9 Deadly Facts About the Soviet Union You Never Knew

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• published: 15 Feb 2017
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These are some facts and secrets about the history of the Soviet Union. You’ll be surprised how many hidden and fearsome facts we’re going to tell you. Subscribe for new videos: http://goo.gl/SaufF4 Voiceover by Rodney Tompkins: https://www.youtube.com/c/BigBadada2012 9: World War 3 plans The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was the tensest confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States throughout the Cold War. In retaliation for American ballistic missiles being deployed close to the Soviet Union in Europe and Turkey, the Soviets brought their own missiles to USA’s doorstep in Cuba. So the USA decided on a naval military blockade of the Soviet missiles from entering Cuba, resulting in hostilities that nearly led to full scale nuclear war 8: The Chernobyl Disaster Since the discovery of nuclear energy, there have been multiple radioactive accidents in nuclear power plants all over the world. But none of the disasters hold a candle to the level of catastrophe seen in the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. The Chernobyl Station was commissioned in 1977 under Soviet rule, and housed four nuclear reactors, each capable of producing 1000 megawatts of electrical power. An incident occurred at reactor number 4 7: The Kola Superdeep Borehole As part of a scientific experiment, Soviet scientists attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth's crust. The project began in 1970 in the Kola Peninsula at Russia's North West region. With powerful drilling rigs, a number of boreholes were drilled by branching from one central hole. After 9 years of drilling, they reached 9500 meters deep 6: The Smallpox Accident Despite international agreements banning the use or development of biological weapons, the Soviet Union continued their works on the matter until the final days of the Cold War. Because of repeated talks and deals with the United States concerning nuclear disarmament, the Soviet Union wanted to make sure they had an ace up their sleeve 5: The Balaklava Underground Base Throughout the Cold War, the city of Balaklava on the Crimean Peninsula was one of the most secret residential areas in the Soviet Union. Family members of residents were not even able to visit the place without any proper reason and are forced to go through a tiresome procedure to gain entry. The reason was that a highly classified submarine base had been built underneath the city, and most of Balaklava's residents were employed there. 4: The Cosmonaut's Death Space travel is extremely difficult, and the slightest mistakes and miscalculations are often fatal. Multiple human casualties on both sides have occurred throughout the years since the space race began between the United States and the Soviet Union. All three crew members of USA's Apollo 1 program were killed in a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test in 1967. At the Russian side, a somewhat similar situation had happened earlier, but dealt with in a completely different way by Soviet authorities. Valentin Bondarenko was a fighter 3: The Gulag Camps You can't talk about the Soviet Union without gulag camps coming into mind. The first of such brutal camps were created since the Soviet nation’s early conception, and evolved into an organized chain of facilities under direct control of government authorities. While the camps did house criminals, a large number of those convicted were political prisoners who undeservingly received extrajudicial punishment from the Soviet secret police. The Gulag was most notorious during Joseph Stalin's rule from the 1930s up until the 50s, a tool which the dictator used to get rid of millions of people in a series nationwide purges. Stalin directed the torture 2: Assassinations It is well known that the fearsome Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB, used ruthless methods in eliminating people deemed as Soviet threats. Declassified CIA files reveal that the agency had a special team called the "Directorate of Special Tasks", created specifically for the purpose of carrying out covert assassinations. The directorate had access to unique weapons and explosives similar to those seen in James Bond films. Poisons were a favorite as they created less mess, less attention, and often ruled as natural deaths. The most famous Soviet assassination is probably that of Leon Trotsky. Trotsky 1: Massacres One of the Soviet Union's darkest kept secrets was the Katyn Massacre of 1940. Believing the thousands of Polish prisoners of war to be a threat to the communist state, Joseph Stalin ordered the Soviet secret police to have them all executed. Between April and May 1940, multiple mass executions were carried out, totaling an estimated 22,000 victims. Handcuffed prisoners were taken into soundproof cells and shot in the back of their heads, and heaps of dead bodies were thrown into mass graves. Although the killings were done in different locations in Poland, it is today referred to as the Katyn Massacre, after the Katyn Forest where the first mass graves

