Another great doc. Glad to see that this channel is able and willing to produce something so deservedly critical of the UK government's actions -- and not just historically, but through until today.
I live in Adelaide, South Australia as did my Mum, Aunty and Grandparents. My understanding is that it was not only detonations of bombs but they also released other radioactive elements into the environment to see the effects and some of these were measured in the eastern states. Mum, Aunty, Grandparents and many of my Great Aunts were alive at the time of the testing, and most died of cancer and in some cases had multiple fights with cancer, survived one, just to have another. It is well known that aborginal people were left in the test areas as the bombs were detonated. And I feel that although every one in my family that was alive at the time were hundreds of km from the detonations - they all died of cancer. So while it is certain that the aboriginals in the area were killed and radiated, but it also seems likely that other people, accross the state and accross the country were also effected. I would be fascinated to the statistics for cancer accross Australia. For people alive at the time of the testing and by the distance from the site.
There is a story that is told regularly in my family who also lives in SA . The story is that one day the weather prediction was wrong and the winds directed fallout down into SA, much of it landing in the Barossa region. My Grandparents used to say that there was a Geiger counter on top of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital that went berserk one day after the test, could be wrong but still. One friend from the period who lived up in the Barossa later got thyroid cancer, likely as a result of the test as they grew up in the 50's.
My grandfather was stationed on Christmas Island, where he witnessed two hydrogen bomb tests-one at 10 miles and the other at 15 miles. Very fortunately, he didn’t experience any radiation- or fallout-related issues but did suffer hearing loss and damage to his eyesight. He described it as fire as far as the eye could see, so bright that it was visible no matter which way he turned-even with his hands covering his eyes. The shockwave was so deafening that he had hearing damage for the rest of his life. For those who don’t know, fallout from hydrogen bombs is much smaller compared to atomic bombs. Very fortunately, he and my grandmother were able to have three healthy children and 21 grandchildren, all without any birth defects. (I can’t comment on whether they experienced any miscarriages-it’s not something one would typically ask about.) I know he recently received a medal (posthumously). There is an ongoing legal battle regarding compensation.
My uncle was an RAAF officer in the 1950s, and flew Hercules transports. He was present at the Maralinga tests and died too young of cancer. My cousins tried to join a class action for compensation but they pointed to his tobacco use as contributary in order to exclude him. All servicemen in those days smoked. Also, take the claim of “successful” tests with a grain of salt. At least one site involved fizzer bombs, where the plutonium didn’t quite explode properly and instead got sprayed around the landscape. Until recently, that highly toxic and radioactive material was just sitting around on the ground in some places.
It is absolutely ABSURD that the British MoD continues to deny that "harm" was caused to local populations and attending military personnel from its nuclear testing programs! Damage also occurred to the local environment. It is beyond reasonable for the British government to continue with this policy. JUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS...!!!
I was trained as an NBC officer, US Army. If a unit passed thru a radiated area, it was given so many rads. But after being decontaminated, it was back to zero! Insane. Then back into action😂.
Oddly enough one of the front runners for British nuclear testing was in Canada, near the town of Churchill. Which would have really screwed up the polar bear population that lives there. The reason they decided to not use Churchill was the most British sounding reason imaginable, “the climate was too disagreeable.”
I'm Australian and when I worked I radar design in the UK I the late 1970s people would ask me what Australians thought of them. I'd reply considering the UK had nuked us numerous times it was surprising how friendly we were. They'd be taken aback. People had no idea about this😂
Great video IWM as always. There was an “Arena” documentary on this topic a few years ago, which had some very harrowing interviews with the veterans. Glad to see this injustice getting the proper attention it’s deserves.
Tricky subject, the harm is undeniable, but so are the defence benefits of having independent nuclear weapons. I don't know about calling them a necessary evil, but it's certainly a grey area. No matter what happens, we must not repeat these mistakes again.
With the ongoing debate regarding slavery compensation for events centuries ago, this brings things into perspective when the UK government using its armed forces and local populations as guinea pigs refuses to admit liability for harm caused to living and the recent generations of those affected by UK nuclear policy
Apples and oranges because some of the people at those tests are still alive today. And if they had any descendants (who are still alive) they too will continue to suffer Genetic damage. Slavery and the latter Serfdom in the UK are a different kind of evil that didn't start recently and anything you can think of now has its roots in slavery going back hundreds of years even before the Roman invasion of the UK. At which point apologizing for slavery from centuries ago means you must apologize for the slavery that happened in the centuries earlier, and happened before that, etc. With atomic bombs there is a start date... so lets start there first.
