The LARGEST Explosion in Human History
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- čas přidán 8. 12. 2022
- It's time to meet the human moles that won WW1!
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The Messines Ridge mines explosion was approximately 500 tons of high explosive -- a massive and terrifying blast, indeed. The Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917, when the ammunition ship Mont Blanc caught fire and detonated, is generally considered to be the largest explosion prior to the invention of atomic warfare (pace Tunguska, Siberia). It was thought to be equivalent to 2.9 kilotonnes (3,200 tons) of high explosive and it totally devastated Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The largest non-nuclear explosion in a military conflict, then?
@@AmedeeVanGasse Yes. It probably was the largest explosion until the Halifax Disaster. I wouldn't want to be caught in either.
Very true..
@@AmedeeVanGasse I think the 1916 Black Tom explosion of ~900 tons would probably qualify as the largest conventional explosion in a military conflict at the time, even though it wasn't on a battlefield. In that case it was German saboteurs who blew up a munitions store on an island in New York Harbor, damaging the Statue of Liberty (one reason why tourists are no longer allowed in the torch to this day). The Lehigh Valley Railroad, which operated the site, sued the Third Reich for $50M but received nothing. After the second world war, the West German government paid LVRR $95M by installments, making the final payment in 1979, at the waning end of the disco era!
I do think it quite touching that the people of Nova Scotia have provided the City of Boston with its official Christmas Tree for over 50 years, in thanks for its assistance to Halifax in 1917. Boston learned of the explosion by telegraph and sent a train with food, water, medical supplies and staff which arrived two days after the explosion to relieve the local medical responders who had been working continuously.
@@principals16842 the greatest hero in Halifax was probably the telegraph operator. He sent out messages to stop the trains that were headed into Halifax, thus saving hundreds of lives. Yeah, I'm sure you can guess why he got recognized posthumously.
Fun fact: Not all of the mines exploded. One of the biggest was planted under a ruined farm called La Petite Douve. It was lost when the Germans mounted a counter-mining attack, and never used.
After the war, La Petite Douve was rebuilt by its owners, the Mahieu family, and later renamed La Basse Cour. The mine is beneath a barn, next to the farmhouse. It is possible, that a lightning strike near the bomb might trigger it, since something similar happened to another mine in 1955.
I know that too, there was a documentary video about it.
@@PHLocalExtremeSports after a century I suspect the explosive might be neutralized by now, but it's hard to be sure.
@@marhawkman303 they become more unstable
@@SunnySunny-jz8kg You are correct. There was a cannon dredged up off the North Carolina coast dating from the late 16th century, My professor was responsible for conserving it. In the bore he found: 1 a wad. 2 a cannonball. 3. another wad, 4 another cannonball. 5. another wad. 6. a bag of langridge (scrap metal used for anti-personnel) 7. yet another wad. 8. the powder bag in which the powder was still dry and flammable after 400 odd years under the ocean.
@@josephgreeley5569 Holy Cow!
My great great uncle fought and died in WW1 during the battle of Passchendaele in 1917. He fought in the British army. His body was never recovered as it sank under the mud. Respect to the brave men who tunneled under the enemy lines as well as the men who fought in the trenches. Lest we forget
Brave men like him are the reason we are free
@@sdimebagedon22 The Germans, Austro-Hungarians and Ottomans were brave men too. We shouldn't forget that both the Entente and Central Powers were human too
That's a true warrior's burial, if you ask me...
@@TheImmoralNosferatuZodd I guess in a way
But it's still sad that his remains are lost forever
There's An Australian movie on this that some of the stills from this clip were taken from called "Beneath Hill 60".
RIP Tiffin.
Edit: I don't know why this comment looks like I am replying to myself.
The part that shocked me the most, is that i‘ve learned more about the first world war, by just watching this video, than i‘ve actually learned about it in school…
Thank you for making history interesting!
Yep Why Does School Exist When We Have CZcams Videos Like This?
@@JTL1980kind To stop you learning *how* to think, and teach you *what* to think.
@@JTL1980kind
It exists so that you can receive more information than a cursory introduction or a brief overview of a particular event. And so that you learn to evaluate and analyze historical events.
