It seems like at any given moment the world is on the brink of all-out war.
Unfortunately, there are now weapons that don’t just end wars but could end the entire world.
Maybe we die by nuclear holocaust, a pathogen cooked up in a lab, or a weapon from space.
And if that doesn’t scare you, the rest of the doomsday weapons in this video will.
The world is full of scary, naturally occurring pathogens, but that hasn't
stopped multiple countries from saying "hey, we could make this horrible disease a lot worse"
by experimenting with biological warfare. Currently, there are a handful of deadly
bioweapons that we know could end the world. These scenarios are extremely unlikely to happen,
but in a worst-case scenario, bioweapons could be our downfall.
During World War II Allied forces built several facilities to mass-produce anthrax.
This bioweapon was never used in the war itself, but the bacterial agent
still exists and could be weaponized if it fell into the wrong hands. When the Anthrax bacteria
comes into contact with the body it can cause blisters and sores to break out on the skin.
This can eventually lead to fever and respiratory problems as it enters the bloodstream.
If left untreated, anthrax will enter the spinal fluid and brain causing meningitis.
This causes the brain to swell and oftentimes leads to death. Someone who is infected with
anthrax is not contagious, but if a mad scientist wanted to wipe out humanity,
this might be one bioweapon that could do it.
By somehow injecting anthrax into food, water sources, or the air, a large part of the human
population could be infected. Anthrax would not need to wipe out every human on the planet in
order to end the world. If the bacteria was released in high population areas,
the large amount of deaths could throw humanity into chaos and society would quickly break down.
However, anthrax is not the scariest biological weapon that has been created by the military.
In the 1950s a bacterial pathogen was discovered as the cause of a pneumonia-type disease that
was plaguing Australian slaughterhouses. The disease was infecting the animals and killing
them in huge numbers. The United States Army Medical Unit saw an opportunity to learn more
about the dangerous pathogen and started to infect volunteer soldiers with the disease.
Once they understood what was causing the illness, the U.S. military decided it should be weaponized.
Q-Fever was cooked up in a lab, and more than 5,000 gallons of the bacteria was grown.
What made Q-Fever so enticing to the military was the length of time it could survive once
deployed. The bacteria could thrive for up to 60 days and it was easily transmitted.
These factors on, top of only needing a small number of bacteria to infect
someone and make them extremely sick, made Q-Fever the perfect biological weapon.
However, after the United States signed an agreement at the UN Biological Weapons Convention
in 1972 the Q-Fever stash was destroyed and the world sighed a breath of relief. That being said,
there is no way to know if all of the Q-Fever bioweapons were actually destroyed.
The bacteria itself causes respiratory problems and pneumonia in humans. This means that if it
were to get out, it would spread around the world like wildfire. And if Q-Fever was being used as a
bioweapon, whoever controlled it could infect multiple regions of the world simultaneously,
ensuring practically everyone would come into contact with the bacteria.
The death toll could be high enough to end the world.
In 2014 the medical branch of the United States military and the CDC developed a way to protect
primates, including humans, from the Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever virus. This was in response
to intel that uncovered the Soviet Union had weaponized the virus into an aerosol form.
The scary thing about the Marburg virus is that it is in the same family as Ebola.
The spread of Ebola can be slowed or stopped due to the way it is transmitted.
Ebola is spread through contact with infected blood or bodily fluids. By taking precautions
such as wearing gloves and other protective gear, the virus can be contained. However,
the Marburg virus that the Soviet Union weaponized could be contracted just by breathing it in.
What made the bioweapon even more terrifying was that Soviet scientists reported the mortality
rate of the virus was around 90%. This means that if Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever ever got
out of the lab and into the world it could be devastating. Once it started to infect
people the virus would spread rapidly killing almost everyone in its path.
Like all viruses each time it infected a new person the Marburg virus would have a chance
to mutate. This could make it even more deadly. If this biological weapon were to become resistant to
the drug that the U.S. government made to stop it, the world would certainly come to an end.
