Last Minute Decisions that Changed History

did you know there are some 11th Hour calls that have literally changed the course of history from a last second change of personnel that cost over 1,500 people their lives to one wrong turn that caused one of the world's deadliest Wars join me as we discover some of the craziest lastminute decisions that changed [Music] history the key to failure the Titanic has gone down as the most infamous shipwreck in history and it's no wonder with more than 1,500 passengers tragically losing their lives as the near 900 foot long cruise liner crashed into a giant iceberg

in April 192 but well known as the Titanic is little is known about the fact that the ship was doomed by a last minute change of personnel shortly before the ship embarked on its Journey from Southampton to New York an offic shakeup from the White Star Line meant the Second Officer David Blair was swapped out with Charles loler no big deal right well as he was removed from his position Blair accidentally carried a crucial key off the ship with him Blair in his rush to leave had unwittingly taken with him the key to a locker

containing binoculars for the ship's lookout for the first 4 days of the Titanic's Voyage no one even noticed the key was missing however that all changed on the night of April 14th as the Titanic sailed its way towards an iceberg the ship's Lookout Frederick Fleet was none the wiser after all there were foggy conditions and of course he couldn't get his hands on the binoculars it wasn't until the Titanic was bearing down on the iceberg that Fleet noticed it immediately the ship's engines were stopped as the captain attempted to steer The Vessel around but given

the distance to the iceberg disaster was inevitable Just moment later the Titanic struck the 400t long Iceberg sending the supposedly unsinkable ship and most of its passengers down into the Atlantic Ocean at an official US inquiry following the Shipwreck Frederick Fleet stated that had he had access to the binoculars he reckoned he'd have been able to see the iceberg earlier allowing the Titanic to avert the Collision y the Titanic disaster could have all been avoided if Blair had just bothered to check his Pockets The King's Speech Martin Luther King Jr is heralded as a legendary

social rights activist leading the civil rights movement in an attempt to end racial segregation in the United States during the 1950s and 60s his most recognized moment came in August 1963 while speaking in front of 250,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC King delivered his famous I I Have a Dream speech yet those four words nearly weren't muttered at all if it wasn't for a last second change of plans King had used the phrase I have a dream in several speeches at least 9 months before however his advisers discouraged him from repeating the

phrase thinking it was too cliche so during the first few minutes of his speech in Washington DC King read off his notes in a formal format then during a brief 10-second pause came the moment that changed history during the silence King's close friend singer Mahalia Jackson shouted tell him about the dream Martin presumably he heard the message as almost instantly he rousingly delivered the famous segment the stirring speech was an instant success captivating the millions of people who Heard It In fact so captivating was King's I Have a Dream speech within 2 years the Civil

Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were passed both of which were pivotal in the fight for racial equality in the US who knows what would have happened if Mahalia Jackson didn't tell King to talk about the dream saved by the script after serving as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909 Theodore Roosevelt fancied another stab at the whole presidency gig putting himself in the running for the 1912 election in an attempt to sway votes Roosevelt gave a speech at the Milwaukee Auditorium his first words were uninspiring friends I shall ask

you to be quiet as possible then he shocked the audience I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot he then unbuttoned his vest to reveal a bloodstained shirt underneath turns out as Teddy made his way to the auditorium he was shot in the chest from a wouldbe assassin standing just a few feet away somehow Roosevelt finished 90minut speech before receiving medical attention the question is how how could he survive an hour with a gunshot wound as much as I'd like to say Theodore Roosevelt was the Terminator it turns out a

last minute stroke of Fortune saved his life tucked into his breast pocket was his folded 50-page speech along with a metal eyeglass case presumably just before rushing out of his hotel room for the auditorium Roosevelt folded up his speech and placed it into his breast pocket and it's just as well he did together the folded paper and metal eyeglass case absorbed the bullet's impact meaning the ammunition only reached his fourth right rib failing to penetrate any of his vital organs saving his life Terminator Teddy would go on to live until 1919 when he passed from

natural causes crazy to think it would have been way sooner if the former president didn't decide to fold up his sizable speed apprehensive Abe speaking of presidents that brings us on to Abraham Lincoln one of America's most influential figures but arguably what Lincoln is most remembered for is his tragic end after Lincoln's Union forces won the Civil War over the Confederate South in 1865 the president knew he was a wanted man despite that both Lincoln and general of the Union Army ulyses S Grant were due to watch a play at the fordge theater less than

