they weren’t a dictator
The coup happened when they were a full nato member
lol
@@irenaveksler1935 You are right, my bad. I had no idea Spain had joined so late. And in Greece and Turkey, the coups happened after, but still, they were US-backed, like in Chile, Indonesia, etc. Both NATO and those regimes were items of the same American ant-Soviet toolset.
@@NorthernChimp True.
"And when Stalin opted to follow in Lenin's footsteps and die"
The greatest line ever
I decided to follow their footsteps when I heard that
I just about fell off my couch and had to go back and re-watch that bit twice, ROFL!
Beria was one of Stalin' killers.
I literally spit my drink out and had to re-watch it multiple times. hilarious.
@@niki123489 Stalin was 74. Old age was Stalin's killer.
0:32
Soviet officer: “Okay so we’re looking to weaken the UK however we can, we have a lot of leverage over them with our massive army so what should we plan to do?”
Other Soviet officer: “Alright, hear me out” **takes Northern Ireland**
LMAO
You been playing HOI or something?
@@Memphismastermind I can imagine that conversation too:
“Ay, it’s fine, see I play this game called Hearts Of Iron 4 I know what I’m doing”
Anyone know if this was referencing anything in particular?
From what I remember the Republic at this time would have been significantly more open to socialism than the North
@@Memphismastermind just keep watching u will notice northern ireland turn pink , he is not making an hoi4 ref
The Soviets genuinely tried to pull a Zuko walking up to the Avatar’s gang and asking to join them.
"Hello Molotov here"
Charles Goodyear guess that's also something a finnish person would say in the winter war when he sees a russian tank
actually Zuko pulled a Molotov, several times
Also sounds like something a squeaker would say in a game.
@@AgiHammerthief I mean a fire bender and someone throwing a molotov is not to different.
1:11 the painting 😂
USSR: "Hey, can we join NATO?"
European leaders after a night out drinking: "Yes, welcome!"
USSR: "Wow that actually worked?"
And we’ve had world peace ever since.
World peace achieved
@Oritra Kar No because then the Hitlers of the world can do what ever they want :O
@@PrivateMcPrivate They can't attack neighbouring countries inside the same defence pact, because that would violate.. literally everything.
English left the chat
History matters fans: James bisonnette this, James bisonnette that
Kelly moneymaker and the others: are we a joke to you?
Yeah Spinning 3 Plates and Izzy? too
Izzy? Was my favourite
When I hear Kelly Money Maker, it almost sounds like someone is funding money on both sides.
@@LudicrousTorpedo ooo cia agent spotted
Nice to be appreciated 😊👍
So what youre saying is, The Warsaw Pact was the Soviet Union saying 'Fine ! Ill make my own Alliance, with Blackjack and Hookers!"
"You know what?! Forget the alliance!"
"fine I will do it myself"
Damn, I was one hour too late for posting that comment myself
NATO : Sorry no Germanys.
USSR : But you have West Germany!
NATO : We're the no Germany-s club. We're allowed to have one.
Well that's pretty much what happened
Little detail that I love : In 0:15 you can see a portrait of the King Leopold I of Belgium in the background, as the NATO headquarters are in Belgium it makes perfect sense
Elaborate
@@P-qi6qx Well, what do you want more ? NATO HQ are in Brussels, Belgium
@@funnySIMON99 makes no sense
@@P-qi6qx Lmao why ? It's a fact, the HQ is in Belgium
Boys: ur mom
Men: your mom
Intellectuals: Your collective mothers
More levels in select qualified countries:
Young Boys: Ur Mummy
Boys: Your Mummy
Teens: Ur Ma
Adults: Your Ma
Intellectuals: One's Mother/Mama
Scots: yer ma'
timestamp?
I love ur mom
@@rockking2616 0:26
Soviet Union: *I'm playing both sides so I'm always on the Top*
Is that you Palpatine?
Every politician ever.
