10 Human Mistakes That Made the World Stand Still

10 Human Mistakes That Made the World Stand Still

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most consequential mistakes in history.

#10: The 2024 CrowdStrike Incident

Before July 19, 2024, few people had ever heard of CrowdStrike. It’s amazing how much damage just one day can do. CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity company based out of Austin, Texas that caused about $10 billion in damage on the morning of July 19. CrowdStrike made an update to its Falcon Sensor software, but a bug caused the software to crash. Systems running Microsoft Windows crashed, resulting in the largest outage in world history. The results were devastating and disrupted nearly all aspects of daily life, upending banks, hospitals, air transport, and retail. It just goes to show how fragile our tech-heavy existence truly is.

#9: Pickett’s Charge

Confederate General Robert E. Lee made the biggest mistake of his life on July 3, 1863 when he ordered his troops to charge on Cemetery Ridge. There were several flaws in Lee’s plan. Union General George G. Meade had anticipated Lee’s attack on the center of his lines, rather than the flanks, and concentrated his defenses there. The charge exposed Confederate soldiers to heavy artillery and rifle fire, and the army suffered catastrophic casualties. It effectively crippled the Confederate forces at Gettysburg and forced Lee to abandon the battle and retreat from the North. With this one simple charge, the tide of the American Civil War permanently shifted - all to the detriment of Lee and his forces.

#8: The Cedar Fire

Imagine accidentally starting a fire that burns over 270,000 acres of land and kills 15 people. The guilt would be unimaginable. Sergio Martinez was a novice hunter who got lost in the Cuyamaca Mountains of southern California in October 2003, and started a fire to signal potential rescuers. But the flames quickly spread to the nearby chaparral, and he lost control of the fire. The low humidity and Santa Ana winds exacerbated the destruction, and the fire burned through 273,000 acres of San Diego County. Nearly 3,000 buildings were destroyed and 15 people lost their lives. Martinez was given five years’ probation and 960 hours of community service.

#7: Germany Invades Russia

Back in 1812, Napoleon tried invading Russia. It didn’t work. Like, it really didn’t work. Over one hundred years later, Hitler made the same mistake, and to equally devastating results. The entire world watched with bated breath as Nazi Germany invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa. It was a catastrophic military blunder, owing mainly to insurmountable Soviet strength, the vastness of the territory, and the brutal winter conditions that crippled German forces. Despite having the largest invasion force in the history of warfare, Operation Barbarossa was a monumental failure. The Soviets successfully repelled the Germans, leading to massive casualties and ultimately turning the tide of World War II - and, for that matter, the entire 20th century.

#6: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

A multitude of factors went into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. A central mistake was the failure to correctly respond to the signs of impending disaster. Pressure tests indicated that the well was not properly sealed, but the readings were misinterpreted. This error was compounded by a rush to complete the drilling operation, driven largely by cost-cutting pressures, leading to the decision to proceed with the operation despite warning signs. The sequence of failures ultimately triggered the calamitous explosion that killed eleven people and sent 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

#5: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Before Deepwater Horizon, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was the largest in American history, dumping more than 10 million gallons into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. But this accident was far less complex and is attributed almost entirely to human error. Shortly after midnight on March 24, 1989, the tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef, puncturing eight of its eleven cargo holds. At the time, Captain Joe Hazelwood was below decks, sleeping off “two or three vodkas” he had consumed earlier. Furthermore, the crew was overworked and exhausted, contributing to third mate Gregory Cousins driving the vessel into the reef. Part of the blame also reportedly lay on the Exxon Shipping Company for failing to maintain the ship’s Collision Avoidance System.

#4: The Tenerife Airport Disaster

This disaster on Spain’s Canary Islands in March 1977 remains the deadliest accident in aviation history, costing 583 lives. Los Rodeos Airport was congested due to a bomb explosion at Gran Canaria. Exacerbating this was a dense fog rolling into the airport. KLM Flight 4805 took off in the fog and crashed into Pan Am Flight 1736, which was still taxiing on the runway. An investigation found that the accident resulted from critical miscommunication between KLM Captain Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten and air traffic control. Ambiguous and nonstandard wording led Veldhuyzen van Zanten to commence takeoff without proper clearance, resulting in the tragic collision.

#3: Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

Roughly 40 million people tuned in to watch NASA’s Challenger launch into space in 1986. Unfortunately, the launch was plagued by freezing temperatures. Engineers were worried that the cold could compromise the integrity of the O-ring seals in the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters. The cold made the rubber less resilient, leading to a weakened seal, which could allow hot gas to escape the booster. Engineers at SRB manufacturer Morton Thiokol recommended against launching, but after internal discussion, management gave the go-ahead. Challenger launched, and the O-ring failed just as predicted, causing the shuttle to break apart and killing all seven crew members.

#2: The Sinking of the Titanic

Numerous factors went into the sinking of the Titanic. The crew were warned of icebergs in the vicinity several times that fateful day on April 14, 1912, but these warnings were largely ignored. Not only that, but the Titanic was traveling at a reckless speed of 22.5 knots through the area, relying solely on the crow’s nest to spot impending obstacles. This was done mainly to bolster public image, as Atlantic liners had a reputation for being fast and on-time. As a result, ships often traveled at full speed and treated warnings as mere advisories. But in this case, the iceberg was spotted too late, and the ship was going too fast to avoid it. Roughly 1,500 people lost their lives.

#1: The Chernobyl Disaster

As anyone who watched the masterful HBO show would know, Chernobyl was an accident waiting to happen. And happen it did on the morning of April 26, 1986. The nuclear plant was ironically running a safety test and pushing the reactor to its limits. Unfortunately, operator errors and inadequate safety protocols caused a catastrophic surge in power inside of the reactor. This, combined with cheap building materials, led to a massive steam explosion, which ruptured the reactor vessel and released a substantial amount of radiation into the atmosphere. The disaster cost untold lives, damaged the surrounding area, and cost hundreds of billions of dollars, making it the costliest disaster in human history.

Do you remember where you were when you heard about these? Let us know in the comments below!