a week after they'd won the war however at the last minute Grant had a change of heart it turned out his wife had fallen out with the First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln so neither decided to go in truth Lincoln was reluctant to go himself even reportedly saying I know I am in danger clearly Abe was weighing up whether to go right up until the last minute yet Lincoln seeing that the newspapers announced his attendance felt obliged to go not wanting to let down the general public for some reason Lincoln felt confident enough to send his

closest bodyguard Bard Hill Layman on an assignment in Richmond just one day before the president's visit to the theater in his absence Layman warned Lincoln not to go out at night when he was gone particularly to the theater not that the president listened on April 14th just before the play began Lincoln and his wife got seated in their box box John Parker was The Bodyguard drafted in Parker was seated outside Lincoln's box but from his position he couldn't see the stage so he apparently decided to move to the gallery to watch the play man that's

one super secure bodyguard at intermission Parker made another even bigger blunder deciding it was a good idea to head to a nearby Saloon for some drinks so now thanks to Parker's rash decision Lincoln who was already a high-risk Target was left unprotected in his box and surprise surprise John wils Booth was able to walk into Lincoln's box untroubled before pulling out his pistol and taking out the president yep one of America's most tragic Tales which all came down to a bunch of last minute decisions fat trol error nearly 100 years before Lincoln's avoidable demise the

fate of the United States was altered by yet another 11 hour event from 1775 to 1783 the country was gripped by the American Revolutionary War where American Patriot forces commanded by George Washington were battling it out against the British army by the end of 1776 the British forces had the upper hand and were driving Washington and his troops South low on ammunition supplies and food Washington planned a daring assault in December 177 76 on the 25th of December Washington along with over 2,000 troops improbably crossed the icy Delaware River there was a problem though a

local who was sympathetic to the British cause spotted the American troops on the night of December 25th Johan r a German Colonel given command of a Garrison at Trenton was celebrating Christmas by playing cards at his headquarters but the game was interrupted with one of the Colonel's servants delivering him a message from a courier the message would have informed raw about Washington's forces's imminent arrival but for some reason braw didn't read it instead he made the fatal error of stuffing the note into his coat pocket and continued on with the card game the very next

day Washington's forces arrived and the Battle of Trenton took place unsurprisingly ra and his unprepared troops proved no match the reinvigorated American forces though it's never been verified it was rumored Ral still had the note in his pocket when he passed away on the battlefield just hours after the warning was handed to him what's more certain is the battle's massive impact after success at Trenton Washington's men then went on to a decisive victory at the Battle of Princeton by 1783 America had won the war seizing political independence from Britain and forming the United States golly

so if old ra wasn't so crazy on cards maybe we Americans would be speaking like this now tell who Governor brainless Baker with a population nearing 10 million and sites like Big Ben and Buckingham Palace London is one of the world's most famous cities but believe it or not this place hasn't always looked so Polished in fact there was once a time when this city was little more than a pile of ruins and even crazier it was all down to one man in the early hours of the 2nd of December 1666 Thomas fer was woken

up by smoke wafting under the door of his bedroom his house was on fire though he managed to escape out the window the fire kept a burning even worse it was a hot summer and most of London's infrastructure was built out of wood serving as fuel to the blaze in the mid 17th century London didn't have a fire brigade instead it was up to the city's citizens to put the fire out as you can imagine that didn't end too well the city burned for 5 Days by which point roughly a third of London was destroyed

and 100,000 people were made homeless yet the craziest part is it could have all been avoided you see the fire was caused by Thomas fer himself self fer was a baker who used a wood fire oven now he claimed to have extinguished the fire before bed but it's believed a spark from his oven fell onto the flammable mixes of flour and wood he kept nearby now one house on fire alone wouldn't have been so bad but Thomas's Bakery was on pudding Lane an area surrounded by warehouses containing other flammable materials like rope Timber and oil

the bakery was just the match that started the Great Fire of London if fer had made the decision to properly check his oven rather than head off to bed and the fire might never have started but obviously Old Tommy was more interested in sleep than safety I bet those 100,000 homeless were over the moon he got his shuty buddies blunder speaking of fire that brings us to the work of Buddy Holly the artist behind Flaming Tunes like Peggy Sue and everyday now a lot of you young pups watching won't know buddy Hol but back in

my day uh I mean back in the day holly was taking the musical world by storm in February 1959 Holly and his tour mates were on the 11th night of their tour in the snowy Midwest of America after the show they were tired and to top things off all their clothes were dirty so at the last minute Holly called to hire a charter plane to fly to the next show from Iowa to Minnesota by catching a flight Holly and his mates could arrive early do their laundry and get some much needed rest a 21-year-old pilot

named Roger Peterson agreed to fly the singer a snowstorm was on its way and the young pilot was fatigued from a 17-hour workday but still it's not every day you get to fly a rockar to their next gig H's Bas player Wayan Jennings was scheduled to fly on the plane but gave his seat to fellow musician big Boer it was suffering from a cold while Holly's guitarist Tommy alup agreed to flip a coin with the singing star Richie vein for a seat vein won despite the conditions the plane took off from Iowa around 12:30 a.m.

