If These Historical Moments Weren't Caught On Camera, You Would Have Never Believed Us

On July 16, 1945, in the New Mexican desert, human history changed forever. On that day, the first nuclear explosion took place, known as the Trinity Test. Trinity was the culmination of several years of nuclear research from scientists at labs all around the country, which was collectively known as the Manhattan Project. The engineers and scientists working on the Manhattan Project created two different types of atomic bombs: one that used plutonium and one that used uranium-235. The Trinity Test was done with the plutonium-style bomb, which is the same type the Army later dropped over Nagasaki, Japan, known as "Fat Man."

The test was initiated at 5:30 a.m., and was done at an Air Force base in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Nobody could have possibly prepared themselves for what they were going to see, as a gigantic 40,000-foot mushroom cloud erupted before their eyes. Incredibly, the government had several different cameras running, and they actually captured the moment of detonation The above footage was taken from cameras roughly 5.6 miles away from the explosion, but the video is absolutely breathtaking. 

The explosion had the same power as 21,000 tons of TNT, which is pretty mind-blowing. The introduction of the nuclear age undoubtedly changed human history, and it's amazing to actually have the moment on camera. Less than a month later, the U.S. would drop the successfully tested plutonium atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing thousands but eventually bringing an end to WWII.

Not all moments in history are positive, and one of the most tragic in recent memory was the Challenger disaster of January 28, 1986. Seventeen years after man had first set foot on the moon, NASA launched the Challenger in order to put into orbit a satellite to collect information on Halley's Comet. There were a total of seven astronauts on board, including Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher and civilian.

McAuliffe was supposed to broadcast from space to inspire the millions of children back home to consider careers in science and technology. After several months of training, McAuliffe and the rest of the crew took off on a chilly January morning. Florida, normally known for its subtropical weather, was subject to a cold spell prior to the launch — which left the launch pad icy and dangerous.

This caused an O-ring to not fully seal during takeoff, which led to a leak that eventually caused the fuel tank to explode. The crew actually survived the explosion, but died from a lack of oxygen before crashing into the ocean. The event was broadcast live to the entire world, including the families of the astronauts, who watched in horror. The footage is still available and shows the destruction, as well as the initial confusion over what was happening. It was one of the most devastating moments in NASA history, and the footage will forever live in infamy. 

Long heralded as one of the most patriotic moments in American history, the raising of the U.S. flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima is truly an amazing spectacle to watch. Even though cameras were far from being widespread at the time and the battle was still going on, a few brave cameramen from the Marine Corps and Associated Press captured the moment on film. Joe Rosenthal with the AP took the now iconic photograph, and Sgt. William Homer Genaust of the Marines captured it on video.

Genaust used a 16mm moving picture camera that used color film inside to record the moment, and it is remarkably clear considering the circumstances it was shot under. Though he was never given the recognition of Rosenthal, Genaust's footage proved that Rosenthal's picture was authentic and not staged — a charge Rosenthal often had to defend against. Though it's brief, the video captures that very moment on February 23, 1945, when Marines Ira Hayes, Michael Strank, Harold "Pie" Keller, Harlon Block, Harold Schultz, and Franklin Sousley, raised the flag on Mount Suribachi.

Several of those Marines died during the battle, as did Genaust who was killed a few days after taking the photo while inspecting a cave. Genaust was just 37 years old when he was killed in action, but his timeless footage will live on forever.

For many years, the Berlin Wall stood as a symbol of oppression for millions in a divided Germany. A product of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), also known as East Germany, began construction on the wall in August 1961. The wall would eventually grow from makeshift barbed wire into a full fledged concrete barrier spanning 96 miles long. The GDR built the wall to stop the onslaught of East Germans fleeing into Allied Western Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).

Over the years, more than 170 people died trying to cross the Berlin border, while another 5,000 managed to sneak their way across in secret. Then, on November 9, 1989, in one of the biggest blunders in Soviet political history, the GDR accidentally announced the wall would be open again for free travel. Soon, thousands were pounding on the doors to exit the GDR, which authorities finally opened.

TV cameras from around the world captured what happened next, as thousands of Berliners flocked to the wall over the next few days, tearing it down and covering it with graffiti. It was shocking for the world to watch such debauchery and celebration on what was just hours earlier considered one of the most dangerous pieces of land in the world. Without the live broadcast it would have been impossible to believe in the West, and the footage is still remarkable today.

