[Music]
time flies when you’re courting nuclear
disaster welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top 10 events that moved the
Doomsday Clock
before we begin we publish new videos
every day
so be sure to subscribe for more great
content for this list we’re looking at
historical incidents that prompted the
bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
science and security board the
caretakers of the Doomsday Clock to move
the hands closer to or further from
midnight the symbolic hour of manmade
global disaster we’ve ranked them
according to historic firsts
international significance how far the
minute hand moved and its distance from
midnight number 10
slow response to climate change and
modernization of nuclear arsenals in
2010 the clock moved back one minute as
international arms control and climate
change talks showed signs of progress
but the reversal was short-lived
in 2015 the failure of world leaders to
take meaningful action on climate change
as well as the threat of a new nuclear
arms race as the US and Russia promised
to reduce but also modernize their
Arsenal’s prompted the bulletin to move
the minute-hand forward two minutes to
just three minutes from nuclear
Armageddon and climate catastrophe it
was a trend that continued with a minute
hand reaching two minutes to midnight in
2018 back to 1953 levels number nine the
nuclear non-proliferation treaty in the
1960s France and China both got the bomb
joining the u.s. USSR and UK in the
nuclear Club but amid fears of
apocalyptic global war a nascent
anti-nuclear movement gained traction
and negotiations produced the treaty on
the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons
signed by most countries The Bulletin
celebrated by pushing the clock back to
10 minutes to midnight the nuclear haves
agreed to share peaceful nuclear
technology with the have-nots and
eliminate their nuclear arsenals
which to date has still yet to happen
but at the time it set a powerful
precedent for cooperation and marked a
moment of cautious optimism in troubled
times number 8 the Cold War escalates a
series of arms limitation agreements
improved relations between the u.s. and
USSR throughout the 1970s but the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan derailed
diplomacy and the u.s. increased Cold
War military spending hoping the
economically stagnant Soviet Union would
crack and break apart tensions peaked in
1983 when the Soviets shot down
commercial Korean Airlines flight
double-oh-seven
killing all 269 passengers and crew with
nuclear-tipped missiles deployed in
Western Europe and u.s. plans to launch
a space-based anti-ballistic missile
system sparking fears of an entirely new
arms race the hands of the Doomsday
Clock lurched forward – just three
minutes to midnight number 7 North Korea
enters the nuclear Club and climate
change blooms in the 2000s the minute
hand crept steadily forward as nuclear
weapons continued to proliferate and
nuclear States failed to eliminate their
Arsenal’s
North Korea had acceded to the
non-proliferation treaty in 1985 but
withdrew in 2003 then later announced
their first nuclear test fears that Iran
had nuclear ambitions and the US and
Russia’s combined arsenal of 26,000
nukes would have been enough to move the
clock forward but in 2007 a new menace
was acknowledged climate change which
posed a less immediate but no less
potentially catastrophic threat the
minute-hand now stood at five minutes to
midnight number six the US and the
Soviet Union signed the partial test ban
treaty a growing public and scientific
push against nuclear arms and a new
spirit of international scientific
cooperation in the 1960s led the
bulletin to express cautious optimism
seeing the quote vague outlines of a new
world
emerging from the quote anguish and
confusion of the
we even somehow managed to survive the
Cuban Missile Crisis although not by a
comfortable margin as evidence mounted
that nuclear testing was spreading
dangerous levels of radioactive fallout
throughout the atmosphere President
Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev signed the partial test ban
treaty which banned above-ground
detonations as a result the hand of the
Doomsday Clock was rolled back to 12
minutes to midnight number five the
Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb
at the end of the Second World War the
world witnessed the awful power of
nuclear weapons which left hundreds of
thousands dead in Japan scrambling to
catch up in the armaments race the
Soviet Union accelerated their own
program and in 1949 detonated their
first atomic bomb the nuclear
competition had begun for the first time
scientists moved the hands of the
Doomsday Clock which had been created
two years earlier to warn the world of
nuclear catastrophe initially set at
11:53 it now pointed at three minutes to
midnight
just a few steps from the edge of
disaster number four the end of the Cold
War as over four decades of Cold War
began to pass into history the Doomsday
Clock jumped back to its furthest point
away from midnight in its history 17
minutes it was also the farthest the
minute-hand has ever been moved at one
time the Soviet Union had entered the
decade teetering on the brink of
collapse the Iron Curtain was in tatters
and the Soviet Union faced both economic
stagnation and civil unrest at home it’s
official dissolution on December 25th
1991 marked the end of Cold War
hostilities and for the scientists at
the bulletin that meant the world was
taking its first hopeful steps quote
into a new era number three India and
Pakistan conduct nuclear tests while
most nations signed the 1968 nuclear
non-proliferation treaty a few countries
refused
including India and Pakistan in 1974
India tested its first bomb codenamed
smiling Buddha and a decade later
Pakistan followed suit
in 1998 amid mounting tension over the
Kashmir conflict the root cause of
multiple battles between India and
Pakistan India conducted a series of
underground nuclear tests within a
hundred miles of Pakistan’s border
Pakistan responded with its own tests
and the international community slapped
both with sanctions the bulletin swung
its clock forward by five minutes to
nine minutes from nuclear apocalypse
number two wars raged across the globe
as we’ve seen in the early to mid 60s
the clock sat back at 12 minutes to
midnight but regional Wars intruded with
the indo-pakistan war in 1965 the
six-day war between Israel and
neighboring countries in 1967 and u.s.