Why do I have to explain the value of an education to another adult? Didn’t you have parents?
Same with me a 69 years old German. I never heard about that facts.
My grandfather fought in WW1 and WW2 and in WW2 He served as a mole and he survived till 2008 3 days after the 25th of December and it was the last picture we got of him ☹ He may rest in peace in the West Midlands
I'm sorry for your loss
So he was at least 108 years old when he died.
He probably became an advocate of canary rights after returning to civilian life. 😁
He lived a long, meaningful life.
I am sorry for your loss. He sounds like he was a good man.
My grandfather was a sapper in the Royal Engineers in WW1. It is hard to believe he did work like that.
Same with mine but in WW2 he was a mole
I wonder if he watch the fireworks
A hole shit load of lies
My Great grandfather served a Norwegian defender of ww2, he survived but he died from old age before I was born.
He is the reason we are free
Both my grandfathers were in the battle of Passchendaele. One was seriously wounded, and both were captured by the Germans. Both were later released in prisoner exchanges. My father's father was wounded by shell fragments on the whole of his left side by a shell that landed less than six feet from him. He lost an ear and an eye and a couple of tendons. His best friend who was helping him out of the trench was blown to small pieces, but saved granddad's life. He suffered partial deafness and blindness and trouble from all the metal that stuck in him.
Of course they were. You are full of shit pal. You would have to be in your 80's or 90's to have a grandfather that old.
Wurde aber trotzdem 90 nehm ich an. He became 90 nevertheless i assume
My grandfather was there when the Messines Ridge mine was detonated. To my knowledge, he never spoke about it, or precious little of his other extraordinary experiences on the front line . It seems such incredible stories from war veterans stirred little interest at all after they returned. It was also said that many WW1 vets knew no one could possibly believe them in any case, so they - so many millions of them - just, so psychologically unhealthily, bottled these things up. I can't imagine this in an age when we 'moan when our arses are on fire'.
I completely understand the NEED to bottle things up. I'm a veteran, rated 100% Disabled, almost entirely for "mental issues." My most aggravating pain is that my family of origin (siblings, cousins) won't believe me when I say what I experienced. NONE of my disability involves having delusions of anything, but as soon as my family learned I'm "mental," they won't believe anything I say. Now 26 years after being sent home from the military, I've decided to no longer have anything to do with that family. They've been toxic. I've been a fool for trying to win them over.
@bigsmiler5101 so sorry.
Understanding is near impossible tho so needed for any & all.
My GF was there too.
@@bigsmiler5101❤️🩹
An absolutely fascinating and informative video !
I only heard of this monumental undertaking about 5 years ago whilst I was watching a History Channel special on World War 1.
WW I unfortunately, was only skimmed over in my grammar school and high school history courses. I have since that time learned many fascinating facts about that war (to end all wars) which few people ever truly learn or hear of in any formal teaching environments.
I'm a certified welder who once worked in Boston with "tunnel rats" for a brief time and I can tell you they would have had no need for basic training & would probably would have been in better shape, even at their age, than most soldiers.
In the Diary of the 3rd Battalion, Auckland (Countess of Ranfurly's Own) and Northland Division, was an incident recorded by the Colonel during WW1 on the Western Front.
They had a party of Sappers attached to them from one of the South Island regiments, from what was Coal Mining country even then. The Regiment took up a position that had been held by one of the Scots Divisions and the officers thought the trenches were EXTREMELY poor, and set about digging, under light, undirected fire, new trenches.
He watched as one of the platoons set to, and noticed that five of the men stood and polished their entrenching tools QUITE thoroughly first. He asked the Major what they thought they were doing, and was told "These are our professionals sir, they know what they are about".
And then watched while they out dug the regulars three to one, and when they were finished their section, carried on and finished the other soldiers work to the same standard.
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 Can't think of anyone better than a Kiwi to sort out neatly that kind of toil.
My buddy Delbert Voyles was a tunnel rat in nam . Lucky man from some of the stories he told. Sorry for prior typo Del.