My cousin when we play dodgeball
My cousin. Im playing both side so i always come on top
"I see this as an absolute win"
They almost do the Italian move
''You collective mothers'' will be the new insult i will use in daily life.
I prefer "your 1000 fathers"
English has left the chat
@@FlagAnthem that doesn't seem good Enough
Jesus leave the guy alone.. Ahah
no you wont, because you too scared of retaliation
NATO has always been an anti-Soviet/anti-Russian alliance. The USSR asking to join and being denied just proved that to everyone else.
Ye but NATO have refused Ukraine
not at all, the soviets just asked to join for their own benefit knowing they'll get rejected. Stop simping for these mass murdering dictators
@@EmeraldGamerOriginal Whats your point?
Everyone does shit for there own benefits that's not new, NATO sacrificed Ukraine for there benefits what's your point?
@@salahabdalla368 you're so lost 😂 Nobody sacrificed Ukraine. The Nato just can't intervene directly without causing another world war.....
Ironically the Russian Federation came pretty close to joining NATO in a period of co-operation between 1998-2001. They had observers at high level NATO standardisation committees as a Partnership for Peace nation along with 33 other non NATO countries including Brazil, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Finland and all the nations that subsequently became NATO members from eastern europe who were former Warsaw Pact nations. I personally witnessed a Senior UK MoD civil servant being presented with the Russian Federation's peace medal by the Russian Defence Minister. We came that close to uniting the whole of europe and the US with Russia.
And then what happened? The US.
@@sombraarthur Pretty much. The goal of NATO to members is for national defence. The US however uses NATO as a tool ensure their top spot as a global hegemon. Russia and China are serious contenders for creating a multipolar world. USA policy since the intentional dissolution of the Soviet Union has been keep Russia contained. I am against the current invasion of Ukraine, but before it started the Russians had a reasonable demand, stop expanding NATO east. To them they correctly recognise it as a threat which will put nuclear weapons on their doorstep. Personally I think the whole situation would be a lot better if NATO was disbanded and replaced with an EU alliance with no USA. I doubt the Russians would feel threatened by this. They may even want to join.
@@countessmargoth469 Russia applied for membership and was rejected
@@differentsoul21 because reasons?
@@Mewzyc ask yourself.
"History Matters: Answering the questions you didn't know you had"
I had that question.
So how many times have you finished The Witcher 3?
@@MouldMadeMind BUT DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAD IT
West: Let's make an organisation to fight the communism
USSR: Can i join?
West: *bruh*
@Caesar Sanchez there is nothing based about nato or the west.
@@mojewjewjew4420 are you blind?
@@mojewjewjew4420 agreed.
That doesn’t make sense
@@mojewjewjew4420 NATO = extremely based
The USSR actually requested to join NATO during the Berlin Conference of January-February 1954. The request to join NATO was bluntly rejected by the UK, US, and French governments.
British General Hastings Ismay, the first Secretary General of NATO, went as far as to say that "the Soviet request to join NATO is like an unrepentant burglar requesting to join the police force".
and who makes british the cop if they stole the most from the world at the time
Although Stalin died and Khrushchev was clearly pro-West, it’s strange why they didn’t understand this
the irony
@@user-pf3kv4bv5sThe entire point was to point out that NATO’s existence was an anti-Soviet one and not a defensive alliance. Stalin fully expected to be rejected, just to prove a point. The whole “no authoritarian dictatorships” bs falls apart when Authoritarian Portugal was allowed in
It’s honestly scary that this piece of history is totally ignored in the school books. At least it was in my books.
I believed the first time someone in Russia asked was Putin when he admitted he asked Clinton.
Had no idea this happened before the Warsaw pact was created.
So dissapointed in our modern history coverage in school and media ... And those are the same people that preach inclusiveness to everyone that uses a wrong word ...
Agree, they thought us Warsaw pact was east and communism answer to NATO... well it was, but completely wrongly portraited to us as a students...
@@elvirhurem2013
This little tid bit of history doesn't change anything. All it did was show the political posturing for the USSR in how they were able to make a pact of their own. It was always a counter to NATO.
