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History's greatest plot twists aren't in movies—they're in real life! Join us as we explore the moments that changed everything when nobody saw it coming. From accidental discoveries to fateful decisions, these unexpected turns reshaped our world forever. Which surprise twist do you think had the biggest impact on history?
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00:00Napoleon's army trudged slowly across Russia's immense spaces.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 unforeseen true
00:10life twists that redefined history. Throughout May and June, intelligence reports gave warning
00:16after warning of imminent German attack. Number 20, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Mid-October 1962,
00:25one photograph nearly marked the end of the world. Within the past week,
00:30unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites
00:36is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. With a single snapshot, U.S. spy planes exposed
00:43Soviet nuclear missiles hidden in Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida. In a heartbeat, the Cold War
00:49went from silent tension to a 13-day countdown to nuclear doom. President Kennedy ordered a naval
00:55blockade, and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev refused to back down. Battleships, bombers,
01:01and fingers hovered over launch buttons while the whole planet held its breath.
01:05Then, plot twist, both leaders had to rethink, pivoting from proxy wars to nuclear prudence
01:10with secret deals. Here at Homestead, there were over 200 jet fighters, fueled up and loaded with
01:16rockets, napalm, bombs, and cannon ammunition. America pulled missiles from Turkey, and the Soviets
01:22backed off Cuba. And just like that, a photograph that nearly sparked the apocalypse ended in quiet
01:27diplomacy, reshaping how superpowers communicate, trust, and survive. Thank you, and good night.
01:34Number 19. The COVID-19 pandemic. If you were to ask anyone where they were when COVID-19 was declared
01:42a pandemic, they will likely have an instantaneous reply. Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or
01:51carelessly. Who would have thought that a viral respiratory tract infection could turn 2020 into
01:56arguably the most impactful year in modern history, with such a sweeping and everlasting impact across
02:02the globe. But one did. COVID-19 claimed over 3 million lives in 2020 alone, and caused over 7
02:09million confirmed deaths total as of 2025. To give you a sense of just how large a COVID death hole is,
02:161 million is double the population of the entire city of Atlanta. And guys, for more context,
02:22the 1918 flu pandemic killed about 675,000 people in the U.S., making COVID the deadliest pandemic
02:30in American history. Aside from the obvious impact of the disease, society at large nearly
02:36transformed overnight. As a result of the lockdown, jobs were either lost or were forced to shift to
02:42remote models with little preparation. In addition, 2020 saw the most significant global recession in
02:48history since the Great Depression. The pandemic personally affected all of us in some way, either
02:53through illness, loss, or the adjustment to the new normal that was created in its wake.
02:58Some of the things that worry us are what happens when there's a next large outbreak in a skilled
03:03nursing facility, the next time a susceptible population gets hit within a tight community.
03:09Number 18, the atomic bomb that didn't detonate. What a nightmare this could have been.
03:16January 1961, Cold War tensions sky high, and a U.S. B-2 bomber broke apart midair over Goldsboro,
03:23North Carolina.
03:24The airplane disintegrated in midair.
03:26But I thought I was going to die by myself.
03:28On board, two hydrogen bombs, each packing over 200 times the power of Hiroshima.
03:34One parachutes gently down into a farm field, while the other slams into a swamp.
03:39Officials called it a safe accident to calm nerves. But years later, declassified files told a different
03:46story. Turns out, one bomb went through six of the seven arming steps. Only one electrical safety
03:52switch kept it from turning half of Carolina into ash.
03:55They were desperately looking for the bomb, particularly the switch that would tell them
03:59if it were on armed or safe.
04:02After that scare, America overhauled its nukes with better systems, safety protocols,
04:07and fewer flights. Because who relies on luck twice? The U.S. was really one spark away from
04:13doomsday.
04:14They never did find the uranium portion of that bomb, and to this day, it remains 180 feet
04:21below this ground.
04:23Number 17. Hitler's art school rejection.
04:26It's wild to think how a rejection letter might have flipped the course of history.