They did not know many, many things about nuclear science and less about weapons. It is so easy to judge those in the past with modern knowledge. Most of it we gained from our forbearers.
My late grandfather worked on the planes that flew through the clouds collecting samples. He noted how the British officers would often don extensive radiation PPE while the Australians often only had shorts.
My Grandfather flew in operation grapple. He was due for several sorties but was pulled after 1. He had something like 30x the exposure limit on his badge. He died in 2009 of a very complex cancer. We didnt know about grapple at the time, but managed to get hold of some of his service records after he died.
Alpha particles are 20 X more ionising than beta or gamma. They can’t get past external skin because of the layer of dead skin cells but mucous membrane and internal tissue does not have this protection and it damages DNA on a cellular level. So if inhaled or ingested alpha particles are extremely risky with regards to future cancer risks.
What 'Top Table' are you talking about? Pakistan, India, N.Korea, Israel, China are also part of this 'Top Table' - The UK having Nuclear weapons has had no 'deterrence' if all of these countries have now acquired nuclear weapons. Also, there is the issue over whether the UK's Nuclear Weapons launch systems are actually in proper working order after a number of test launches have failed.
Absolutely phenomenal reportage! Shame and dishonour on the devils in Westminster whom still refuses to face the facts of it's past AND present... All the glory, fortune and honour to the ones who suffered and continue to suffer due to gross negligence!! 💪❤️🙏 I hope Kurzgesagt picks up this subject just to give it the maximum amount of eyes on it!
I’ve always wanted to know if you half cock a LE by pulling back the pin manually you disable the trigger and the ability to operate the bolt. Is this intentional or a by product of its design. I’ve asked many people about this and nearly everyone is unaware of the feature, which is unusual as the pin is serrated for grip. Please help. By serrated you know the models I’m talking about, mine was a series 3 Mk1. The gun is rendered in operable. Intentional or not?
When I wonder about intelligent life out there, I wonder how many of them reached the nuclear age before the space age. I'm so fascinated at the tech jumps we've made in the last 300 years, from the age of sail to the nuclear and space ages.
Ok other countries should do their nuke tests somewhere remote in the UK. When we complain, they say they did everything right and nuclear power for them was PRIORITY.
Weren’t there any uninhabited islands they could have used. The US used Bikini Atoll and it was either uninhabited or the US authorities moved the entire population to another island-this coming with its own moral ambiguity since we know how important the land of one’s ancestors is to them.
@@Swissspookie They are correct, its meant to be Russia, not the USSR -- Ukraine, Belarus, the south Caucus states, the Baltic states, and the central Asian 'stans aren't highlighted. This map does show Crimea as Russian.
Indeed, the irony of all those countries protecting themselves against nukes... by nuking themselves. As for global health. Those tests are nothing compared to the waste that's been dumped all over the lands and in the seas. And then there's the controlled storage of the most toxic stuff. Conclusion: WSF but... the world is a safer place now.
In January 2015, the Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimara, announced that the Fijian government would provide Fiji $9,855 compensation payments to the 24 surviving Fijian servicemen who participated in Operation Grapple.
If it was really that bad,how did the Japanese manage to make prosperous city's out of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the ruins...they even drink the water
The claim that "nuclear bombs helped to end the Second World War" is highly contested. By August 1945, Japan was already on the brink of collapse due to relentless firebombing, a shattered economy, and critical resource blockades. U.S. intelligence, having intercepted and decoded Japanese communications through the Magic program, was fully aware that Japan was actively seeking to negotiate surrender, particularly on terms preserving the emperor's position. The Soviet invasion of Manchuria on 9 August 1945-just three days after Hiroshima-significantly undermined Japan's capacity to resist and is often cited as a decisive factor in prompting surrender. Moreover, many historians argue that the bombings were motivated less by military necessity than by the desire to signal American dominance to the Soviet Union as post-war geopolitical tensions mounted.
This is propaganda. It wasn’t until the second bomb fell that the emperor wished to surrender. Even then, his military tried to overthrow him in order to stop it.