@@SeanUCF agree
@@SeanUCF, doesn’t change anything? It proves the West could prevent the whole cold war. How is this irrelevant?
Could you possibly make a video about what Germans outside of Germany during WW2 thought about Germany and its invasions? (That's a lot of "Germany" but that's the best I could word it)
You're brilliant!
@@liverking24 This video is sponsored by Brilliant
Maybe “What did the Germans not living in the Third Reich think of its invasions?” is a better title
brilliant topic. I hope this happens
For what it's worth I come from a very Germanic part of Canada and quite a few people went to fight against Germany in both wars. I can't say much about the whole world but German-Canadians didn't seem to be big fans of the 3rd Reich. This is most evidenced by the fact that a lot of the local war memorials are covered in German names.
NATO: "You can't join NATO, Russia! You're undemocratic, and you're occupying lots of countries that don't want you there!"
Portugal:
You dont need to be a democracy to be supported by the US, just ask south korea
I was thinking the same thing
That BS about democracy is just a convenient excuse whenever US have to say NO for less pleasant reasons. For example, they don't want Russia selling gas to Europe because it's "undemocratic" and as the alternative push the pipeline project to Turkmenistan which actually has "democracy" and freedom of speech levels worse than North Korea; and as this is not enough, the pipeline goes through Turkey where Erdogan rules longer than Putin with more authoritarian regime. "Undemocratic" in US-speak means only one thing - "we can't puppet them".
its kinda funny because they were colonial powers themselfes lol
@@cianakril it's called hypocrisy
For anyone wondering what flag is on the wall at 0:57 it is the Red Ensign, specifically Canada's variant which was used as a national flag for much of it's history before settling on the current Maple Leaf rather recently. Several Provincial flags are also variants of the Red Ensign with different configuration of crests on their shields. I only registered what I saw on the second watch through, so thought I should mention it in case anyone else missed it.
This has been Sheldon Cooper of "Fun with Flags."
I noticed it (me being Canadian), but I did ask myself, why is it here?
@@brcycaCanada has a major part of starting the Cold War, because a member of the USSR Embassy in Ottawa told the Canadian Government what he was doing which was sending information and if anybody ever found out he would shot, which never happened.
Somewhere in an alternate universe: "Why did the USSR decide to join NATO".
"it all happened after the entire nato organization got drunk after a party and as a joke they accepted the request, thus uniting germany earlier and allowing the ussr some degree of freedom to invest into the population and not the military development
after this the ussr collapsed into smaller states in 2005 not overnight but in a more slow and organized manner where the population live standard wasnt too diferent to the west"
@@Kevineitor199 The good ending
@@Kevineitor199 The USSR was projected to be the world’s Number One Economy in 2004.
sadly that never happened I wish if I could restore the USSR
@@UAEanimation Okay Putin.
USSR: "Can we join Nato"
Nato: "sure"
US Warplanners: "wait what?"
China: you did what?
@@aussiejezza world peace break out lol
Hi Greetings from China, nato what?
@bang bang Government locking me up? nahhhhh i think you're desperate cause usa locked you in Uyghur usa concentration camp, if u need help please blink your eyes twice
US: Warplanners: *peace was never a option*
1:02 Probably the smoothest transition from death to soul I've ever seen.
I love that you get to the heart of the real reasons behind events and the motives driving them. You call a “physical device for extracting loose ground cover’ a “shovel” rather than going with the political language used by most historians. Very refreshing.
this channel asks so many good questions that none of us would ask
Imagine if they have said yes, the cold war might have relaxed right away and the time line would have been completely different
Given that the West had nothing to lose, either, these Soviet leaders showed that the entire charade was a shakedown to fill the military industrial complex coffers.
They actually took Eisenhower's stepping down message to heart, as the world order would need a de-facto villain.