The flamethrower was actually the terrifying “Liven’s Projector” and the explosive used wasn’t TNT, it was actually a compound called Amonal, which was a lifting explosive. It’s worth mentioning that William Hacket was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross, the highest British award for bravery . Otherwise quite a good précis about the tunnelling war
Virtually all of the commonwealth countries employed tunnelling units during the First World War. A small town near us in NZ has a memorial to their tunnelling company, made up of gold miners from local mines, other mining communities have similar reminders. Once in the chalk country these miners came into their own and there are extensive tunnel systems still under the French fields with road signs reflecting the Kiwi tunnellers origins. Huge numbers of men waited in these caverns before receiving the order to break out of the ground, right in front of the German trenches and attack.
Under mining is a tactic that dates all the way back to the medieval era.
You mine under the walls of a Castle causing it to collapse
They later changed the way castles where built to stop avoid this weakness.
Those brave men, may they Rest in Peace..😪
One of the most amazing stories about WWI I've heard about is when the allies on the western front made a large tunnel and then used it to build a super flamethrower
I watched a tv program where various parts of it was dug up in only recent years.
I think it might have been a program presented by British actor Tony Robinson ( Baldrick / Black adder and presenter of the archioligy program Time team .) They recreated it and it was terrifying to see the destruction it caused . I think it had the code name Viper ?
@@rossbrumby1957time team with Tony Robinson
The Ripple Rock explosion was 1,300 tons of tnt that blew off the top of a dangerous navigational hazard in Seymour Narrows on the coast of British Columbia. It was a tunnel from land under the water and up to the near top of the underwater hill.
I used to build tunnels all over the country as an explosive expert. My first job was near Bakersfield California in the Tehachapi Mountains for the California Aqueduct. As a Miner, our site was half way up the mountain where we drilled in horizontal with 2 side by side water tunnels. My job at the time was to drive the diesel rig up to the top of the mtn where our powder magazines were and get explosives for the round that was about to be finished. The powderman and I loaded 3,000 pounds of powder on the rig and I talked him into coming down the mtn with me because I saw the lightning meter act up. No sooner than we reached the portal, the top of the mtn blew up as it got hit by a lightning strike and all three magazines blew up with 45,000 lbs of 95% TNT. We watched in awe as car sized boulders flew up into the sky towards the Grapevine vineyards. Man, those farmers were pissed. The guys in the tunnel thought an earthquake struck. The seismographs read over 3.0 all the way to LA. If you want to have an experience, be in a 30' diameter tunnel and from 400' away the concussion of 3 to 4,000 lbs going off will blow you over, like being in a cannon barrel; I did that for 30 years. Now imagine what happened to those German soldiers with 500 tons, beyond comprehension. Look up what a ship berthed at Texas City, Texas did when 24,000 tons plus of Ammonia Nitrate blew up and destroyed the whole port and did for miles around.
A documentary showed the result of one (of 5) mine not exploding during the event triggered by lightning decades later in Belgium. The crater is now a tourist attraction.
Imagine being a German miner mining and suddenly seeing a enemy that would be really awkward
"Uh..."
That's scary, not awkward. Don't underestimate WW1 D:
**screaming intensifies**
"Oi jerries where are you digging to?"
"wir graben nach deinen schleien britischer hurensohn!"
truely awkward german miner POV: "Uhm... Hallo main feind..."
Man!
The way things went is impossible to fake!
These miners were heroes!
Sometimes the truth is stranger then fiction!
Thanks for the history lesson. My grandfather and his father were miners it’s nice to hear praises for miners!!!
Were they bitcoin or etherium miners?
It wasn't mentioned but the Germans retook the ridge 2 weeks later.
Some of the colour photos used were from an Australian movie called Beneath Hill 60 which is about the "Diggers" experience digging the mines. Well worth a watch if you found this document interesting.
Another sad part is that the groups digging were often from the same community (as were soldiers from Australia) so a collapsed mine could wipe out a generation (or two) of miners from small communities much the same as artillery could do with soldiers.