I have a question: WHY did it take Britain longer than Russia to have the bomb? As many Brits worked on the Manhattan Project as Americans so they should have had all they needed to build one right then in 1945. Of course I know Britain was practically broke after WWII so perhaps that’s the reason. It wasn’t that they couldn’t build the bomb but they couldn’t AFFORD it maybe.😊
It’s simple Britain needed to build reactors to generate the fuel for the bombs ( plutonium) this took time 5 years to build 2-3 years to make the plutonium. Uranium 235 was too difficult and expensive to separate from natural uranium mostly uranium 238 .
Another great doc. Glad to see that this channel is able and willing to produce something so deservedly critical of the UK government's actions -- and not just historically, but through until today.
Yeah, I was afraid this channel might be heavily biased in favour of the uk but they've been critical here and before, happy to be wrong about this
I live in Adelaide, South Australia as did my Mum, Aunty and Grandparents.
My understanding is that it was not only detonations of bombs but they also released other radioactive elements into the environment to see the effects and some of these were measured in the eastern states.
Mum, Aunty, Grandparents and many of my Great Aunts were alive at the time of the testing, and most died of cancer and in some cases had multiple fights with cancer, survived one, just to have another. It is well known that aborginal people were left in the test areas as the bombs were detonated.
And I feel that although every one in my family that was alive at the time were hundreds of km from the detonations - they all died of cancer.
So while it is certain that the aboriginals in the area were killed and radiated, but it also seems likely that other people, accross the state and accross the country were also effected.
I would be fascinated to the statistics for cancer accross Australia. For people alive at the time of the testing and by the distance from the site.
There is a story that is told regularly in my family who also lives in SA . The story is that one day the weather prediction was wrong and the winds directed fallout down into SA, much of it landing in the Barossa region. My Grandparents used to say that there was a Geiger counter on top of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital that went berserk one day after the test, could be wrong but still. One friend from the period who lived up in the Barossa later got thyroid cancer, likely as a result of the test as they grew up in the 50's.
My grandfather was stationed on Christmas Island, where he witnessed two hydrogen bomb tests-one at 10 miles and the other at 15 miles. Very fortunately, he didn’t experience any radiation- or fallout-related issues but did suffer hearing loss and damage to his eyesight.
He described it as fire as far as the eye could see, so bright that it was visible no matter which way he turned-even with his hands covering his eyes.
The shockwave was so deafening that he had hearing damage for the rest of his life.
For those who don’t know, fallout from hydrogen bombs is much smaller compared to atomic bombs.
Very fortunately, he and my grandmother were able to have three healthy children and 21 grandchildren, all without any birth defects. (I can’t comment on whether they experienced any miscarriages-it’s not something one would typically ask about.)
I know he recently received a medal (posthumously). There is an ongoing legal battle regarding compensation.
My uncle was an RAAF officer in the 1950s, and flew Hercules transports. He was present at the Maralinga tests and died too young of cancer. My cousins tried to join a class action for compensation but they pointed to his tobacco use as contributary in order to exclude him. All servicemen in those days smoked. Also, take the claim of “successful” tests with a grain of salt. At least one site involved fizzer bombs, where the plutonium didn’t quite explode properly and instead got sprayed around the landscape. Until recently, that highly toxic and radioactive material was just sitting around on the ground in some places.
"The only nuclear power we don't know about is North Korea" You're forgetting Israel there. At least North Korea admits it has nuclear weapons.
And Pakistan and India admit they have them.
They know it, but they won't admit that they know it.
Funny enough, Israel didn't confirm that they have a bomb or not but said they would use it if necessary
@@28ebdh3udnavObviously they just meant they'd express order one in their shopping cart when the occasion rises
Also Sweden and South Africa had nuclear weapons programs .
It is absolutely ABSURD that the British MoD continues to deny that "harm" was caused to local populations and attending military personnel from its nuclear testing programs! Damage also occurred to the local environment.
It is beyond reasonable for the British government to continue with this policy.
JUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS...!!!
I was trained as an NBC officer, US Army. If a unit passed thru a radiated area, it was given so many rads. But after being decontaminated, it was back to zero! Insane. Then back into action😂.
We in Australia certainly haven’t forgotten about our back garden being used as UK’s nuclear dumping ground.