Now the USSR was vile, sure, and committed long-lasting atrocities against the west via subversion, but they had nothing to gain from being the perpetual target for money-wars and having to sink half of their GDP into defense just to keep them at bay.
Wouldn't that be similar to if league of nations was nice to Japan and Japan stayed a British ally? Sure war would be different, but still so much suffering
@@darrenjackson4804 actually the Anglo Japanese alliance was one of the conditions of the Washington naval arms treaty just by the americans as it would mean they would in a possible outbreak of war with them mean having to fight two of the other three largest navy's + having to fight them on the two fronts.
They would have fought China
Yeah, with the Soviets absorbing western Europe by 1970.
1:45 Love that drunk Churchill is just regular Churchill.
I love how you draw all the leaders drunk but Churchill is normal, like alcohol does nothing to him.
“Your collective mothers” lmfao
The USSR: "Hey, may I join your club?"
NATO: "No"
The USSR: "Fine, I'll make one myself"
With blackjack and hookers?
big event of 1990's
@@Lightspeeds With puppets and vodka.
@@Lightspeeds
China
And maybe the crazy one in north korea
I will make my own defense organization, with matriushkas and gulags!
I always watch the outro credits cause
1.This guy makes 3 min of epic content so the videos are worth to watch untill the end
2. James Bissonette
Also he sometimes adds a joke after the credits
spinning 3 plates
Hail James Bisonnette!
At this point the James bizonette memes are Half the fun
I miss Azarka Flash.
0:57 Very clever sneaking in that Red Ensign (Colonial Era Canadian Flag)
I absolutely love that in the "They'll get drunk or something" scene it implies that Churchill is always drunk, which isn't entirely inaccurate XD
That and he was in favor of the USSR joining as far as I am aware.
Best comment ever
NATO: USSR cant join because its dictatorship.
Also NATO: Welcome aboard Portugal, Greece, Montenegro, Turkey..........................
Montenegro was part of Yugoslavia.
Turkey was more democratic when it joined nato
@@Plasmify Montenegro is basically a dictatorship of one man who is in power since the 80s
@@kostam.1113 Was/is
@The Caliphate That's authoritarian, not undemocratic. If a non-secular, Turkish speaking nation was voted for, then that would be democratic. FTR idk if Turkey actually was a dictatorship or not but your argument isn't exactly convincing.
How I think Global Superpowers use diplomacy to gain leverage: Intricate & elaborate spy games
How the game is actually played: "Can we join?" "No" "Aww, ok."
I wish this was included in the GCSE cold war spec, this would be incredibly interesting to learn
Seeing the thumbnail, I seriously thought this could've happened in the early 90s, Yeltsin may have signed something he didn't remember in the morning
Apparently, no, much more clever than that
It happened in the 90s a second time
" When Stalin decided to follow in Lenin's foosteps and die.."
This channel will actually end me
*thud*
u mean u will follow lenin’s footsteps, right?
remember, dying is communist, so don't do it.
Just like stalin in 1953
Teach me
0:36 I love how even Northern Ireland gets conquered by the red army
The were probably thinking, "Better them than the IRA."
I reckon it's implied that the USSR would back some kind of nationalist takeover of NI, and since the nationalists are typically left leaning at least, it makes sense that they would in turn become a soviet ally/puppet.
@@Deridus Thatcher
@@Dylan-bc2po Not too familiar with her aside from the Falklands conflict.
@@Deridus was anti German unification, had relatively pro Soviet sentiment and carried out attacks against the Irish, which she admitted she was putting innocent lives to death by doing so.
USSR: Can we join nato?
US: who will we blame if you join us?
USSR: Can we join nato?
NATO: If you agree to give germany back its territory and start a joint disarmament program.
USSR: Nah, wasnt really serious.
NATO: we know.
@@benjammin3381 USSR: Ok we can
US: We knew wait what?!
= “I’m anti US and pro Russian. That’s all these silly comments are a proxy for. I’m so smart.”
@@coreyleander7911i’m anti USA AND anti Russia (I don’t hate Russians nor Americans btw) 😎😎
USSR: "We wanna join."