I believe you are wrong when you said that the ridge was captured two weeks later Messines wasnt taken until March / April 1918 and was taken back by the British in the last hundred days
@@notfiveo The Toba event makes Krakotoa look really tiny.
Even the 1815 Tambora eruption was a bigger explosion by most measures than the 1883 explosion.
However, the blast from the Chicxulub asteroid impact would have been much greater than even Toba.
@@notfiveo also there are many explosions in space that would destroy the solar system. Best to stay on topic eh. 🤔
@@michaelharman9421 you may be right about that, it's been well over a decade since I had read or watched anything about the topic so I may very well have got it wrong, I do recall something to that effect being written at the end of the movie but as I said, it was a while ago now.
Well what a surprise lie that the boche took the ridge back in two weeks.-
The BS on you tube about anything German and Japanese is simply relentless and endless
This was not the first time mining had been used. It had been a common action in siege warfare for thousands of years.
YES! During the midievil conflicts a sapper would tunnel beneath a castle wall and plant explosives. Though, nothing as magnificent as what happened here.
We were staying in Ypress 2014 for the 100 anniversary of the Christmas Truce and decided in some downtime to locate one of these creators near an old rail line along the Mesine Ridge - we looked at the map and walked about thinking we might have got it wrong area when we suddenly realized we were actually in the creator it was truly massive - far bigger than any football field - no wonder thousands died. Ypress at Christmas is wonderful
The biggest part of this story that shocked me the most was how long it took to tell the biggest part of the story
What shocked me most is how long it took to tell this story.
Okay. Let me abbreviate it for you: BANG !
Now, wasn’t that better?
@@johncox2865😂👏
😂
Was looking for the 2x speed button.
Alderon chunks everywhere. Oops, sorry, wrong story line. @@johncox2865
The explosion in Halifax Canada was bigger than the messines but it didn’t kill as many people
Correct! 2900 tonnes at Halifax.
Just imagine being a German soldier and hearing a sudden silence on the battlefield…
Also, the Halifax explosion of 1917 was also said to be the biggest.
My great uncle from Scotland, a miner, joined up and was eventually in the Royal Engineers digging in Belgium. He never made it home
Ah! a Highlander! I think that our world would be much different it the millions who perished in the trenches and muddy fields had made it home......we would have people living on the moon and beginning to settle Mars.
@@barneylinet6602 a highlander? what are you talking about?
@@gavRirvine If i am not mistaken, certain units of the BEF from Scottish provinces were titled Highlanders, distinguished by wearing kilts as their battle dress.....The Kaiser's soldiers referred to them as "Hell's Ladies".....There is a publishing firm called Osprey who specialize in military history; monographs on famous battles and military personnel.
@@barneylinet6602 the Black Watch were the ladies from hell
Such and amazing story and yet I've never heard of it before. Thank you, The narration and animation were excellent
I read a book many years ago title “war underground” and I believe it was by Alexander Barrie, it covered pretty much all of the allied mining efforts. At least two were lost when the access tunnels collapsed. I believe one exploded in 1976 during a thunderstorm. The precise location of the other is still unknown. Truly horrific in both conditions and savagery.
That one detonated in 1955 by lightning was in Belgium, if I remembered correctly.
@@GrowFoodSustainably quite possibly, I was going entirely from memory, it is now only a rough guide to previous events!
The battle of Messines wasn’t actually the largest explosion of the First World War, the Halifax explosion was, even though Messines happened before Halifax. If we were to measure both blasts by kiloton, Messines was half a kiloton, while the Halifax explosion was 2.9 kilotons, a small nuclear blast
Along the same line of thought, it was nowhere near "the largest explosion in human history".
I'm fairly sure that Krakatoa, Pinatubo, Etna, and Mt St Helens fall within the realm of human history (unless I've just been hearing crazy anti-mountain conspiracy theories), and they might have a different opinion to offer.
@@mikearmstrong8483those are natural tho... They were obviously talking about human-made explosions😅
@@CarlosGarcia-ze6rt
Yeah. But I like nitpicking about headlines & thumbnails, because sometimes they are very misleading just for bait & click.