Looking back today, several decades removed from the Second World War, it's hard to imagine just how much destruction there was at the war's end. After six years of bombings, explosions, and urban combat, many areas became nothing but piles of bricks. While some combatants, like the United States, escaped the war without much domestic carnage, the same could not be said for the countries that participated in the land war on their own turf. From the Soviet Union to Britain, annihilation reigned supreme and countless structures and buildings were reduced to rubble.

Germany in particular was incredibly hard-hit, as it became the epicenter of the war in the final year. In addition to its destruction from tanks and soldiers, the Allies also concentrated a vicious bombing campaign on Germany, where they dropped more than 45,000 tons of bombs. A particularly devastating bombing happened on March 18, 1945, killing at least 3,000 civilians. In all, the Allies bombed Berlin more than 350 times.

The above footage taken from July 1945, just weeks after the fighting ended, shows the indescribable demolition. Basically every single building is destroyed or damaged in some way, and there are only the remnants of huge structures still looming over the city. Massive human chains formed around the city to clear out rubble and debris, while thousands of Allied soldiers drove around in jeeps. It's impossible to imagine the condition of Berlin without this footage, and it is incomparable to the modern city.

Even though they were two of the most important political leaders of the late 1950s, it's not too often that you see pictures of former American Vice President Richard Nixon and the former Premier of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev, together. There's a pretty good reason for that, as the Cold War between the two countries was raging. Yet, in 1959 they famously met each other in Moscow, and each took his chance at trying to embarrass the other. 

That year, the U.S. and Soviet Union opened dueling attractions in each other's countries, which were supposed to show the virtues of capitalism vs. communism. After the Soviet's opened their exhibition in New York City, Nixon traveled to Moscow to take part in the opening of the American exhibit. Khrushchev was there to show Nixon around, but what started as a simple conversation between leaders soon flared into a heated debate among rivals.

Incredibly, all of this was caught on film for posterity, and it is some wild footage. It almost looks like a comedy sketch, with Khrushchev trolling Nixon over America's alleged lack of progress, and Nixon retorting about the necessity of the "free exchange of ideas." The conversation finally ended with an uncomfortably long handshake, followed by a very jovial hand slap from Khrushchev. It's truly amazing to watch, and almost sounds implausible — until you see the footage.

On April 22, 1989, massive protests erupted in Beijing, China, at Tiananmen Square. They were driven by the funeral of Hu Yaobang, a former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official. Hu had been ousted from the government while advocating for economic changes to help the poor, causing a lot of anger among his supporters.

For the next month and a half following Hu's death, China was awash with anti-corruption protests, many of them centered at Tiananmen Square. The Chinese government met the protestors with incredible ferocity and violence, and by June 5 the government was completely in control of the area, threatening anyone who protested with death. Yet, amid the eerie emptiness of the square, a single man appeared looking like he was on his way to work just like any other day.

However, the man stopped in front of a line of tanks, preventing them from going any farther. He stood still as the tank driver at first was unsure of what to do, before running in front of the vehicle as the driver tried to maneuver around. With the sounds of machine guns in the background, the protestor briefly jumped on a tank, before two government officials hastily took him away. The name and fate of the protestor was never revealed by the government, leaving him to be known as Tank Man by most. It was an incredibly powerful moment during the 1989 protests, and would be impossible to believe without the video.

It might sound far-fetched, but since the 1870s there have been more than 236,000 professional baseball games played under the MLB banner. Of those 236,000 games, just 331 times has a pitcher thrown a no-hitter — a complete game without allowing a hit. And while some of them have been pretty impressive, including the 23 perfect games, none are quite as unbelievable and inspiring as Jim Abbott's from his time as a New York Yankee.

Abbott was a left-handed pitcher and former first-round draft pick of the California Angels, but that's not what made him unique. Abbott was born without a right hand. To field his position, Abbott would hold his glove with his right arm while pitching, and then he would quickly slip his left hand in after delivering the pitch. It was an extraordinarily complicated maneuver, but one Abbott made look graceful and easy.

Being a one-handed baseball player is already an amazing feat, but making it to the big leagues and pitching a no-hitter is almost incomprehensible. It happened on September 4, 1993, and he faced a potent Cleveland lineup that included future Hall of Famer Jim Thome. Though he walked a few batters he did not allow a hit, becoming one of just a special few pitchers to accomplish the feat. Luckily, the game was televised and the footage preserved, or else younger ball players might not even believe it happened. It still stands as one of baseball's most unforgettable moments.