NATO: "You weren't supposed to do that."
USSR: Can we join?
NATO: But who'll play the bad guy?
Pretty clear that Russia is the bad guy now
@@TheQWER9 What if they said yes ?
@@KrissNaramon Then Russia wouldnt have to worry about NATO stopping them since they are a part of it
@@TheQWER9 Would we have to see todays event ?
@@TheQWER9 Russia is just trying to keep nato bases and missiles off their border. NATO has been boxing in Russia for years each NATO country has a nato base with missiles on it. Think about it.
One half of my brain: imma ask that girl out
the other half of my brain: *99% chance they will reject us*
So you're saying there's a chance.
@@JarrodFrates i like those odds
It's a win-win.
They??
2:24 TBH these are pretty solid reasons.
Portugal moment.
@@PAC-0922 Even as a half Portuguese, I agree
not really when there are and still are dictatorships in nato
I didn't know this, i thought they straight up just formed the Warsaw pact right after ww2. It's very interesting and a rabbit hole worth digging into.
same
🔑
Considering the Soviet Unions tight hold of the Eastern European nations the Warsaw Pact was more of a propaganda tool than anything else
Surprise - USSR wasnt empire of evil, and after losing 27 mln of people - want peace without blocked. But...
@@brunishka Surprise, it was, its actions in east Europe proves it
Northern Ireland turning slightly brighter red. Lovely
@B D mostly pro british actually
@B D really depends where you go, however specifically Catholic republicans are predicted to be the majority in the near future
@@amazed2341 it's not really accurate though since a lot young people aren't interested in it and the kne who are are being brainwashed by whatever side they grew up in.
@@pecadodeorgullo5963 most young people support a unified Ireland actually. Especially post Brexit
@@trevorwilson6683 they don't mate. Most have no idea what they want and brexit hasn't changed that.
"Why did USSR asked to join NATO"
Me: they did WHAT
why not? they were allies just few years before it
Um br aqui?
russia also tried to join after 91
@@leonardoleo5740 não
@@sodinc i mean china wasn't world power yet right? so it would be alliance to defend from...who exactly?
THIS is the only channel I need to hear on 1/2 time.
"When Stalin decided to follow in Lenin's footsteps and die" this channel's humour never fails to make me faint from laughing
Apparently, we would all be following Lenin's footsteps at some point. Isnt that scary? 😳🤔
I had to rewind the video so I didn't miss the next bit from laughing
Quicker than people running thru the daisies
Hey a ron player!
@@esamsed6487 sup lol, rare to find but if we find it anywhere, it's a history or roblox video
@@FavFriedChicken yeah lol
Stalin:Teach me your ways Lenin!
Lenin:*Dies of brain failure*
Stalin:*Dies of brain failure*
Stalin:...Really?!
Lenin: Should have said OUR ways!
OUR FAILURE
stalin actually died due to the aftermath of a stroke, which is different than brain failure, your brain can actually still function after having a stroke, it's just that you lose learning capacities and a lot of knoweldge. a stroke is an accident when a vein pops in the brain, leading to the destruction of diverse neurons.
Stalin despised Lenin, their ideology of communism is very different.
@@jopar00 no he didn't? stalin had large respect for lenin
I love this channel so much. One character saying "your mother" to another to demonstrate hostilities is already a great gag, but Stalin saying "your collective mothers" gave me a beaming grin
Your Collective Mothers.
I love that line.
You could make a video about yugoslavia during the cold war, i think its very interesting
Yes!
He did a vido on it already
Agreed
@@himselfz
No, he did one for Yugoslavia in WW2, not cold war.
He could also make 20 minutes of scream in serbian and croat and add gun noises in the background.
*Because alliances and groups have the pronoun “we”, and Communist Russia seems to get off on that for some reason*
@HistoryMatters an important detail for why the whole reunification and neutrality of Germany was refused, was that the soviet's wasn't prepared to withdraw their troops from German territory. This was obviously an important detail, as the western powers feared that the Soviet union wouldn't really allow a reunified Germany to be neutral. They also feared that the Soviet union may have wanted to use Germany as a staging ground for further communist spread.