@@mikearmstrong8483I do as well, mentioned Krakatoa before in videos with similar headlines. I wasn't sure if Pinatubo exploded or just erupted.
@@paulqueripel3493
Come to think of it, you got me there.
It is interesting that the term "mine", as in Landmine, comes from the actual process of digging tunnels and mining something.
I wondered about that for decades, until I finally heard this story. Suddenly it made sense.
9:10 William hackett's group should been called the giga Chad's after him for staying and supporting his mate until the end
I think this is probably the best video you've done so far. Well researched and very informative. 👍
thank you very much! very pleased with how this came out. Shout out to our amazing team!
Be Amazed commented on this comment and no one else? Let me fix that
@@BeAmazed love you to video
@@BeAmazed
Halifax explosion of 1917 was much larger, need to do more research, kiddo.
@@JB-yb4wn 23:00 idk, they've blasted 19 at once, so in area affected this one might win agains halifax. But i see your point :D Title could be a little bit more specific. And from pure explosive yield Halifax was larger, for shure. Or any of those pesky thermonuclear thingies.
This was really interesting! I know very little about WWI and had never even heard of this. Fascinating, quality content. Well done!
Stores like this really are surprising to Americans who really had nothing much to do with the great war.
As the Canadian, Australian, New Zealander or a British person of course you will have more likely heard these stories.
@@XxxXxx-fm3wo Your ignorance is appalling. New Zealand had 18,166 combat deaths and 41,317 wounded. Canada had 56,638 combat deaths and 149,732 wounded. Australia had 61,527 combat deaths and 152,171 wounded. The United States had 53,402 combat deaths and 204,002 wounded. Soldiers that died as a result of disease and accident are not listed in these stats. For you to state that the US had nothing much to do with the great war is insulting to the all of the Americans that were killed and wounded in a war that they could have very easily stayed out of.
RAF Fauld was a very large explosion in a munitions storage facility. between 3,500 and 4,400 tons of ordnance exploded on 7th November 1944. About 70 people died in the explosion and subsequent flood from a destroyed reservoir. The crater is about 100 ft deep. About 20 years ago i helped dedicate a memorial bench at the site on Workers' Memorial Day (28th April)
The explosion shocked me the most.
The part about altering geography made laugh
I saw a film about this a few years ago its crazy what was done in ww1 it was the biggest man made explosion at the time .
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What's the movie name?
Was it the Australian film “Beneath Hill 60”?
The Halifax explosive of Dec. 6, 1917 was larger. Parts of the ship Mont Blanc, which carried the explosives, were found 5 km from the coast.
The title is misleading..this mine explosion was the largest man made INTENTIONAL explosion. Halifax was much bigger , but also accidental.
Yes, today you will see an anchor on a street in downtown Halifax..
I am so claustrophobic that just watching this made my flesh crawl. Chapeau to those brave, mad souls that undertook this insane mission!
This is an amazing video. I really like History and being British this is really interesting! Thank you so much :)
Thanks very much for this. Very informative and well done!
your videos are getting better with time.
nice art, narration, photos and thanks for including the universal metric units.
Well done. Once again, the battle turns on seemingly "ordinary" people doing their jobs well. Thank you!
for comparison: 500 tons of TNT is about equivalent to the beirut blast (there was supposed to be much more ammonium nitrate there, but either somehow most of it didn't detonate, or most of it had already been sold off illegally by hezbollah).
This was wildly impressive to us, totally unheard before. Thank you so much! Great story and SO well done! 👍👍
@@Bikes_Onlineyour not even real.
theres a movie on it..
@@harrywalker968 Perhaps my age and circumstances….I very rarely if ever see movies. I’m happy to know that others do see movies, such as whatever movie you are speaking of, and have more current knowledge than I. I wish you well.
@@GAMINGLeGend-fw1pi “You’re means “you are”. “Your” is singular or plural possessive of “you have”. I am old now, but grammar was still taught and learned way back then, without the need for spelling and grammar checkers. I wish you well.