There are most likely other biological agents that have been developed in
military labs that we don’t know about. So, the weapon that could
end the world may be sitting in a freezer somewhere just waiting to be unleashed.
One thing is for sure, the next weapon we are
about to talk about could end the world several times over.
Nuclear bombs are probably the most destructive weapons ever created. However, a distinction needs
to be made between the two different types. The two classes of nuclear weapons are atomic bombs
and hydrogen bombs. Both are deadly, but one is capable of much more destruction than the other.
The atomic bomb is the only nuclear weapon that has ever been used in actual warfare. This was
the type of bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Hundreds of
thousands of people were killed from the nuclear blasts in Japan and the fallout that followed.
The explosion of atomic bombs is created by fission, or the splitting apart of nuclei,
of heavy elements such as plutonium and uranium.
When this happens, an enormous amount of energy is released. Around 2 pounds of uranium-235 can
discharge the equivalent amount of energy as 17,000 tons of TNT. The explosion is huge,
and the amount of thermal energy generated heats the surrounding area to several million degrees.
With the separation of the nuclei also comes a shockwave that can wipe out entire buildings
located several miles away from the initial blast. Needless to say, the atomic bomb is definitely a
weapon that could end the world. If a war breaks out where atomic bombs are fired across the globe,
everyone who is not wiped out by the initial blasts will eventually
succumb to radiation poising or the nuclear winter that will follow.
However, atomic bombs are not the most powerful nuclear weapons that humans have created.
The hydrogen bomb can be 1,000 times more powerful than an atomic bomb.
And since the inception of the hydrogen bomb, and the realization of their massive power,
these are the types of nukes that militaries have stockpiled.
The main difference between the hydrogen bomb and the atomic bomb is the way the energy is
created. In a hydrogen bomb, the explosion happens due to an enormous amount of energy
released by the process of fusion. Instead of splitting nuclei like in an atomic bomb,
in a hydrogen bomb two nuclei are fused together.
Hydrogen bombs still use uranium and plutonium, but also have deuterium and tritium
added to the mix to create the fusion reaction. H-bombs have never been used in an actual war,
but they have been detonated to measure their power. These bombs yield enough destructive
potential to instantly end the world if they are all detonated at the same time.
The largest explosion ever recorded by a hydrogen bomb was over Novaya Zemlya
Island in Russia. It was called the RDS-220 hydrogen bomb or the Tsar Bomba. On October 30,
1961, the 50 megaton nuke was detonated with the equivalent of 50 million tons of TNT. This
is approximately the same as exploding 3,800 of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima.
It should come as no surprise that relatively few nuclear weapons are needed to end the whole world.
But one delivery system in particular was a major concern for the longevity of the human species.
During the Cold War, the United States developed a miniature nuclear warhead and a launcher that
could fire it. The crazy part was it could be carried, deployed, and launched by a
single soldier. The weapon was called the M-28 or M-29 Davy Crocket Weapons System.
It looked like an oversized rifle with a small bomb attached to the end of it.
This weapon was wildly inaccurate and very dangerous,
which resulted in it being scrapped as the Cold War came to an end. All it would have
taken was one rogue soldier making a bad decision to launch a nuke at the enemy.
The counterattack would end up wiping humanity off the face of the planet.
The Davy Crockett could launch its payload approximately 2.5 miles,
which was barely far enough to ensure the soldier who fired the weapon was safe from
the nuclear fallout. He most likely would survive the initial explosion but could
receive a lethal dose of radiation if he didn’t get away quick enough.
There was also no killswitch, so once the weapon was fired, there was no going back.
But perhaps the craziest part was that the United States made around 2,100 M-28
and M-29 Davy Crockett Weapons Systems. And these weapons were actually deployed with
NATO forces in the 1960s. This meant there was the possibility for individual soldiers
to launch over 2,000 nukes from the field simultaneously. This weapon may have been
the number one potential catalyst for nuclear war at the time. Thankfully,
all of the Davy Crockett Weapons Systems were destroyed or disassembled… as far as we know.