Sometimes it feels like politicians are just playing a very weird version of truth or dare
And someone who knows politicians they kind of are.
Thank you for clarifying that. Putin in a speech mentioned that Russia asked to join NATO and I was puzzled by that. The next question I have is why we promised to not expand NATO to the Soviet Union but broke that promise with Russia. The tactical reasons, not the legal reasoning.
I would argue that the reasonings to expand NATO were not tactical but still operating from Cold War mentality as well as US imperialism.
Just imagined if they joined, peace would be an option lol. From Russia's point of view I can imagine NATO being the agressor, adding countries so close to Russia to the alliance etc. Was bound to happen at some point.
Military Industrial Complex, they run the show, conflict is really good for their bottom line.
they never made an agreement. LOOK it up.
Putin himself wanted to join NATO after 9/11
0:25 "Your collective mothers"
I almost spit my cereal with that one 🤣🤣
It honestly seems to me that NATO should have been courting Russia to join. If the fear is Russian military aggression, binding them into a huge defensive treaty that expands over time makes aggression increasingly difficult for anyone involved. At the same time, globalization tends to result in more democratization over time, so strengthening ties with Russia would be a vector for ideology as well. Even now, if Russia were a part of NATO, Russia wouldn't have cause to be concerned about sharing borders with NATO states(Not that it truly matters, tbh. The difference between missiles coming from your neighbors and missiles coming from the nearby seas is like 2 mins), and the rest of NATO could rest easy that Russia wasn't going to try and gobble them up piecemeal.
Yea, however one of the requirement to join nato is to have unanimous agreement from current members. This means if russia join, then they could prevent any other unprotected countries to join.
@@kosmas7713 This is, in my opinion, a weakness of NATO. However, I still think that being in NATO would have increased the political leverage other countries had over Russia.
@@GhostedJackal This attempt to join wasnt very serious. Like the video said, they knew they wouldnt be allowed in and instead asked to gauge their response.
yeah, but who'd be their biggest enemy then? how they'd feed their ever-hungry military industrial complex?
It goes to show that they were genuine when they the concern is a national security threat on their borders. Joining NATO would have prevented them from invading their neighbours and it would have also guaranteed that nobody would attack them. NATO evidently didn't want that. So when NATO arms and trains an army on the Russian border to fight Russians, what are the Russians suppose to think? Trust me bro it's a defensive army I pwomise.
NATO: “USSR is coming! USSR is coming! Lock the doors, hit the lights! Hide!”
USSR: “Hello!? I saw your lights on! I know you’re in there! My mom said I can stay overnight! But you gotta let me in first! Heeeelllloooooo!?”
This right here. This is basically the perfect showcase of what happened from USSR’s perspective.
And truth be told if the USSR wasn’t shunned as much (which actually has a historical precedent dating back to as far as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and more), no Cold War would have happened.
But *nope!* The Soviet bogeymen gotta be bogeymen. (In truth, there were problems with the USSR too, but confrontation is not the way to safety. The way to safety is mutual COOPERATION).
they should have been invaded once ww2 ended
@@Blox117 that’s dumb
@@Homcomru Yeah if we didn't force humiliating unconditional terms on the Germans then maybe failed Austrian painters everywhere would be less disgruntled with the state of affairs. Or we could just drop atom bombs on civilian populations and threaten to do it again.
@@Blox117but it would cause even more lives.
Could you continue your series of "How did ______ get nukes?" please? They are great!
Up next: How did China get its nukes
@@blackpowderuser373 The Soviets taught them. Next question please?
@@muricaforever2978 Murica for never.
@@muricaforever2978 Actually, it's more complecated. the Soviet-Sion split happens in the middle of that and so China have to make their own.