Actually, the largest non nuclear explosion ever was near the end of ww2 was the RAF Fauld explosion, Staffordshire, England. 3,500 to 4,000 tons of high explosives in underground storage. Stored in old gypsum mineworking, part of the excavation and the explosives remain unconnected and un-exploded to this day. Today the site is a secure area, maintained by the MOD. It was manned by Italian prisoners of war. There was near 200 fatalities. The US Navy and its 'Operation Sailor's hat' was a man made explosion in the South Pacific where thousands of tons of high explosives, stacked by hand on a small island that was surrounded by retired US Navy vessels. On ignition, the response and condition from the blast, to the vessels was monitored closely. All to simulate the response of ships at such a distance from the explosive effects of a nuclear weapon, but without the radioactive elements. The amount of TNT used in Sailors hat was comparable to that of RAF Fauld. The difference being, there was less to be learned from Fauld, it being an accident.
The "content creator" didn't make that distinction between conventional and nuclear explosions that you're making. No, they, him, it, whoever, they chose the low hanging fruit of click-bait. NO?😐
The halifax explosion occured 6 months after this event. Halifax explosion is still the largest accidental non-nuclear explosion ever. The beirut explosion a couple years ago was half the yield, and twice that of this video.
What about the sabotage of the Siberian gas pipeline? That also has been described as the largest non-nuclear explosion ever.
Again not true! Helgoland was much bigger, Video on YT available! please do better researching!!
@@Dranok1 what are you talking about?
“Beaneath Hill 60” was a pretty good movie about this explosion I believe or inspired by this event. I am not 100 percent sure on that but the tunneling aspect of WWI is incredible to see.
That's the Australian movie, good eye 😘
The 1917 Halifax Explosion during the Great War was actually the largest in overall magnitude prior to the Manhattan Project bombs.
The largest man-made explosion was over Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Ocean on October 30, 1961, it was the Tsar Bomb. This hydrogen bomb actually had a calculated explosive power of 100 megatons of TNT but was reduced to 50 megatons because the Russians themselves considered 100 to be too dangerous. The most important lesson from this explosion was that it makes little sense to build bigger and bigger bombs because at a certain point the effect fizzles out into the atmosphere and eventually into space. The blast wave circled the earth 2.5 times and the bomb triggered earthquakes of magnitude 5.8.
Thank you. This explosion is just a fart compared to that. Take this like.
I am British and study history and this is very accurate!Great video!
What a pain these guys went through
There's still about 6 of these unexploded. It didn't help that a lot of the ground they had taken got recaptured a few days later. Lightning detonated one a few years back
Proud to be Sapper. The Corps of Engineers first to go in battle last to come out always everytime.
I learned about clay kickers decades ago and I'm glad they haven't been forgotten. Thanks for the video!
The Germans also dug these tunnels to blow up trenches. It was recorded that they both dug tunnels so near to each other, they could each other through the ground.
That's what he said.
The thing that surprised me the most is that this was happening. I've never heard of this before. I remember seeing a video of one such mine that was found under a farm in France or Belgium, but I didn't know that this was a regular thing until I watched this video.
The really big crater from this mine still exists and is a small lake, now.
I had absolutely no idea about this method of war!!! MANY thanks for sharing and your time to present this.
My grandfather served in the Australian Expeditionary Force as a miner and sapper in WW1. As both sides of my family came from the eastern and north-eastern goldfields of Western Australian, I've often wondered if it was his background that got him into such a dangerous posting. He was a carpenter by trade, but his hands were burnt with mustard gas in France or Belgium and he never worked in his trade again.
This is not even the largest explosion in human history💀
Also well known!
It was for the 10000 Germans that were killed
The Halifax Harbour explosion after two munition ships collided…is also right up there! In fact: “Halifax historian Jay White in 1994 concluded: "Halifax Harbour remains unchallenged in overall magnitude as long as five criteria are considered together: number of casualties, force of blast, radius of devastation, quantity of explosive material, and total value of property destroyed."
not true Helgoland was much bigger!
@@michaelpielorz9283 “not true”??…what are you talking about?…all I said it was “up there with other huge explosions”….what’s NOT TRUE about that?
Where did I compare it to Helgoland?….why does everything have end up in an argument?