04:30Back in 1907, young Adolf Hitler wasn't dreaming of world domination. He just wanted to be an artist.
04:36Hitler's watercolors are so controversial they're not on public display, but stored securely in the
04:42museum's basement.
04:43Twice he applied to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and twice they rejected him. The board said he was
04:49unfit for painting and suggested architecture instead, but he lacked the academic credentials.
04:55Broke, crushed, and humiliated, Hitler drifted through Vienna's streets, his rejection curdling into
05:01obsession and anger towards the system.
05:03For Hitler, these views became obsession.
05:06That moment didn't just derail his life. It rewrote global history. Many years later,
05:12instead of painting landscapes, he painted chaos across Europe. It really is a terrifying twist.
05:18A closed door on young Hitler's ambition unleashed one of the world's darkest nightmares.
05:23Munich, 1914. A. Hitler.
05:25Number 16. The Russian Revolution.
05:30Talk about a domino effect. Sometimes history's biggest shocks start small.
05:34Russia was definitely the most repressive major state in Europe at the turn of the century.
05:40In February 1917, it was just another bitter winter in Petrograd.
05:44People starving, exhausted, and done with war.
05:48A few women hit the streets demanding bread and peace.
05:50Not one, not even Tsar Nicholas II imagined it would escalate.
05:55But then came the twist. Instead of stopping the protests, the soldiers joined the crowd.
06:00Even the Tsar's generals turned their backs, and within days, the Romanovs' 300-year reign ended.
06:06The basement room was sealed, and Yakov Yurovsky, their chief executioner, informed them they would be executed.
06:13Out of that chaos rose Lenin and the Bolsheviks in November, ushering in a brand new country built on communism.
06:19What began as a hunger protest sparked a revolution that redrew the 20th century.
06:24If only the Tsar had seen it coming, he might have filled the rumbling stomachs.
06:29Number 15. Constantine's Conversion to Christianity.
06:33After centuries of Christians being hunted across the Roman Empire, what happened in 312 CE still feels almost unbelievable.
06:40Constantine's father, Constantius, was a pagan who carried out orders to persecute Christians, including destroying churches and forcing Christians into exile.
06:50Constantine, a battle-hardened general, was gearing up for the Battle of the Milvian Bridge when the unexpected happened.
06:56Legend says he looked to the sky and saw a cross of light with a revelation.
07:00He marked the Cairo on his soldiers' shields, and the next day, crushed Maxentius' army in the Tiber.
07:07That one battle flipped the script, and by 313 CE, the Edict of Milan made Christianity legal.
07:13The sign of the cross. I will not force you, any of you, to accept it as your faith.
07:23Only those must stay at my side who will fight for the right of every man to live in freedom, without tyranny, intolerance, or persecution.
07:34Pagan temples began to close, bishops gained power, and the empire tilted toward a new faith.
07:39A pagan warlord ended the persecution of Christians? That's the twist.
07:44Emperor Constantine himself was later baptized on his deathbed.
07:48I know now that I am in the true sense blessed.
07:53That now I have been shown worthy of a mortal life.
07:57That now I receive divine light.
08:01Number 14. The Attack on Pearl Harbor
08:04They say you should never wake a sleeping giant, and Japan probably should have listened.
08:10On December 7th, 1941, calm skies over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, erupted as 353 Japanese aircraft screamed down from the clouds.
08:19The whole side of Battleship Row, clear down to the air zone, is covered with flames.
08:26The people in the water, swimming, trying to get out.
08:30Within two hours, eight battleships were hit, the USS Arizona exploded, and over 2,400 Americans were killed.
08:38Japan's goal was simple.
08:40Damage the U.S. Pacific Fleet before it could fight back.
08:43But by sheer luck, the American carriers, the real targets, weren't even there.
08:48Crazy twist, right?
08:50Instead of immobilizing the U.S., Japan's ambush ignited its wrath.
08:54The next day, President Roosevelt delivered his Day of Infamy speech.
08:58The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked.
09:04Overnight, isolation turned into outrage, and a divided America united, ready to strike back, defeat Japan's empire, and change the course of history.