And then China developed one of the only 2 configuration of hydrogen bomb
@@umi3017 it’s Sino not sion and China did *not* develop its own nukes and certainly not its own H bomb. Delusional.
Alternate Timeline
NATO: “Ok you’re in”
USSR: “huh I didn’t think I would get this far”
I would like to imagine that the west would make another bloc with new rules that would prevent the soviet loop hole shenanigans. As Ultimately the two were bound to become adversaries after the preceding events.
@@abdurrehmannasir5963 A: New Bloc.
B: USSR joins, germany gets demilitarized but restored, everyone's actually at peace for a short time. Sino-soviet break-up happens, and now the entire world is staring down the barrel of a gun as the USSR is just trying to inform NATO and go "hey. Uh. Guys. We have a small problem. I don't know how to handle this. H-hey? America? Can you.. ... What do we do?"
This aged like a fine wine.
Well, I had never heard of that. Brilliant move on the USSR part. Thanks a lot for the video !
I love how the "Why not" thinking was used on such a huge scale. Why shouldn't we try to join NATO? Let's make it awkward for everyone. It is acutally very clever as was mentioned in the video. It was a WIN-WIN situation, but who would be fighting whom if the USSR really joined? The answer can be found in another parallel universe.
Who would be fighting whom? ... Well, NATO members aren't allowed to fight each other, and they fight anyone who fights them. So... ... China, probably. If the USSR or USA don't pull a reverse ribbentrop, of course. Plus germany would've been reformed if demilitarized the way modern day japan is.. so.. things like the tensions from east and west berlin would've also disappeared.
It really is the question of if the USSR would actually agree to the terms of NATO and cease the aggression, and if the west would agree to do the same. Because if they did, no more cold war. Or, if there was a cold war, it'd be because of the sino-soviet split which just would've led to "All of the world VS. Commie Asia"
It could have expanded into scope to include the entire planet not just Europe. So in all likelihood it would have isolated China and Several middle Eastern countries and probably Africa. Of course one of the policies of NATO is that to join countries have to be “stable” and have a unanimous agreement from all members. So I’m not sure if Russia ever had a chance.
The cold war wasn't simply a war of tension in that it's just the nature of powerful states to oppose one another. That if they simply allied together then suddenly everything would be okay between them. It was, and still is, a war between two competing means of organizing society. The maintenance of one depends on the abolition of the other. And it was a global conflict which took place on every continent as revolutionary movements popped up all over the world. Some succeeded but most were violently stamped out by the west. Even when those revolutions were pursued through liberal democracy.
@@naberville3305 The West worried that the USSR was dangerous and they were certainly right given how prone it’s leaders were to abuse and tyranny which is why NATO was created. NATO and Russia have competing interests so there is no reality where they allied except if they agreed China had to be locked down. And if they allowed Russia in NATO Russia could certainly use its voting power to prevent its neighbors from joining NATO so they can control or conquer them and moreover there isn’t any law in NATO to plan for members attacking eachother so they have to be careful who they let in and I find it just as likely that Russia wouldn’t help NATO in case of invasion so why would they let Russia in? NATO has no interest in starting wars but that doesn’t mean they were just gonna roll over and let Russia cause havoc unchecked.
As for revolts around the time due to policies of containment the U.S. would back democracies (by funding them or personally getting involved) to prevent communist spread while Russia and China would usually back Communist/Dictators who suited their means without fighting themselves
@@FrostReave my friend I think you just assumed the entirety of cold war history
"The us backed democracies" what a fucking joke. The US established and backed military and fascist dictatorships around the globe. Much of the nations the US backed coups against were democracies.
"But when Stalin followed Lenin's footsteps and *died* there was a chance for the USSR's foreign policy to pivot." - The best line in History Matter history.
Great video 👍🏻
*USSR:* _Why can't we be friends?_
2:56 Good ol' Spinning Three Plates.
Follow a lot of contemporary geopolitics and frankly wish I could break down complex situations and motivations like you did here, well done.
