This episode of Doomsday: 10 Ways the World Will End investigates the impact a nuclear war would have on planet Earth.
With tensions high between Russia and the West this timely episode examines what the actual effects of a world wide nuclear war would be.
We’ve all seen Special FX scenes in movies like Terminator 2: Judgement Day but is that what it would really be like? What about the aftermath?
If you go back to the 1980’s there were a number of British documentaries produced that try to show what such a catastrophic conflict would do to society and the individuals.
Threads was said to have been one of the most realistic at the time and still packs a punch. This is the bomb scene that starts almost comical and ends up genuinely chilling. If you can find the full film it is really worth a watch and quite profoundly unsettling even today. It is said that even Ronald Reagan watched it!
We know World War 3 would be highly likely to turn nuclear and the bombs in missiles now are far more powerful than those used against Japan at the end of WWII. Millions would die instantly in the cities targeted and still more would later succumb to radiation poising in the weeks that followed.
Perhaps far worse would be the possibility of a Nuclear Winter, caused by the dust and debris throw into the atmosphere. This could cause another ice age and would certainly lead to the mass failure of crops and widespread famine. So even countries not involved in the conflict could see their populations devastated by the results.
Watch Doomsday: 10 Ways the World Will End – Nuclear War 9 PM on History.