As a Brit I had no idea some tests were conducted inside Australia. Definitely one part of our history they seem keen to make us forget
00:06 Emu field? Nukes? That's how they finally beat the emu into submission?
Oddly enough one of the front runners for British nuclear testing was in Canada, near the town of Churchill. Which would have really screwed up the polar bear population that lives there. The reason they decided to not use Churchill was the most British sounding reason imaginable, “the climate was too disagreeable.”
I'm Australian and when I worked I radar design in the UK I the late 1970s people would ask me what Australians thought of them. I'd reply considering the UK had nuked us numerous times it was surprising how friendly we were. They'd be taken aback. People had no idea about this😂
It's utterly shameful that the UK govt has not admitted this
Great video IWM as always. There was an “Arena” documentary on this topic a few years ago, which had some very harrowing interviews with the veterans. Glad to see this injustice getting the proper attention it’s deserves.
I remember watching that; very tragic.
Tricky subject, the harm is undeniable, but so are the defence benefits of having independent nuclear weapons.
I don't know about calling them a necessary evil, but it's certainly a grey area.
No matter what happens, we must not repeat these mistakes again.
With the ongoing debate regarding slavery compensation for events centuries ago, this brings things into perspective when the UK government using its armed forces and local populations as guinea pigs refuses to admit liability for harm caused to living and the recent generations of those affected by UK nuclear policy
Apples and oranges because some of the people at those tests are still alive today. And if they had any descendants (who are still alive) they too will continue to suffer Genetic damage. Slavery and the latter Serfdom in the UK are a different kind of evil that didn't start recently and anything you can think of now has its roots in slavery going back hundreds of years even before the Roman invasion of the UK. At which point apologizing for slavery from centuries ago means you must apologize for the slavery that happened in the centuries earlier, and happened before that, etc. With atomic bombs there is a start date... so lets start there first.
They did not know many, many things about nuclear science and less about weapons. It is so easy to judge those in the past with modern knowledge. Most of it we gained from our forbearers.
My late grandfather worked on the planes that flew through the clouds collecting samples. He noted how the British officers would often don extensive radiation PPE while the Australians often only had shorts.
My Grandfather flew in operation grapple. He was due for several sorties but was pulled after 1. He had something like 30x the exposure limit on his badge. He died in 2009 of a very complex cancer. We didnt know about grapple at the time, but managed to get hold of some of his service records after he died.
I really appreciate that you are covering negative aspects of Britain and not just the rah rah stuff
Very informative presentation..... Another shameful chapter in the annals of British history.... Thank you IWM... Roger... Pembrokeshire
Alpha particles are 20 X more ionising than beta or gamma. They can’t get past external skin because of the layer of dead skin cells but mucous membrane and internal tissue does not have this protection and it damages DNA on a cellular level. So if inhaled or ingested alpha particles are extremely risky with regards to future cancer risks.
Thank you very much for this very informativ film.
What 'Top Table' are you talking about? Pakistan, India, N.Korea, Israel, China are also part of this 'Top Table' - The UK having Nuclear weapons has had no 'deterrence' if all of these countries have now acquired nuclear weapons. Also, there is the issue over whether the UK's Nuclear Weapons launch systems are actually in proper working order after a number of test launches have failed.
They are still treating veterans the same today.
Absolutely phenomenal reportage!
Shame and dishonour on the devils in Westminster whom still refuses to face the facts of it's past AND present...
All the glory, fortune and honour to the ones who suffered and continue to suffer due to gross negligence!! 💪❤️🙏
I hope Kurzgesagt picks up this subject just to give it the maximum amount of eyes on it!
I’ve always wanted to know if you half cock a LE by pulling back the pin manually you disable the trigger and the ability to operate the bolt. Is this intentional or a by product of its design. I’ve asked many people about this and nearly everyone is unaware of the feature, which is unusual as the pin is serrated for grip. Please help. By serrated you know the models I’m talking about, mine was a series 3 Mk1. The gun is rendered in operable. Intentional or not?
my father was the weatherman for the maralinga tests
An absolutely shocking crime.
When I wonder about intelligent life out there, I wonder how many of them reached the nuclear age before the space age. I'm so fascinated at the tech jumps we've made in the last 300 years, from the age of sail to the nuclear and space ages.
Imagine the Russian Government release a video similar like this.
Indeed.
