This past season of Flashback, we covered stories about unintended consequences in history, and we asked you, our loyal listeners, to send in some of your own stories on that theme, and you responded, so we wanted to devote a special bonus episode in order to share some of your wonderful submissions.
One of the landmark historical events that came up in several of our stories this season, from tales of Hitler's drug habits to the dangerous effects of phosphorus, was World War Two, and several of you pointed to some other interesting unintended consequences tied to that war. Alicia Downs, a history and anthropology major, wrote in to say she was in fact working on a scholarly paper on two of the biggest The first a major strategic blunder on the
part of the Nazis. At midday on June twenty two, the peoples of the U. S s I heard the news of fabled at warm in Germany. As Alicia writes, Germany made a vital error in invading Russia. As strong as Britain was, it wouldn't have survived a full scale invasion from Germany. Instead, Alicia says that by attacking one of the most populated countries Germany allowed Britain to regain its strength. The second was another big strategic blunder, this
time by Germany's ally Japan. Yesterday, the Sumba some nineteen one, a date which will live in infamy. United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by nabal on their coasces of the Empire of Japan. Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States had resisted getting involved
in the war Japan provoked a sleeping tiger. I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I said, but we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but we'll make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again and dangerous and as Ray Joseph points out, there were several other consequences of America's participation in that war. He writes, America exited World War Two with its infrastructure not only
intact but expanded well. Europe, Russia, and Asia were rebuilding their cities. America became an industrial powerhouse. It took these other countries decades to catch up. Thanks to the war America was able to make a massive technology grab, including grabbing some of the world's top scientists, especially from Germany, scientists who would help the US get to the Moon and more. And it doesn't stop there. That Stephen Martinez shares.
There were their unintended consequences of some of the projects launched by American scientists after the war. One of them was Project m k Ultra, the CIA program that used human subjects to experiment with mind control. Many of these unwitting subjects were found in prisons, asylums, and even top universities. One of the most famous victims of these experiments was reportedly a seventeen year old Harvard student named Ted Kazinski,
who would later become famous for something else. Federal agents have taken into custody a man they suspect as the UNI Bomber. Long before he became the unibomber, Kazinski volunteered for psychological study run by Dr Henry Murray, a Harvard professor employed by the CIA. Kazinski and other students were subjected to aggressive psychological interrogations designed to test their responses
to stress. Following the experiment, Kazinski became withdrawn and many scholars argue that this traumatic experience contributed to his alienation from society and ultimately his crimes. World War two was not the only war in which American involvement triggered some
unexpected consequences. Neil Stevens points out that US participation in World War One did as well, For example, the nine eighteen flu pandemic, which is believed to have been brought by American soldiers from Kansas to Europe, where the local outbreak was transmitted worldwide. This season on Flashback, we also told the stories of invasive species like kat zoo and the gypsy moth. We learned how introducing such species into
new environments had unleashed a torrent of unexpected consequences. One of our listeners, Phantom Writer five six three, points out another ecological introduction whose effects we are still living with, especially during allergy season. For decades, American urban planners have engaged in a form of botanical sexism, the decision to
plan only male trees along public streets and parks. Initially, this appears to have been an effort to avoid the seeds, pods, and other droppings from female trees, but of course male trees make something else pollen so now the male dominated city tree escape is one of the main reasons why pollen and paullen allergies have gotten so bad in recent decades.
Thanks again for listening and for sharing your thoughts, feedback and idea this past season, and you can continue to do so by emailing us at Flashback at AUSSI dot com. That's Flashback at oz y dot com. Please stay tuned to this feed for more bonus episodes on fateful moments from history in the weeks ahead. Flashback is written and hosted by me Sean Braswell, Senior writer and Executive producer at AUSSI. He was edited by Mayeve mcgorren and produced
by Tracy Murray in Chris haff engineered our show. Make sure to subscribe to Flashback on the I Heart Radio app or listen wherever you get your podcasts. M