I sometimes feel that breaking down complex matters into short videos like this can also be a little dangerous if not everyone understands that these are complex matters with complex motivations that cannot be completely and accurately broken down into a short entertaining video. Videos like this are at the end of the day, entertainment, not education. People need to remember this before formulating opinions on the matters talked about in videos.
Hits different now
You got me with the "And when Stalin opted to follow in Lenins footsteps and die.." line
I cannot get over how accurate you guys are.
The Canadian flag shown at 0:56 had green leaves, which would have been correct for the date.
( The changed to red leaves in 1957 and was henceforth known as _The Red Ensign._ )
What I don't get is why it's there.
@@davidjames4915 Soviet embassy to Canada, I guess?
@@Hand-in-Shot_Productions There was the wartime Gouzenko affair in which a Soviet defector blew the lid on a spy ring in Canada operating out of the Soviet embassy, but that was a few years before NATO was founded.
1:45 I couldn't stop laughing
It's even funnier when you know Churchill was always drunk and looks normal
Then in 2000 PUTIN asked CLINTON (former US president) to let them join NATO. They said NO again.
And for good reason. NATO would be throwing Eastern Europe into Russia’s hands again.
@@GodEmperorEnjoyer , That was not the reason. If Russia had join NATO then NATO wouldnot have had a reason to exist. USA hegemony is sustained on wars.
Yelstin also asked in the 90s and they still said no
@@redvlandro
Exactly. Russia was wanting to join NATO to kick the US out of Europe, and unsurprisingly nobody wanted that.
@@GodEmperorEnjoyerlowiq murikan ahh answer lol
This just shows that the soviet union, though being a dictatorship, didn't initiated the cold war.
Also:
Russia tried to join Nato again, after it became a democracy and the soviet union was dissolved.
It got rejected again.
I really can't imagine why relations with Russia are so bad today.
@HY - 07ML 769151 Hazel McCallion Sr PS a democracy? yes. A corrupt one? Also yes.
@@ethanljarvis Putin is better than most western politicians.
scribble_dude 99 It was relatively democratic before like 2004-2008. Though the first shift to current situation happened back in 1993, when Yeltsin got rid of the Vice-President and the House of Soviets. And USA supported him in it and helped write a constitution that basically ensured a presidential dictatorship.
I feel like Gorbachev should have stayed he was the best leader of Russia since Catherine the great
@@BatCostumeGuy lmao making silly claims when you clearly are talking out your ass 😂
I had a feeling you'd tackle something like this...
The algorithm is giving me a daily dose of HM's greatest hits on all things Russia or Nato related, which is a proper education we should all be getting right now.
Nato should have said yes. The best policy is to try and include everyone, everybody being friends, no enemies left outside.
China left outside.
But adding USSR or Russia or China into NATO hurts America world domination. Russia and China are the only 2 countries that can look USA eye to eye and say no. They can’t be bullied into doing America bidding. And if you add them to Nato then how will America justify the alliance and how would America be able to sell weapons of war if you have no bad guy that must be destroyed. And Russia and China are Asian countries so they are lesser in the eyes America and Europe. China,Russia and USSR did nothing wrong and did not deserve to be singled out as outcast but they necessary to NATO and America military industrial complex. They are the great evil that must be killed and best way to do that is bugs unnecessary weapons of war by America.
@@saimyintmyat9373 North Korea : :((
@@miya9953 With Russia in NATO it is easier to invade NK.
NATO is controlled by short term bonus greedy people, not by people who think of the future of mankind.
“The communists are scary club”😂😂
As Marx said: I wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would have me as a member.
Err Groucho not Karl.
"We've created this military alliance to protect the rest of Europe from the Ussr"
Ussr: Wow can I join? owo.
Don't owo
@@pancytryna9378 uwu
@@pancytryna9378 TwT
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•w•
"Your Collective Mothers"- I died
You know, the more I read about the early stages of the Cold War the more i think we should’ve listened to Churchill more, the man made a few good points…