Seriously Factual
Documentaries are moving online! Journeyman is one of the world's leading doc distributors and we're offering you a chance to see the best documentaries before anyone else! Every week we have fresh new titles, often direct from the cutting room. Its so easy - click on a film and watch.Related
-
The Red Bomb - Episode 2Journeyman"Episode 2 - The End Of Innocence" -
The Red Bomb - SeriesJourneyman"The Red Bomb - The Complete Series"
-
The Emperor's Tram GirlsJourneyman"On the 6th of August each year, the girls who drove Hiroshima’s trams meet for a reunion at the Hiroshima Electric Railw."
-
The Rainbow WarriorJourneyman"The sinking of the Green Peace flagship by French Secret agents in 1985 would shame a nation. For the first time, we get to the bottom of the man behind the mission, the agents repeated blunders, and the nationwide cover-up that followed."
-
The Red Bomb - Episode 1Journeyman"Episode 1 - Stolen Secrets"
Featured
-
Scientology: The Ex-FilesJourneyman"Behind Scientology’s high celebrity profile lies an organisation on its knees. Speaking for the first time, a band of former elite members allege extreme cruelty, enforced abortion and slave labour."
-
Iraq's Secret War FilesJourneyman"The only TV doc to have advance access to the biggest Wikileaks release ever. This is what really happened during the Iraq war, not what the US PR machine of the time wanted us to believe. The reality behind the civilian death count; al-Qaedas fictitious"
-
BoardheadsJourneyman"Board sports define the tough, trendy, wild young kids who dice with death as they wow and surprise. But theres another side to the too cool for school boarding frenzy. Its about autistic children taking to surf boards, skateboards bringing sport and"
The Red Bomb - Episode 3Length: 50mins
Published: 30 Apr, 2012
Last Updated: 15 May, 2013
The Red Bomb chronicles Russia’s staggering transformation from lagging also-ran into nuclear superpower, as the USA and USSR battled it out for possession of the ultimate weapon.
By the time the Stalinist regime gives way to the era of Khrushchev, Russia and its rival are almost neck and neck. One war may be over, but another is just beginning. As rivalry deepens into outright hostility, can the quest to produce the ultimate atom bomb really be explained “in the name of peace”?
As the race accelerates, simple bomb tests are replaced by full-scale battle exercises and the spectre of nuclear war looms ever closer. The Soviets are plundering Czechoslovakian mines for their rich uranium reserves, and Russia upgrades its nuclear facilities, making Arzamas-16 and Semipalatinsk-21 into model cities for nuclear scientists and their families – furnished with dream homes, luxury shops and good schools (though the cities are untraceable on the map, and their inhabitants have no address). Archive footage of an imitation battle gives a hint of the war that never was – though most of the “sacrificies” are sheep and horses, stationed in the trenches in the name of military research. The Red Army evacuate farmers out of the chosen patch of countryside, allowing them to return a few days later, with nuclear dust still hanging in the air. (In the ensuing years, the local hospital saw a huge increase in tumour patients – a trend that the government did its utmost to conceal.)
As veterans revisit the scenes of their former labours – now snow-covered concrete shells, green meadows or deserted plains – their tales of noise, smoke and indescribable heat are hard to imagine. Russia’s first nuclear bomber describes the view – and the terrible shocks – from the cockpit. A soldier explores the ruins of the houses he built for the purpose of destruction. Former political prisoners from the Czech mines reunite and re-enact the gulag chain-gang march.
This final episode addresses the legacy of the Red Bomb, and the steady stream of scientists who became disenchanted with the project after seeing the potential devastation it could cause.
Episode 1.
Episode 2.
Series Link.
By the time the Stalinist regime gives way to the era of Khrushchev, Russia and its rival are almost neck and neck. One war may be over, but another is just beginning. As rivalry deepens into outright hostility, can the quest to produce the ultimate atom bomb really be explained “in the name of peace”?
As the race accelerates, simple bomb tests are replaced by full-scale battle exercises and the spectre of nuclear war looms ever closer. The Soviets are plundering Czechoslovakian mines for their rich uranium reserves, and Russia upgrades its nuclear facilities, making Arzamas-16 and Semipalatinsk-21 into model cities for nuclear scientists and their families – furnished with dream homes, luxury shops and good schools (though the cities are untraceable on the map, and their inhabitants have no address). Archive footage of an imitation battle gives a hint of the war that never was – though most of the “sacrificies” are sheep and horses, stationed in the trenches in the name of military research. The Red Army evacuate farmers out of the chosen patch of countryside, allowing them to return a few days later, with nuclear dust still hanging in the air. (In the ensuing years, the local hospital saw a huge increase in tumour patients – a trend that the government did its utmost to conceal.)
As veterans revisit the scenes of their former labours – now snow-covered concrete shells, green meadows or deserted plains – their tales of noise, smoke and indescribable heat are hard to imagine. Russia’s first nuclear bomber describes the view – and the terrible shocks – from the cockpit. A soldier explores the ruins of the houses he built for the purpose of destruction. Former political prisoners from the Czech mines reunite and re-enact the gulag chain-gang march.
This final episode addresses the legacy of the Red Bomb, and the steady stream of scientists who became disenchanted with the project after seeing the potential devastation it could cause.
Episode 1.
Episode 2.
Series Link.
Comments