It was one regular container ship colliding with a munitions ship and the munitions ship caught FIRE then exploded killing about 1800 people in Halifax, So, mostly property damage as water is like a brick wall...not soft.
@@michaelpielorz9283 Helgoland = 3.2 kilotons, Halifax = 2.9 kilotons. Fairly close in the amount of energy released.
Lets pause and give a salute to all who fallen in WW1 and WW2
Great video. I was told that the craters could still be seen today - would be cool if you could add something about that.
The largest crater formed a lake, a rather large, oddly located lake.
They are visible on Google Earth
Actually, the Halifax explosion was significantly larger than this one.
The Tsar bomba wants to have a word with you
My grandfather fought in ww1. He was wounded and gased. He spent a couple of years in the hospital recovering
My Great Grandfather fought in WW1, but was lucky enough to be sent home. Minus an arm, an eye, and a back full of shrapnel. He was promoted to Sergeant on the battlefield due his NCO being killed.
One of these mines detonated many years later, and I believe there is another that to this date has not exploded.
No one knows exactly where it is right now.
@@glennschemitsch8341 The doco I saw suggested it was under a particular farm.
There are areas in France off limits because of poison gas residue.
there's at least 3 that are documented but they are not thoroughly researched enough to definitively locate and 2 that are well known one that's in a chalk tunnel network in the area below a farm and the one one that blew was in the 1950s due to a lightning strike that penetrated the mine.
I have only heard and read about two with one detonating as you stated.
Wrong! The biggest pre-nuke explosion was in Halifax harbour, December 6, 1917. The Mont Blanc was carrying the equivalent of 2.9 kilotons of explosives:
" At least 1,782 people were killed, largely in Halifax and Dartmouth, by the blast, debris, fires, or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The blast was the largest human-made explosion at the time. It released the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT (12 TJ)."
I love it when content creators are too stupid to history.
Plus the entire nuclear arms race culminating with the Tsar Bomba test (at half strength!), seeing as they haven’t even bothered to properly caveat their statement of being the largest explosion in human history.
The Port Chicago explosion was only second to this at 2KT because the ship was "only" 40% full of cargo at the time. It was supposed to carry a staggering 12,000 tons of munitions when fully loaded. Or about 5KT if that were to go off at at once. Technically this was before the end of WWI as well.
@@Islacrusez
They said biggest pre nuclear.
@@JB-yb4wn you mean right there in the title, “the largest explosion in human history”? That sure seems to be an odd way of writing “pre-nuclear”… maybe it’s pronounced differently, let’s see… at 1:10 they say “one of the largest man-made explosions in all of human history”. Nope, not really helping there.
You must mean man made. Because as enormous as that explosion was, it was almost nothing compared to Tambora and Krakatoa. No Nuclear bomb ever set off comes even near to the power of those volcanos. Mother nature wins again.
Some more information.
Some of those mine craters still exist, are full of water, and have fish in them.
There are also 5 unexploded mines in that area and they contain 156,000 pounds of explosives (70, 760kg). Additionally there are uncounted numbers of smaller mines and camouflets there with an undetermined amount of explosives in them.
Online you can find images of the still existing craters.
Great to hear a good, clear and well paced narration. 😊
I never knew that tunneling under the trenches existed great job
Wasn't even a fart compared to the power of nuclear.
It was 10 times more brutal tho. 10,000 people died in a Instant it rained body parts for a good minute. There was so much blood that it rain blood the next day naturally.
This was before NUCLEAR Weapons were invented You 👆 SILLYHÉ BHILLÉY
The Union Army attempted this in the Civil War. However after the explosion, the Union Soldiers charged the Southerners by running down the Crater, however they were trapped in the crater. It was a slaughter.
Little is known about the Canadian "Beaver" who frequently whistled off-key while he was busy digging. He accidentally set off the demolitions causing a cave-in, and became A Flat Minor.
this is a wonderful story, thank you for sharing it
👍How to learn and recall history in a relaxed atmosphere 👏
My understanding is that the largest conventional *non-nuclear) explosion occurred when the British Army tried to blow up Heligoland straight after the war. It did not destroy the whole island, as planned, but punched a huge valley which exists to this day.