Another weapon of mass destruction that could end the world wouldn’t do so in a huge explosion,
but silently. Dirty bombs are the name given to devices that release massive
amounts of radiation without the detonation of a nuclear warhead. This is done with a highly
concentrated mix of radioactive chemicals which is then disseminated using regular explosives.
The type of radiation that results from dirty bombs is gamma rays,
which would rip through the cells of the body and cause damage at the molecular level. This
can lead to symptoms like radiation burns, and also cause mutations in DNA leading to cancer.
A series of dirty bombs would most likely not cause the world to end right away, but given time,
the amount of radiation that could spread across the planet would be lethal to the human species.
The creepy thing about humanity being wiped out by dirty bombs would be the lack of destruction.
Buildings would be unharmed and entire cities would seem untouched.
Years after such a world-ending event, it would seem like humanity was just blinked
out of existence. That being said, all living things would be negatively affected,
leading to a mass collapse in every ecosystem across the world.
We are now moving away from nuclear weapons and into world-ending substances.
Like biological warfare, chemical warfare has been banned. But that doesn’t stop insane
dictators and military leaders from using it. The most terrifying thing about chemical weapons
is that with enough resources and planning they can be simultaneously released across the world.
In the former Soviet Union, the military created a family of chemicals called
Novichok. This weapon is a nerve agent, which means the chemicals block nerve signals sent
from the brain to the rest of the body. The interference of these signals eventually results
in vital bodily processes shutting down and causes the person who has ingested the chemical to die.
Signs of exposure to Novichok are dilated pupils, problems breathing, and uncontrollable
convulsions. After this occurs there is only death. If the nerve agent was somehow disseminated
across the world in food or water supplies, it could quickly wipe out a huge number of people.
An even scarier thought is if Novichok could be mass-produced, and then airdropped like
pesticides from a crop duster across the world, the number of casualties would be even greater.
Another chemical agent that could have the potential to end the world would be Sarin.
This chemical weapon was invented in 1938 by Nazi scientists. It is also
considered a nerve agent as it attacks the body in a similar way to Novichok.
When Sarin enters the body it begins blocking nerve signals and enzyme receptors,
which then causes the body to convulse and spasm.
After some time, the person dies of asphyxiation or heart failure.
What makes this chemical weapon even worse than Novichok is that it has the ability to persist
in the air for hours or even days after being deployed depending on the weather conditions.
The gas itself is invisible and odorless, which means if it is
used on a large scale it will take time to figure out what’s killing so many people.
Also, if a vast quantity of Sarin gas was continuously deployed in one area,
wind and air currents could move it across a region putting countless lives at risk.
The creation and stockpiling of Sarin was supposed to be banned in 1997, yet as recently as 2013 it
was used in Damascus, Syria on rebel forces. It is estimated the death toll was as high
as 1,300 people including civilians and children. Clearly, this lethal chemical weapon still exists,
and if deployed across the planet, could wipe out much of humanity.
One weapon that has the ability to end the world is something
that practically everyone can get their hands on.
In order to end the world, all someone really needs is a bullet, rifle, and an important target.
Take World War I for instance. The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo
Princip plunged Europe into war. The bullet that killed JFK almost caused the Cold War to
turn hot. These instances of a gun causing mass turmoil could be what ends life as we know it.
Imagine what would happen in today’s world if the leader of a country like North Korea or China was
assassinated. Depending on the circumstances, a single bullet could lead countries with powerful
militaries to do crazy things. Taking it a step further, if the assassination of practically any
world leader was carried out by a foreign government, it could lead to a global war.
Unfortunately for everyone, an all-out world war today would look very different than it
did in the past. The major players would probably end up being the NATO
nations versus countries controlled by dictators under the guise of Communism.
Both sides would continue fighting a war started by a rifle with weapons of mass destruction.
Perhaps the end of the world will be caused by weapons not yet built.
One such weapon could be the Rods from God. Basically, the Rods from God would be missiles,
bombs, or other destructive devices dropped from satellites in space.
The impact velocity would be enormous as gravity would pull the weapon down to Earth from orbit.