unfortunately the plane only stayed in the sky a few minutes no one knows for sure what exactly went wrong but most likely Peterson flew straight right into a blizzard losing sight and crashing down unsurprisingly with the four passenger plane plowing into a nearby cornfield at over 170 mph there were no survivors sadly we'll never know how Big Buddy Holly Big Bopper and Richie vein would have got to be saying that considering Don McLean referred to the crash as the day the music died in his 1971 song American Pie it's fair to assume they would have

made it pretty big pig man think of all the songs we missed out on and all CU of some dirty laundry Castro's close call the same year as Holly's fateful last minute plane ride another seismic event was taking place in Cuba Fidel Castro was one of the 20th Century's most recognized men if you didn't know he was the central figure behind the Cuban revolution in 1959 Castro became a power in Cuba overthrowing dictator fenio Batista in an armed Revolt as prime minister of Cuba Castro implemented a Communist Regime forging closer ties with the Soviet Union

Enemy Number One for the United States during this period in the same year that he took charge of Cuba he met a 19-year-old woman named Marita laoren it's fair to say Marita fell head over heels for Castro unfortunately according to her their fling didn't end in the best circumstances in fact things ended so sourly Loren joined an anti-castro operation she was willfully hired by the CIA as a contract agent back in America and handed the task of taking out Castro Loren was given two pills containing a deadly botulinum toxin that she'd drop in Castro's drink

with that she was sent on a flight to Havana Cuba where she'd meet Castro in a hotel room to carry out the deadly deed everything was going to plan she arrived in Havana and met Castro at the hotel room but then at the vital moment she got cold feet whether out of love or fear Marita threw the pills down the toilet rather than into Castro's drink and with that the cia's best hopes of taking down Castro went up in smoke much to their anguish Castro would rule Cuba for another 56 years until he passed from

natural causes back in 2016 yep things would have panned out way differently if Marita had stuck to her guns or should I say stuck to her pills torpedo trouble so after Marita Loren failed to topple Fidel Castro the US hatched another plan they decided to just invade Cuba so in 1961 1,400 Cuban Exiles sponsored by the United States launched an invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba but within days they were crushed by Castro forces still Fidel asked the Soviet Union to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter any future

attacks leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis after American spy planes spotted the presence of Soviet nuclear missile sites a tent standoff ensued between the two forces in October 1962 during the height of the tension the American Destroyer ussb began dropping depth charges on the nuclear armed Soviet submarine b59 9 which was lurking in the waters near the coast of Cuba though the charges were non-lethal warning shots two of the sub senior officers wanted to launch the nuclear torpedo the grave misunderstanding could have resulted in nuclear warfare thankfully a crucial contingency plan was in place requiring

all three of the sub senior officers to sign off on a nuclear launch fortunately for the sake of the planet vasili aripov the second in command wasn't so hot headed instead he refused to consent to the firing of the nuclear torpedo before cooly convincing his fellow officers at the last possible moment to bring the b19 to the surface that nerve-jangling close call sobered both leaders John Kennedy and Nikita kushev leading to a cooling of tensions and I think if only vasil aripov had been a little more trigger happy you might not even be watching this

video right now missile man him but vasili aripov wasn't the only super Soviet to have saved the world from total disaster stanislav Petro was a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Defense Force he'd LED an accomplished but unremarkable life however that all changed on one fateful day back in September 1983 Pedro was on duty at a Soviet control center when all of a sudden the screen in front of him turned bright red while a screeching alarm went off it was the Soviet Union's missile attack warning system informing Petro that five American intercontinental ballistic missiles had

been launched and were heading straight for the Soviet Union it was Petro's job to call the alarm likely leading to some Russian retaliation and a full-on nuclear war after sweating over what to do Petro came to a decision for some reason Petro despite professionally being required to do so made the last gasp call not to ring the alarm instead he treated the warning as an error message and alerted his higher-ups of a system malfunction he reasoned that if the United States really were to start a nuclear war they'd do it with more than five missiles