09:15They are my heroes, and I will tell their stories as long as I live.
09:21Number 13. The Sinking of the Titanic
09:23Famously called the Unsinkable Ship, a floating fortress of steel and luxury, the RMS Titanic set sail in 1912 as the crown jewel of human engineering.
09:34Power, pride, and 16 watertight compartments.
09:37She was hailed as the most luxurious steamship in the world.
09:40Her decks were polished teeth, her shafts the finest on the concrete.
09:44Everyone basically thought it could survive anything short of the apocalypse, but fate had other plans.
09:50On a calm April night, as the ship sailed through the North Atlantic, an iceberg loomed out of the darkness, ripping through its hull.
09:57A few moments later, six of the ship's watertight compartments were torn apart.
10:02Within hours, the so-called fortress slipped beneath the Atlantic, taking some 1,500 lives with it.
10:08There was no impact as such. It was just like jamming your brakes on a car.
10:14And that was that she stopped.
10:17Who would have thought a chunk of ice could tear through that steel giant?
10:21Investigations confirmed that the iceberg created smaller punctures below the waterline, and not a large gash, which were enough to trigger the tragedy.
10:30The RMS Titanic became history's chilling testament to mankind's overconfidence against nature.
10:35Number 12. The discovery of penicillin
10:39Yes, one of the biggest breakthroughs in medical history was by accident.
10:43What Alexander Fleming started in 1928 as a simple study of bacteria in London turned into a miracle drug that saved millions.
10:50September 28th, 1928. 86 years ago today.
10:56A day which changed medicine completely by accident.
11:00Returning to his famously messy lab from vacation,
11:02he found one Petri dish ruined by a strange blue-green mold.
11:07And oddly, the bacteria around it were dead.
11:10Instead of tossing it, Fleming took a closer look and discovered the mold was penicillin,
11:14the first true antibiotic.
11:18He couldn't even purify it at first.
11:22But decades later, other scientists were able to mass-produce it.
11:26By World War II, penicillin was saving thousands of soldiers from deadly infections.
11:30Thousands of men, thanks to penicillin and plasma, will come home to their thankful families.
11:36And just like that, one forgotten dish became a global cure.
11:40An insane twist.
11:42Number 11. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
11:45Actions always have consequences.
11:48But no one expected a world war to start from a wrong turn and an almost failed assassination.
11:531908. The Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Bosnia.
11:57This ticks off Bosnian nationalists who wanted to unify all southern Slavic countries under one government.
12:03In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne,
12:08paraded through Sarajevo in an open car.
12:11Six assassins had tried to kill him that morning and failed.
12:14One even botched a bomb throw that the Archduke narrowly survived.
12:18You'd think that he'd end the tour, right?
12:20Nope. He gave his speech and decided to visit the hospital.
12:24He gets back into the car with his wife and has Leopold drive off to the hospital.
12:28But his driver took a wrong turn, right into the path of another assassin,
12:3319-year-old Gavrillo Princip.
12:35Two gunshots later, the Archduke and his wife were dead.
12:39Within weeks, Europe's alliances ignited.
12:42And in a deadly twist, one wrong turn triggered a global catastrophe that would kill millions.
12:47Just six weeks after a man was killed by a single bullet, the alliances were triggered.
12:53Germany invaded France, and the First World War had begun.
12:57Number 10. Genghis Khan Gets Snubbed
12:59Khwarezmia was an empire covering much of modern-day Afghanistan and Iran.
13:03In the early 11th century, they were contacted by Genghis Khan,
13:06who sought to create a trade agreement and possible alliance.
13:09He looked west to develop trading links.
13:13He sent ambassadors to Persia.
13:15But then the disrespect began.
13:17A 500-person caravan that arrived from the Khan was captured and killed with the sultan's approval.
13:22And further ambassadors that arrived to free them were also executed.
13:27The sultan had fundamentally misjudged Genghis Khan's character.