Such weapons could be something as simple as a solid tube made of heavy metal
that could rip through a structure causing it to collapse or a conventional nuclear bomb.
Regardless of what exactly is being dropped from space, the destruction would be devastating.
This is especially true if multiple Rods from God were deployed all at once.
There are currently somewhere around 7,500 active satellites in low Earth orbit.
Imagine if each one of those satellites were equipped with this technology. It is not out
of the realm of possibility that in the future, warfare will be fought both in and from space.
As space is militarized, the number of satellites will only increase. And if
that’s the case, they will also most likely be equipped with defense and attack systems.
The weapon that ends the world might not come from the Earth itself, but from high above it.
Weapons such as lasers have been the dream of military leaders for decades.
But with the rapid advancement of technology,
these death rays may be closer to reality than ever before. In the past decade,
the military has been tinkering with ways to mount lasers onto planes to help shoot down missiles.
This laser technology is still in its infancy but it’s progressing quickly.
Right now the lasers are mostly being developed to destroy missiles, bombs, and drones. However,
in the future, these high-energy lasers could be used for much more destructive missions.
If lasers become large and powerful enough, they could be mounted on planes from where
they could shoot down at targets on the Earth below. In the future,
warfare using bullets and missiles may be a thing of the past. High-powered
lasers could continuously rip through military installations and whole battalions of soldiers.
They could also be used to destroy buildings
and cut down entire cities. And if a laser was powerful enough, it could even destroy the planet
just like the Death Star from Star Wars. We are still a ways away from this type of
laser technology, but it was only about 15 years ago that the first iPhone came out.
Now we have high-power computers in the palm of our hands with internet access pretty much
everywhere in the world. Think about what else will be accomplished in the next 15 years.
The weapons of the future will likely look very different than the weapons of today
and death by laser may be the way that the world ends. Then again,
maybe it is the weapons of the past that could lead to the extinction of the human species.
In the 1950s the CIA conducted a series of experiments under what came to be known
as MK-ULTRA. This was a covert program to see whether mind-control was possible. The theory
was that by using psychotropic drugs, the brain could be altered and programmed. The military
forced subjects to take LSD, barbiturates, and amphetamines then monitored their behavior.
It is not entirely clear what the outcomes were of the MK-ULTRA tests
as CIA Director Richard Helms had all records of the project destroyed in 1973.
However, with advances in neuroscience and our understanding of how the brain works,
maybe the world will end with a brainwashed spy assassinating a world leader.
Or maybe a team of sleeper agents will infiltrate the highest levels
of a country’s military and detonate their nuclear stockpile all at once.
These are all obviously farfetched situations that will likely never happen, but it is hard
to know just how far MK-ULTRA and mind control went since all of the files were destroyed.
Some of the most bizarre military weapons ever
created were the result of equipping animals with technological upgrades.
During World War II the United States military toyed around with the idea of equipping incendiary
explosives onto bats and dropping them into enemy territory. This came to be known as Project X-Ray.
The thought was that by releasing thousands of fireball bats onto Japanese cities they could
ignite homes, buildings, and other structures causing everything to burn to the ground.
But this wasn’t the only experiment that weaponized animals. DARPA has also conducted
research around implanting microchips in different animals like cockroaches and rats
to allow a human to control them. These animals would likely be used for
reconnaissance missions or to collect intel in heavily guarded facilities.
However, with the way technology is advancing,
it may not be too long before we start equipping these animals with explosives
that can cause massive damage and casualties. Imagine a war not fought by humans,
but by cyborg animals that are fitted with bombs, lasers, or even biological weapons.
The end of the world might not happen from conventional weapons, but from military
experiments on animals gone wrong. Humanity could be wiped out by the very creatures we
once manipulated for our own selfish purposes. Then again, maybe this is a sci-fi fantasy and we
will just blow ourselves up the old-fashioned way using nukes. Only time will tell.
Now watch “This is How the World Ends.” Or check out “Most Terrifying Weapons of World War 2.”