9 Deadly Facts About the Soviet Union You Never Knew

• Report rights infringement
• published: 15 Feb 2017
• views: 52692

These are some facts and secrets about the history of the Soviet Union. You’ll be surprised how many hidden and fearsome facts we’re going to tell you. Subscribe for new videos: http://goo.gl/SaufF4 Voiceover by Rodney Tompkins: https://www.youtube.com/c/BigBadada2012 9: World War 3 plans The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was the tensest confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States throughout the Cold War. In retaliation for American ballistic missiles being deployed close to the Soviet Union in Europe and Turkey, the Soviets brought their own missiles to USA’s doorstep in Cuba. So the USA decided on a naval military blockade of the Soviet missiles from entering Cuba, resulting in hostilities that nearly led to full scale nuclear war 8: The Chernobyl Disaster Since the discovery of nuclear energy, there have been multiple radioactive accidents in nuclear power plants all over the world. But none of the disasters hold a candle to the level of catastrophe seen in the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. The Chernobyl Station was commissioned in 1977 under Soviet rule, and housed four nuclear reactors, each capable of producing 1000 megawatts of electrical power. An incident occurred at reactor number 4 7: The Kola Superdeep Borehole As part of a scientific experiment, Soviet scientists attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth's crust. The project began in 1970 in the Kola Peninsula at Russia's North West region. With powerful drilling rigs, a number of boreholes were drilled by branching from one central hole. After 9 years of drilling, they reached 9500 meters deep 6: The Smallpox Accident Despite international agreements banning the use or development of biological weapons, the Soviet Union continued their works on the matter until the final days of the Cold War. Because of repeated talks and deals with the United States concerning nuclear disarmament, the Soviet Union wanted to make sure they had an ace up their sleeve 5: The Balaklava Underground Base Throughout the Cold War, the city of Balaklava on the Crimean Peninsula was one of the most secret residential areas in the Soviet Union. Family members of residents were not even able to visit the place without any proper reason and are forced to go through a tiresome procedure to gain entry. The reason was that a highly classified submarine base had been built underneath the city, and most of Balaklava's residents were employed there. 4: The Cosmonaut's Death Space travel is extremely difficult, and the slightest mistakes and miscalculations are often fatal. Multiple human casualties on both sides have occurred throughout the years since the space race began between the United States and the Soviet Union. All three crew members of USA's Apollo 1 program were killed in a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test in 1967. At the Russian side, a somewhat similar situation had happened earlier, but dealt with in a completely different way by Soviet authorities. Valentin Bondarenko was a fighter 3: The Gulag Camps You can't talk about the Soviet Union without gulag camps coming into mind. The first of such brutal camps were created since the Soviet nation’s early conception, and evolved into an organized chain of facilities under direct control of government authorities. While the camps did house criminals, a large number of those convicted were political prisoners who undeservingly received extrajudicial punishment from the Soviet secret police. The Gulag was most notorious during Joseph Stalin's rule from the 1930s up until the 50s, a tool which the dictator used to get rid of millions of people in a series nationwide purges. Stalin directed the torture 2: Assassinations It is well known that the fearsome Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB, used ruthless methods in eliminating people deemed as Soviet threats. Declassified CIA files reveal that the agency had a special team called the "Directorate of Special Tasks", created specifically for the purpose of carrying out covert assassinations. The directorate had access to unique weapons and explosives similar to those seen in James Bond films. Poisons were a favorite as they created less mess, less attention, and often ruled as natural deaths. The most famous Soviet assassination is probably that of Leon Trotsky. Trotsky 1: Massacres One of the Soviet Union's darkest kept secrets was the Katyn Massacre of 1940. Believing the thousands of Polish prisoners of war to be a threat to the communist state, Joseph Stalin ordered the Soviet secret police to have them all executed. Between April and May 1940, multiple mass executions were carried out, totaling an estimated 22,000 victims. Handcuffed prisoners were taken into soundproof cells and shot in the back of their heads, and heaps of dead bodies were thrown into mass graves. Although the killings were done in different locations in Poland, it is today referred to as the Katyn Massacre, after the Katyn Forest where the first mass graves