Yes but without the teating we wouldn't know what we know now
Ok other countries should do their nuke tests somewhere remote in the UK. When we complain, they say they did everything right and nuclear power for them was PRIORITY.
Weren’t there any uninhabited islands they could have used. The US used Bikini Atoll and it was either uninhabited or the US authorities moved the entire population to another island-this coming with its own moral ambiguity since we know how important the land of one’s ancestors is to them.
Sweden
Israel
South Africa
Other countries we know nothing about their nuclear weapons program.
I believe that the US refuses to acknowledge the harm caused by fallout from the test detonation at Los Alamos.
That you zero in on THAT detonation is proof you don't know what you're talking about. Or a bot.
Rest assured, it hasn't been forgotten in Australia.
The Map at 0:37 shows Crimea as Russian???????
Cold war ussr
@@Swissspookie They are correct, its meant to be Russia, not the USSR -- Ukraine, Belarus, the south Caucus states, the Baltic states, and the central Asian 'stans aren't highlighted. This map does show Crimea as Russian.
"Claim"
2 in war, 2300 test explosions since 1945. Has it had an impact on the health of the entire world? 👍👍👍
Indeed, the irony of all those countries protecting themselves against nukes... by nuking themselves.
As for global health. Those tests are nothing compared to the waste that's been dumped all over the lands and in the seas. And then there's the controlled storage of the most toxic stuff.
Conclusion: WSF but... the world is a safer place now.
No. That's not how nuclear explosions work. They are very much a known quantity.
@@skepticalbadger
The facts are that approx. 2300 test blasts have been carried out, below, in and above the ground surface since 1945!
Thanks for going with Kremlin propaganda instead of science. 👍
Mother Earth will never heal from nuclear bombs.
The empire continues to destroy, even in its waning days. At least own up to it..
no reperations. no wokeness
In January 2015, the Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimara, announced that the Fijian government would provide Fiji $9,855 compensation payments to the 24 surviving Fijian servicemen who participated in Operation Grapple.
Your first map shows Crimea as part of Russia. It should not do so, Crimea is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.
So it's cool that the British tested nukes in the US, but it's a tragedy for the islanders and the aborigines?
If it was really that bad,how did the Japanese manage to make prosperous city's out of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the ruins...they even drink the water
Did you see what it did to the people that lived nearby, that survived the blast but were exposed to the fallout?? Insane comment.
The claim that "nuclear bombs helped to end the Second World War" is highly contested. By August 1945, Japan was already on the brink of collapse due to relentless firebombing, a shattered economy, and critical resource blockades. U.S. intelligence, having intercepted and decoded Japanese communications through the Magic program, was fully aware that Japan was actively seeking to negotiate surrender, particularly on terms preserving the emperor's position. The Soviet invasion of Manchuria on 9 August 1945-just three days after Hiroshima-significantly undermined Japan's capacity to resist and is often cited as a decisive factor in prompting surrender. Moreover, many historians argue that the bombings were motivated less by military necessity than by the desire to signal American dominance to the Soviet Union as post-war geopolitical tensions mounted.
Hardly "highly" contested. It's still the received wisdom.
@@skepticalbadger It is, which is all the more infuriating that nobody even bothers questioning it as a supposed axiom
This is propaganda. It wasn’t until the second bomb fell that the emperor wished to surrender. Even then, his military tried to overthrow him in order to stop it.
Explains why South Australians are the way they are. 😅😅😅😅
I have a question: WHY did it take Britain longer than Russia to have the bomb? As many Brits worked on the Manhattan Project as Americans so they should have had all they needed to build one right then in 1945. Of course I know Britain was practically broke after WWII so perhaps that’s the reason. It wasn’t that they couldn’t build the bomb but they couldn’t AFFORD it maybe.😊
It’s simple Britain needed to build reactors to generate the fuel for the bombs ( plutonium) this took time 5 years to build 2-3 years to make the plutonium. Uranium 235 was too difficult and expensive to separate from natural uranium mostly uranium 238 .
@ Great, that makes a lot of sense now. It wasn’t the recipe they lacked, it was the ingredients.
You seem to have some issues with geography. Your map is very wrong. Crimea is in Ukraine, not Muscovy.
Disgusting.
UK BRUH!
I wish I could be shocked by this. Sadly this is simply typical criminal behavior of Empire.
Rip off Britain😢
Forgotten by the poms maybe