involvement escalating in Vietnam worse
the nuclear Club had grown with more
countries now possessing the bomb
lamenting quote the deadly heritage of
international anarchy the bulletin
advanced the clock to seven minutes to
midnight as we’ve seen support for a
nuclear non-proliferation treaty then
grew but we stood at an uncertain
crossroads in history number one the US
and Soviet Union tests the first
hydrogen bombs as friction between the
US and USSR grew American scientists
conceived of a new nightmare weapon the
hydrogen bomb capable of producing
mind-boggling devastation the first one
tested in 1952 was over 450 times more
powerful than the bomb that devastated
Nagasaki less than a year later the
Soviets detonated their own
thermonuclear bomb and the race was on
in response The Bulletin moved the clock
to just two minutes to midnight warning
that quote only a few more swings of the
pendulum and from Moscow to Chicago
atomic explosions will strike midnight
for Western civilization the world
seemed to Teeter
on the brink of annihilation and just
think the clock was moved back to two
minutes to midnight
in 2018
[Music]
time flies when you’re courting nuclear
disaster welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top 10 events that moved the
Doomsday Clock
before we begin we publish new videos
every day
so be sure to subscribe for more great
content for this list we’re looking at
historical incidents that prompted the
bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
science and security board the
caretakers of the Doomsday Clock to move
the hands closer to or further from
midnight the symbolic hour of manmade
global disaster we’ve ranked them
according to historic firsts
international significance how far the
minute hand moved and its distance from
midnight number 10
slow response to climate change and
modernization of nuclear arsenals in
2010 the clock moved back one minute as
international arms control and climate
change talks showed signs of progress
but the reversal was short-lived
in 2015 the failure of world leaders to
take meaningful action on climate change
as well as the threat of a new nuclear
arms race as the US and Russia promised
to reduce but also modernize their
Arsenal’s prompted the bulletin to move
the minute-hand forward two minutes to
just three minutes from nuclear
Armageddon and climate catastrophe it
was a trend that continued with a minute
hand reaching two minutes to midnight in
2018 back to 1953 levels number nine the
nuclear non-proliferation treaty in the
1960s France and China both got the bomb
joining the u.s. USSR and UK in the
nuclear Club but amid fears of
apocalyptic global war a nascent
anti-nuclear movement gained traction
and negotiations produced the treaty on
the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons
signed by most countries The Bulletin
celebrated by pushing the clock back to
10 minutes to midnight the nuclear haves
agreed to share peaceful nuclear
technology with the have-nots and
eliminate their nuclear arsenals
which to date has still yet to happen
but at the time it set a powerful
precedent for cooperation and marked a
moment of cautious optimism in troubled
times number 8 the Cold War escalates a
series of arms limitation agreements
improved relations between the u.s. and
USSR throughout the 1970s but the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan derailed
diplomacy and the u.s. increased Cold
War military spending hoping the
economically stagnant Soviet Union would
crack and break apart tensions peaked in
1983 when the Soviets shot down
commercial Korean Airlines flight
double-oh-seven
killing all 269 passengers and crew with
nuclear-tipped missiles deployed in
Western Europe and u.s. plans to launch
a space-based anti-ballistic missile
system sparking fears of an entirely new
arms race the hands of the Doomsday
Clock lurched forward – just three
minutes to midnight number 7 North Korea
enters the nuclear Club and climate
change blooms in the 2000s the minute
hand crept steadily forward as nuclear
weapons continued to proliferate and
nuclear States failed to eliminate their
Arsenal’s
North Korea had acceded to the
non-proliferation treaty in 1985 but
withdrew in 2003 then later announced
their first nuclear test fears that Iran
had nuclear ambitions and the US and
Russia’s combined arsenal of 26,000
nukes would have been enough to move the
