As the old saying goes, success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.
And as we all collectively know - to err is human, but to forgive - divine.
Well, there are some blunders throughout our shared ancestral history that have been a
pretty big deal, and it’s not so much forgiveness that has corrected our ways, but the sheer
will and determination that our species has - to take one, big, deep breath - try not
to lose our temper - and wait for this whole thing to blow over.
Well, let's take a look shall we?
What’s going on guys - and welcome back to the most inquisitive channel on YouTube
- Life’s Biggest Questions.
As per usual, I’ll be your disembodied floating voice Jack Finch, as we bite our fist - and
cautiously ask the question, What Was The Costliest Mistake In Human History?
Roll the clip.
It’s a broad question - because believe it or not, despite all of our successes - the
human species is pretty fantastic at screwing things up - and time and time again throughout
our history, has ignored the path of least resistance - or over complicated things by
trying to show off, strut their stuff - and whisper those three fateful words - hold my
beer - before the whole thing goes to ruin.
Now - you might be thinking that we’re already living in a time period of costly mistakes
- I mean, just take a look at Brexit - but trust me, things have been much, much worse.
Before we chomp on that bit questioneers - here at Life’s Biggest Questions, we want nothing
more than to deliver you some of your most ponderous questions imaginable - to whether
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Also - we hit one million subs - and we love you all, so thank you very much.
Make sure to stick around all the way to the end and I’ll be reading out some of your
greatest comments from the past few days.
So, let’s rewind a little bit - because back in the day, I mean, way - way back in
the day - sometimes, even the smallest of mistakes meant that the consequences set into
motion a series of unfortunate events that would have calamitous implications thousands
of years down the line.
So to begin - we should take a look at the first big fluff-up in ancient history, the
burning of the Library of Alexandria.
The Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt was one of the largest and most significant libraries
of the ancient world.
After being established, it came to be regarded as the capital of knowledge and higher learning,
and quickly acquired a large number of papyrus scrolls from across the known world on every
scholarly topic imaginable.
It is unknown just exactly how many scrolls were housed there, but estimates have ranged
from 40 thousand - to a staggering 400 thousand.
In the grand scope of things - this was literally the physical equivalent of Wikipedia from
a time where civilization was just beginning to get the hang of the whole existence gig.
Andddd - then enter our boy Julius Caesar, who burned the whole thing to the ground.
Accidently - of course.
In 48 BC - during the Roman Civil War between Caesar and his Populares against the traditionalist
Optimates - which eventually would lead to the transition of the Roman Republic to the
Roman Empire - Julius Caesar was trapped and besieged at the port of Alexandria.
As a last ditch attempt - he ordered his soldiers to burn his own fleet of ships in the cities
docks, so attacking forces would be blocked by sea.
Well - that fire actually spread from the water to the entire city - and as a result,
a large portion of the Library of Alexandria was burned to cinders.
Although the structure survived for another 200 years, the fire completely diminished
its importance to academia - before it was ultimately reduced to rubble in the siege
of Alexandria in 297.
Whatever knowledge kept there has been lost to the sands of time - all because Julius
Caesar hadn’t taken his fire safety course.
Ancient history is awash with some terribly poor decisions.
Mainly because the burden of leadership was usually put on one guy with a pointy hat and
a 50/50 chance of having mental health issues.
Let’s take a look at perhaps the most devastating military force on the planet - Genghis Khan,
supreme ruler of the Mongol Empire - who’s impact on the planet has regularly been understood
to be more disastrous than the Bubonic Plague - so much so that his take over of Asia from
between 1200 and 1380 AD had such an influence that it changed the carbon dioxide levels
on Earth.
Sounds like a pretty tough guy, right?
Well - if only Ala ad-Din Muhammad knew that.
As leader of the empire of what is now known as modern day Iran and Iraq, Ala ad-Din Muhammad
was on the receiving end of a diplomatic trade deal from the big man himself, Genghis Khan.
To put it simply, he made him an offer that he couldn’t refuse.
But - err - big no no, because he refused it - and then chopped off the head of the
diplomatic emissary sent by the Khan.
A very costly mistake - because the Mongol Empire reacted by sending over 200 thousand
horseback warriors as a result - completely wiping out the discourteous empire pretty
much overnight.
Good manners go a long way.
It didn’t stop there though - poor decision making really ramped up on its approach to
modern history.
Around 1670 - the Dutch empire sailed past Australia, discovering it over 100 years before
Britain managed to do the same.
The Dutch though, didn’t think much of the place - and completely ignored it - noting
it as a useless desert.
By 1770 - Captain James Cook of Britain discovered it again, funny how that works eh? - and landed
in Botany Bay.
On the 22nd August 1770 - Britain claimed the eastern coast of Australia as New South
Wales - and the Dutch were none the wiser of the economic impact that Australia would
later have on the global stage.
Gutted.
But I mean - that’s a pretty broad stroke, isn’t it?
A mistake is easy to address in terms of an entire country - but what about a mistake
made by the Average Joe.
Enter Leopold Loyka - the driver of one particular Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand.
Well, on one fateful day, on Sunday 28th of June 1914 - Leopold was driving Franz and
his wife through the streets of Sarajevo, the capital of the then Austro-Hungarian province
of Bosnia and Herzegovina - when he took a wrong turn down a side street.
Well, that wrong turn would divert them off their planned route of safety - and into the
hands of an assassin - Gavrilo Princip, who was smoking outside of a cafe and couldn’t
believe his luck.
He shot and killed both the Archduke and his wife, kicking off the events of the First
World War, a devastating blight on both sides of the European conflict - which would then
lay the foundation for the rise of Hitler and the National Socialist Party - which would
then lead to the Second World War - and a whole load of trouble - all because one driver
took a wrong turn down the wrong side street in Sarajevo.
Well - I think we may have found our winner.
Well, I mean, it’s either that or the fact that Blizzard thought it would be a good idea
to make Diablo Immortal.
Do you guys not have phones?
There we have it folks - there are uncountable costly mistakes in history, so let us know
what you think it is in the comment box below.
Before we depart, here's a few of your kindest words from the past few days.
Dank Swizzle says - holy crap your sooooo close to 1 mil.
Well - haven’t you heard the news buddy?
We made it!
And we couldn’t have done it without Dank Swizzle’s such as yourself.
Much love guys - we really appreciate it.
Next up - Justchill 4 Life says - Can you guys do a video on is Australia a hoax just
to clarify that Australia exists to the unbelieving people in the world.
Well - buddy, we don’t need to do a whole video on that, because I can tell you now.
Australia is indeed real.
Or is it?!
Nah - I’m just kidding, my mate lives there.
Or does he?!
Nah - he does, it’s real.
Anyway guys - cheers for sticking around all the way to the end, hit that thumbs up button
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As always, I’ve been your host Jack Finch - you’ve been watching Life’s Biggest
Questions - and until next time, take it easy.