Though it has been largely lost to history now, for a time in the 1930s the "Lambeth Walk" from the musical "Me and My Girl" was a very popular dance. While it might not have had the staying power of dances like the Charleston or the Lindy Hop, for a time it was incredibly popular, at least in America. Overseas in Nazi Germany it was another story, as the Nazis condemned the "Lambeth Walk" dance and falsely linked it with Jewish people.

That gave British official Charles A. Ridley an idea, and he soon transformed the song into a parody of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis called "Schichlegruber – Doing the Lambeth Walk." The movie was released in 1940 just as WWII was starting to rage, and it used footage from the Nazis' 1934 film "Triumph of the Will." Using primitive editing techniques, Ridley made it look like Nazi soldiers were playing drums and goose-stepping in rhythm with the song.

While it might seem like a relatively benign film in today's age of extreme CGI and video editing, at the time the video incensed Nazi officials who saw it, including Joseph Goebbels, who himself created the Nazis' own propaganda. Amazingly, the film has survived through today and is widely accessible. It's an incredible piece of history, and a very interesting watch today.

By the mid-1960s, The Beatles — who had started as a scrappy skiffle and rock & roll covers group in the bars of Liverpool and Hamburg at the start of the decade — were undoubtedly the biggest band in the world. Already maturing as artists, the songwriting abilities of John Lennon and Paul McCartney were already renowned, with the pair's compositions dominating the charts in records by a variety of artists on both sides of the Atlantic. And with the Fab Four making regular television appearances, world tours, and even blockbuster movies, Beatlemania had well and truly taken hold.

And nothing encapsulates the hysteria of that era quite like The Beatles' August 1965 concert at New York's Shea Stadium, where they performed a wild set of their hits for 56,000 delirious fans. Famously, the crowd's screaming was so loud that the musicians themselves were practically inaudible at times, but that didn't stop the performance from becoming legendary.

It was even a transcendent experience for the hard-working and road-weathered Beatles, especially John Lennon, who reportedly told friends that he "saw the top of the mountain" during the concert (via The Sonoma Index-Tribune). "I feel that on that show John cracked up. He went mad," Ringo Starr later recalled via "The Beatles Anthology." Though The Beatles returned to Shea Stadium the following year, increased security and organization meant that there was no replication of the concert that greeted the band on its venue debut. The Fab Four officially stopped touring in 1966, and only reunited for a private concert on the roof of the Apple Corps building in 1969, shortly before their split in 1970.

There have been countless breakthroughs in the world of astronomy and space exploration in recent decades, but little compares to the successful deployment by NASA of Perseverance, the rover that landed on Mars in February 2021 after more than half a year's voyage through the solar system. On successfully completing the journey and making it to Mars intact, scientists praised what would become a new era of space exploration on the Red Planet.

The famous grainy footage of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing on the moon in 1969 remains some of the most mind-boggling one could possibly watch, even today. But the recent images that were beamed to Earth from Perseverance offered a hitherto unbelievable insight into the surface of Mars, with the vivid color of the Red Planet and the dustiness of its surface reminding viewers strikingly that humanity really has encountered another world.

The rover is still operational, undertaking experiments as it explores the surface of Mars with the intention of collecting samples that will one day be brought back to Earth for further study.

The 2020 presidential election was one of the most brutal in American history, with the manner in which Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden were facing off against each other taking the headlines of the day. However, nothing during the campaign compares to what came after, with the election becoming notorious for Trump's failure to accept the result of the vote.

But this unprecedented postscript — which would culminate in the deadly riots at the Capitol building in Washington on January 6, 2021 — began with one of the most farcical political gaffes of all time. On November 7, 2020, Trump published a tweet stating that a press conference concerning the results of the election would take place at "Four Seasons, Philadelphia," which most people — Trump's team included — assumed meant the famous hotel. However, it soon became apparent that there had been some kind of miscommunication, and that someone backstage had actually booked Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a nondescript and otherwise anonymous business located between a sex shop and a crematorium.

But rather than reschedule or cancel the event, Trump's allies pushed on. And so later that day came live broadcasts of former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, then working as Trump's attorney, giving a bizarre press conference in front of a garden supply storage unit, outlining how the losing side planned to challenge the result of the vote. It was during this conference that Giuliani received confirmation that the election had been called for Biden, piling a final indignity on one of the most embarrassing moments in U.S. politics.