Check out the Halifax Explosion.
@@FRLN500 I have and it was not quite so large as the Heligoland one. Of course, it caused much devastation.
I really like history. It's so fun to hear new stuff. I had to finish one semester of history to graduate high school and I loved it. It's one of the reasons I like living in Utah.
alright new be amazed video
I was kinda hoping there were some actual killer star-nosed moles working for the army. Idk how much damage they could actually do but it would've been pretty neat to find out lol 😜
"If it were, which ones do you think they might be"? Democrat or Republican "??😅 ❤
@@kemgreene8525 good question lol. I suppose it all depends if they are just blindly going in and getting trampled or if they'd actually get the job done 🤭
I'm pretty certain the Halifax Explosion was the biggest man made explosion until Trinity - the first atomic bomb test. It happened when a ship carrying high explosives collided with another ship and subsequently blew up. It's estimated that the blast was equivalent to 2.9 kilotons of tnt.
The Soviet's Tsar Bomba was the largest man-made explosion. It made Trinity look like a firecracker.
Love your show been watching for a year now.. Simple concise and well narrated ty keep up great work
Can humans be Moles?
Miners
The fact that he finds good scripts to say everytime tho
I have heard about this before but you have added some good details that I hadn’t know before.
There's a 2021 film about this called "The War Below"
Those Clay Kicker's were a special breed.Very strong,hardworking,extremely loyal,brave men.
Your videos are the best
I love your videos! And thank you for saying nuclear right... I have no idea how people think nuclear is pronounced "New-cue-ler", but thank you so much!
More like more clear there lol
Cultural colloquialisms. Do you pronounce laboratory as labratory? Cuz that's wrong as well...let people speak how they wish, way too many other things to worry about than the way someone says a word... especially when the meaning is more than clear.
Fact check: ever heard of the Tsar Bomba? This nuclear device was detonated in the early 60s by The USSR. The blast had 50 mega tons of power. That's the equivalent of 50 MILLION tons of tnt.
I've been inside a few, Hawthorn and Lochnager are massive. You won't believe how big they are until you see them.
Moles, used a technique called clay-kicking to dig through the terrain. The digger would sit at a 45 degree angle with his back against a wooden frame and his feet facing the digging surface. Using a grafting tool that was a kind of combination pogo stick/spade/posthole digger, he would drive the tool into the soil by pushing with his feet on its crossbar, then pass it over his head to a “bagger” who would put the spoil in sandbags so a third worker could get it out on a little hand-cranked trolley. On his way back, the trolley handler would bring in more timber to shore up the tunnel. This process was fast and it was quiet. The Germans were using pickaxes to dig their tunnels, not exactly the best tools for clay removal and by their very nature percussively loud.
Uhm, ya. He said all that TWICE. No need for you to post it word for word
Germans were not THAT stupid, however digging in clay would have been slow with a pickaxe and when the clay is wet it is soft like sponge so pickax would be useless as nothing cracks. You could dig faster using just a shovel or your hands.
Now This Is Why We Need To Nerf The Miner
under rated 😆
What part of this story shocked was the lack of you talking about what these men dealt with after the war. I can't even imagine the PTSD they had. I know you talked about alcohol, but the mental and emotional toll that this took on them in the trenches would also befall people after the trenches also.
Shockingly, I have never heard of this account before, and while not a "student" of history per se, stuff like this is usually on the tip of my tongue. Awesome story!
Please do part 2 of revenge stories that went too far and videos are related to Christmas Please
Am obsessed with this channel ❤❤❤
Same 😂
Felt as far away as France, you mean the country just over the border, I am certainly amazed, well done.
Indeed, the closest French border is at some 200 meters from there.
I suspect the Halifax explosion in 1917 might have been bigger. The ammunition ship blew right in the narrowest part of the port. The whole end of the city was destroyed. The anchor of the ship was found in a lake over one and a half away from the port. The blast was felt fifty miles away and recorded as an earthquake in Boston.