13:32In response, Genghis Khan broke off his attacks on China
13:35and spent three years decimating the Khwarezmian Empire,
13:38killing close to two million people or nearly a quarter of their population.
13:42The conquest led to the empire's downfall
13:44and was an important stepping stone for later Mongol campaigns to the west.
13:48The extent of the bloodshed in Persia was without precedent.
13:52Number 9. Japan Wins the Russo-Japanese War
13:55In the early 20th century, both Japan and Russia had designs on Manchuria and Korea.
14:00Despite the island nation being much smaller and seeking to negotiate early on,
14:04Japan managed to get the better of Russia in the ensuing year-and-a-half-long conflict.
14:07Given Russia's status as a great power at the time,
14:15the rest of the big-name nations were surprised Japan achieved victory.
14:23Its triumph not only opened up its further conquests on mainland Asia
14:27that would play a large part in its imperialism for the next half-century,
14:31but Russia's defeat also sowed the seeds for the Russian Revolution in 1905
14:35and the rise of the Soviet Union.
14:39Number 8. The Industrial Revolution's Disastrous Consequences
14:43The Industrial Revolution changed everything.
14:46Britain needed a new source of fuel.
14:50The development of new manufacturing processes and power sources
14:54essentially created the modern world as we know it today,
14:57with huge changes in everything from technology to social norms.
15:01However, there have also been plenty of unforeseen consequences to all the innovations.
15:05What's invention would transform almost every aspect of human life
15:10and drive the world into the modern age?
15:13Easily the most harmful has been the increase in pollution worldwide,
15:17which has had a drastic effect on the environment.
15:20And while the standard of living has risen in some parts of the world,
15:23in others, the Industrial Revolution has only widened the gap between the rich and the poor.
15:28Within 25 years, the majority of British people lived in cities.
15:32Number 7. A slip of the tongue brought down the wall early.
15:36This wall is built to be permanent, intimidating, and deadly.
15:41Creating a physical barrier between East and West Berlin,
15:43as well as the East and West areas of Europe,
15:46was an idea that was probably doomed from the start.
15:48But the moment the Berlin Wall's downfall was secured was pretty unexpected.
15:53In 1989, the East German press spokesperson Gunter Schapowski
15:57was set to announce an easing of travel restrictions between East and West,
16:01but had not been informed of the specifics before delivering the message.
16:05For the first time, East German citizens can travel abroad freely.
16:09A journalist asks him when.
16:11He answers, at once.
16:12Although the plan was to implement them the following day,
16:15Schapowski, ignorant of this, told the press it went into effect immediately,
16:19prompting a flood of people to cross, which led to the guards being overwhelmed,
16:24and the public ultimately dismantling the wall.
16:27If anyone had told me I'd see this damn wall come down in my lifetime,
16:31I'd have said they were crazy.
16:32Number 6. Terms of peace set the stage for more wars.
16:36The Treaty of Versailles was supposed to ensure that the First World War
16:40really was the war to end all wars.
16:43Instead, however, it sowed the seeds for more to follow.
16:45The terms required that Germany surrender territory,
16:49restrict its military forces,
16:51and pay costly reparations for the destruction the war had wrought.
16:54This fostered German resentment,
16:56which Hitler used to take control of the country
16:58and lead it into another, much larger war,
17:01the worst in human history.
17:03In turn, the fallout from World War II would lead to the Cold War,
17:06as well as conflicts in the Middle East and Asia.
17:09Pretty ironic that a peace treaty would result in so much violence.
17:15Same problems we still can't resolve today.
17:19Number 5. Gore loses, Bush wins.
17:22The 2000 U.S. presidential election was one of the most contentious
17:26and momentous in the nation's modern history.
17:28When the polls finally closed in Florida,
17:30the results were just too close to call,
17:33which automatically triggered a recount by machine.
17:35And though we all know that George W. Bush ultimately went on to be president,
17:39Al Gore was declared the winner of the all-important Florida
17:42by multiple major networks early in the evening, based on exit poll data.
17:46Or conceded, and Bush was awarded the electoral votes and declared president.