and Incredibly he was right turns out Soviet Satellites mistook the sun's reflection off the top of some clouds for a missile launch so how bad would the situation have been well for some context the two Rivals possessed some nearly 60,000 nuclear missiles between them let's just say if Petro wasn't as cool as a cucumber things would have gotten pretty ugly birthday blip if you've ever seen Steven Spielberg's classic Saving Private Ryan you'll know just how Monumental D-Day and the Battle of Normandy were what's not shown in the movie is the fact that this Invasion could

have easily failed before it started by 1944 Irwin raml was one of the most respected commanders in the German Army he had the vital job of defending the North French Coast against an Allied invasion in early June 1944 raml was convinced that bad weather made crossing the English Channel an impossible task so presuming there was no threat of an oncoming Invasion the general made the split decision to attend to a more personal matter his wife's birthday after the storm broke out raml decided to head back to her lingan Germany but to rl's horror as he

made his way eastwards the storms around the English Channel started to subside United States President Dwight Eisenhower made the late decision to set the invasion for the early hours of June 6th by the morning nearly 156,000 American British and Canadian Forces landed on Normandy Beach without raml the German reaction to The Landings were slow and Confused even worse for the Germans less than a week after the invasion began the Allies secured the Normandy beaches from there the Allies fought their way across through France in the aftermath of D-Day Germany was fighting a two-front war it

couldn't win and less than a year later Germany surrendered yikes fair to say raml probably regretted the decision to celebrate his wife's bday on dday directionless driver it goes without saying that World War I was one of the most significant conflicts in history between 1914 and 1918 more than 100 countries around the world became involved in the war that claimed some 40 million casualties but did you know it all could have been avoided if it wasn't for a minor mishap by a driver let me explain in 1914 Archduke France Ferdinand of Austria was visiting sah

to inspect the Imperial armed forces in Bosnia and heroa a country annexed by Austria Hungary 6 years earlier the annexation had angered Serbian nationalists in the country who believed their territories should be part of Serbia not under the rule of Austria Hungary one group of nationalists known as the Black Hand were especially angry one of the members threw a bomb at ferdinand's car as it drove through Saro but the vehicle sped away before it detonated injuring people in a trailing car undeterred Ferdinand went on to deliver a speech at Saro Town Hall then following his

talk Ferdinand decided to visit a hospital to check on the wounded as Noble a decision as it was it would be a fatal one for security reasons it was decided the car should take a quieter route out of the city unfortunately for FR his driver could only speak Czech so he wasn't able to actually hear the change of plans instead choosing to drive on the original route as a result the car took a turn onto the busy friend Joseph Street unfortunately for Ferdinand the car swerved straight in the direction of one of the Blackhand members

gavo princip princip who gave up on the assassination attempt apparently decided to head to a cafe to grab a sandwich as he recognized ferdinand's car coming towards him he pulled out his pistol and well the rest as they say is history just days later later Austria Hungary declared war on Serbia triggering a series of declarations that led to World War I just one month after France ferdinand's assassination one of History's deadliest conflicts had begun all because someone wanted a sandwich kokura close shave just over 20 years after the horrors of the first world war another

major conflict had begun World War II by the end of 1945 the US wanted to force a quick Surrender by the Japanese and horrifyingly they decided they'd achieve that by dropping atomic bombs on several Japanese cities in May a list of potential Target cities were drawn up including Hiroshima kokura and Kyoto after the devastating bombing of Hiroshima on the 6th of August the next Target was set kokura a city of 130,000 people and home to one of Japan's largest military arsenals planes were dispatched to scope out the weather on August 9th reporting minimal cloud coverage

with a forecast of improving conditions however by the time the pilot Charles Sweeney made it over kokura later that day conditions had drastically changed now there was thick cloud cover meaning Sweeney couldn't see what was beneath his plane this being an atomic bomb you can exactly drop it blind the target has to be visually seen as the US didn't trust radar assisted bombing for such a weapon this lack of visibility forced Sweeney to change his course at the last moment instead of a bittering kokura he moved on to the second target Nagasaki clearer conditions allowed

Sweeney to gain sight of the city below and with that he dropped the fat man atomic bomb on Nagasaki taking the lives of nearly 40,000 with it any of you bright Sparks watching might be wondering what happened to Kyoto after all it was drawn up on the list of cities to be taken out well much like kokura this place got a late blessing it wasn't decided until late July just days before the attack that Kyoto was taken off the list why not because of clouds but due to the city being viewed as a cultural heart

of Japan with more than 2,000 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines so the United States not wanting to provoke a Japanese rally gave it a Miss altogether so so if anyone is watching this from Kyoto man how lucky do you feel right now and that rounds up the last minute decisions that changed history can you think of any other Monumental events that were decided by a last gas change of plans let me know down in the comments below and thanks for watching [Music]