clock forward but in 2007 a new menace
was acknowledged climate change which
posed a less immediate but no less
potentially catastrophic threat the
minute-hand now stood at five minutes to
midnight number six the US and the
Soviet Union signed the partial test ban
treaty a growing public and scientific
push against nuclear arms and a new
spirit of international scientific
cooperation in the 1960s led the
bulletin to express cautious optimism
seeing the quote vague outlines of a new
world
emerging from the quote anguish and
confusion of the
we even somehow managed to survive the
Cuban Missile Crisis although not by a
comfortable margin as evidence mounted
that nuclear testing was spreading
dangerous levels of radioactive fallout
throughout the atmosphere President
Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev signed the partial test ban
treaty which banned above-ground
detonations as a result the hand of the
Doomsday Clock was rolled back to 12
minutes to midnight number five the
Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb
at the end of the Second World War the
world witnessed the awful power of
nuclear weapons which left hundreds of
thousands dead in Japan scrambling to
catch up in the armaments race the
Soviet Union accelerated their own
program and in 1949 detonated their
first atomic bomb the nuclear
competition had begun for the first time
scientists moved the hands of the
Doomsday Clock which had been created
two years earlier to warn the world of
nuclear catastrophe initially set at
11:53 it now pointed at three minutes to
midnight
just a few steps from the edge of
disaster number four the end of the Cold
War as over four decades of Cold War
began to pass into history the Doomsday
Clock jumped back to its furthest point
away from midnight in its history 17
minutes it was also the farthest the
minute-hand has ever been moved at one
time the Soviet Union had entered the
decade teetering on the brink of
collapse the Iron Curtain was in tatters
and the Soviet Union faced both economic
stagnation and civil unrest at home it’s
official dissolution on December 25th
1991 marked the end of Cold War
hostilities and for the scientists at
the bulletin that meant the world was
taking its first hopeful steps quote
into a new era number three India and
Pakistan conduct nuclear tests while
most nations signed the 1968 nuclear
non-proliferation treaty a few countries
refused
including India and Pakistan in 1974
India tested its first bomb codenamed
smiling Buddha and a decade later
Pakistan followed suit
in 1998 amid mounting tension over the
Kashmir conflict the root cause of
multiple battles between India and
Pakistan India conducted a series of
underground nuclear tests within a
hundred miles of Pakistan’s border
Pakistan responded with its own tests
and the international community slapped
both with sanctions the bulletin swung
its clock forward by five minutes to
nine minutes from nuclear apocalypse
number two wars raged across the globe
as we’ve seen in the early to mid 60s
the clock sat back at 12 minutes to
midnight but regional Wars intruded with
the indo-pakistan war in 1965 the
six-day war between Israel and
neighboring countries in 1967 and u.s.
involvement escalating in Vietnam worse
the nuclear Club had grown with more
countries now possessing the bomb
lamenting quote the deadly heritage of
international anarchy the bulletin
advanced the clock to seven minutes to
midnight as we’ve seen support for a
nuclear non-proliferation treaty then
grew but we stood at an uncertain
crossroads in history number one the US
and Soviet Union tests the first
hydrogen bombs as friction between the
US and USSR grew American scientists
conceived of a new nightmare weapon the
hydrogen bomb capable of producing
mind-boggling devastation the first one
tested in 1952 was over 450 times more
powerful than the bomb that devastated
Nagasaki less than a year later the
Soviets detonated their own
thermonuclear bomb and the race was on
in response The Bulletin moved the clock
to just two minutes to midnight warning
that quote only a few more swings of the
pendulum and from Moscow to Chicago
atomic explosions will strike midnight
for Western civilization the world
seemed to Teeter
on the brink of annihilation and just
think the clock was moved back to two
minutes to midnight
in 2018
[Music]
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