17:51And ultimately, the election boiled down to the state of Florida.
17:54Controversy swirled around rejected ballots and recounts,
17:57but in the end, it took a Supreme Court decision to settle the controversy.
18:00Despite the fact that Gore had secured more of the popular vote than Bush,
18:04W. had won Florida, and therefore the presidency.
18:07And this decision likely changed the course of American history.
18:11Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours.
18:16Number 4. Prussia saved by fanboy.
18:19While the Seven Years' War, beginning in 1756,
18:22is primarily remembered for being a conflict between Britain and France,
18:26many European countries took sides.
18:28And Prussia aided Britain while also seeking to expand its own territory.
18:32Things were looking bleak for the kingdom until Russia's Tsarina Elizabeth died.
18:36Her nephew, German-born Peter III, was a great admirer of Prussia's Frederick II.
18:42And Russia pulled out of the war and signed a peace treaty with them,
18:45saving his idol and the country from certain ruin.
18:48Without this act, Prussia probably would never have survived long enough to unify Germany.
18:53Peter's actions also caused him to be deposed by his wife Catherine,
18:56later called Catherine the Great, who ushered in a golden age for Russia.
19:01Number 3. Napoleon's Return.
19:03As great a military commander as he was,
19:05Napoleon still lost big time in Russia.
19:08This allowed a coalition of allies to drive him to defeat,
19:11forcing his abdication,
19:13and leading to his exile to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean in 1814.
19:17Till a sovereign, this would be his new palace,
19:20where he was expected to spend the rest of his life.
19:23However, less than a year later,
19:25the former emperor escaped his imprisonment,
19:27and marched back to Paris,
19:29with few men to start with.
19:31Astonishingly, he managed to win every French army sent against him,
19:35growing his forces and retaking his throne with little bloodshed.
19:39The news hit Europe like a bombshell.
19:42The devil, his enemies said, has been unchained.
19:46Of course, he was defeated again a mere three months or so later,
19:49but how often does the defeated tyrant come back?
19:52Instead, they sent him back into exile.
19:57This time, they took no chances that he would return.
20:01Number 2. Arabs Defeat Byzantines and Persians
20:04The Sassanid Empire of Persia and the Byzantine Empire
20:07were engaged in a 30-year war in the early 7th century,
20:11one of many conflicts between the two rivals.
20:13However, no one at the time could have predicted
20:15that both impressive empires would be conquered
20:18by an Arabian army sweeping up from the south.
20:20Sure, three decades of war had depleted both empires,
20:23but they were still major powerhouses,
20:25and the Arab forces were the underdogs.
20:28Yet they succeeded through superior tactics
20:30and the conversion of their foes to their new religion, Islam.
20:34The conquest essentially ended the last of the Roman Empire,
20:37and Persian culture had a heavy influence on Islam going forward.
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20:57Number 1. Hitler Attacks Russia
20:59Despite both Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany
21:01and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union signing a non-aggression pact,
21:05the former launched an unprecedented assault on Russia a few years later.
21:09He was instigating a mental duel with Stalin,
21:12which over the next two years
21:14would decide the destiny of the Second World War.
21:17Codenamed Operation Barbarossa,
21:19Hitler committed millions of troops to the invasion,
21:21more than any other force in history.
21:23Hitler had finally made the momentous decision,
21:27a war on two fronts,
21:29the very thing he'd sought to avoid
21:31when he first made his pact with Stalin.
21:33The invasion was devastating for both attackers and defenders,
21:36with millions killed in both combat
21:38and in murders by the Nazis.
21:40Ultimately, though, opening up the Eastern Front proved very costly for Hitler,
21:44as it brought the Russians into war against him
21:46and divided his attentions,
21:49massively contributing to the eventual loss of the war for Germany.
21:52Had he held off,
21:53who knows how the war would have turned out.
21:55His decision to attack Russia
21:57signed the death warrant of his own dreams of empire
22:00and of European imperialism in general.
22:03Which of these real-life plot twists
22:05had the most impact on history?
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