Across the world, silo doors slide open, missiles roar to life, and streak into the sky, signaling the beginning of the end. In a single world shattering moment, every nuclear power on Earth has made the same deadly decision. To unleash their full arsenals and throw open the gates to Doomsday. This is what the most destructive day in human history would look like. Doomsday. 0 hours, 0 minutes, 1 second. In the first second of doomsday, encrypted communications link the leaders of Earth's nine nuclear armed states to their military command launch authorities. In the United States, the president grips the nuclear football, establishing direct contact with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Through him, the connection extends to the National Military Command Center or NMCC at the Pentagon, the nerve center of America's nuclear arsenal. Staffed by the Department of the Air Force, the NMCC is how the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President relay orders to the American battlefield commanders across the globe. The president authenticates himself utilizing the biscuit, a laminated card encased in plastic, which contains authentication codes. This ensures that the man issuing the nuclear launch order is the commander-in-chief himself. Inside of the nuclear football is a black box listing of different attack options relating to the use of the nation's nuclear arsenal. Some of these options call for limited strikes, but the main three options are counterforce strike, countervalue strike, and global strike. Counterforce and countervalue strike options include the options to target the United States's two chief military rivals, China and Russia, with two entirely different sets of attacks. Counterforce is focused on neutralizing an enemy's ability to strike back. It targets missile fields, air defense radar sites, military communications hubs, and key installations including army bases, naval ports, airfields, and submarine facilities. Countervalue strikes are focused solely on destroying the economic and cultural centers of an enemy nation. This can range from limited to full strike options. For example, if there's an attack on an American city, the president might order a countervalue strike on two enemy cities in retaliation. or the president can order a full countervalue strike, eliminating enemy cities, economic and transportation hubs, and major infrastructure such as dams. Today, the president selects global strike, the ultimate doomsday scenario plan. This instructs the United States military to carry out a full-scale nuclear attack on all of America's nuclear threats, including Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan. But the list changes with the tides of geopolitics. The president is presented with a challenge code to which he must respond with the proper counter code on the biscuit to ensure continuity in the event of sabotage or an attack on the Pentagon. The authenticated launch order is simultaneously relayed to multiple command centers. The alternate national military command center deep within Raven Rock Mountain, Pennsylvania receives the transmission serving as a secure backup. Meanwhile, an airborne command post remains on standby, ensuring the order can be executed under any circumstances. Now, the attack order itself is prepared for execution by the senior officer in charge at either the National Military Command Center or the alternate center. An emergency war is formed containing the full details of the president's chosen attack plan. It includes designated targets, launch times, authentication codes to verify the order and the unlock codes required to fire missiles from all three legs of America's nuclear triad. The emergency war order is authenticated by a second officer before being transmitted as an emergency action message or EAM around the world. The EAM is transmitted through the highfrequency global communication system, a vast network linking US military forces across the globe. This system ensures that launch orders reach ground stations, naval vessels and aircraft in flight, guaranteeing seamless coordination. The stations span the planet from mainland US to Guam to Ascension Island, Portugal, Italy, and Japan. While Britain's nuclear weapons remain sovereign, their submarine launched intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal capable of striking 512 targets is integrated into the US global strike plan. In the event of a full-scale nuclear exchange, these British warheads are incorporated into a coordinated NATO attack, ensuring maximum strategic impact. So the EAM is also relayed to British authorities who review and then proceed to relay their own orders to their at sea submarines to join in the attack. Despite only being a fraction of the size of the US arsenal, they still represent an important part of a US global strike plan. Doomsday 5 minutes. The first ICBMs in Russia, China, and the US are now leaving their silos. On average, it takes 5 minutes for an EM to be authenticated, delivered, reauthenticated, and then implemented. American silos use a two-man rule where two controllers must agree to launch their assigned weapons. This is meant to prevent sabotage or an act of insanity. However, in case both launch officers refuse to perform their duty, the weapons can be remote launched by an airborne command post. At Office Air Force Base in Nebraska, America's first airborne command post is just now taking to the skies. The crew remains on constant alert, ready to launch at a moment's notice. But for many additional aircraft, time is running out. Some will manage to take to the sky while others will be caught on the ground, wiped out alongside their air bases as nuclear fire consumes the runways. Across the military, personnel scramble to return to duty. But for many, it's already too late. Inside missile silos, ICBMs are firing their first stage rocket motors and their inertial guidance systems activate. They already have a pre-programmed flight route and will use GPS to ensure accuracy. But in case of enemy attack on these systems, they can rely on inertial guidance to achieve a high degree of accuracy. With each warhead set to maximum yield, accuracy is a subjective matter. Doomsday, 6 minutes. Approximately 800 intercontinental nuclear ballistic missiles are in flight from Russia and the United States. 60 seconds into their flight, the first stage boosters burn out and detach, the second stage motor igniting. The missiles are now entering into space, moving at nearly 15,000 mph. This number is the textbook figure taking into account the 760 or so estimated Russian ICBMs kept in ready launch configuration. However, the real amount is almost certainly far lower than that. To understand why, we have to look at current events. In the first 6 months of the Ukraine war, US intelligence estimated that only about 17% of Russian missile strikes were successfully reaching their intended targets each day. The rest were experiencing malfunctions, either not firing at all, destroying themselves in flight, or being extremely inaccurate. It wasn't until Russia used up most of its pre-war inventory and was forced to use newly produced missiles that reliability rates increased. This is indicative of the poor state of storage and maintenance that is endemic to the Russian military due to unprofessionalism and widespread corruption. The Russian military has a rich culture of corruption that extends up and down the chain of command from the lowest soldier. If Russia's most frequently used weapons were failing at such an alarming rate, it stands to reason that its least used weapons, nuclear missiles, would suffer even worse reliability issues. Given this, we can reasonably estimate that around 20% of Russian ICBMs would successfully launch, stay on course, and reach their intended targets. Chinese nuclear forces, meanwhile, are scrambling to mate warheads to missiles. The nation has a no firstuse policy, meaning their missiles are kept in a low state of readiness. nuclear deterrent strategy relies on surviving a first strike. Its land-based missile fields serve as missile sponges, absorbing incoming attacks, while its fleet of submarines armed with 72 nuclear missiles guarantees retaliation. Doomsday, 8 minutes. Within 8 minutes, various things are happening in nuclear powers around the world. In North Korea, Kim Jong-un is being rushed to an underground shelter along with his most senior staff. North Korea doesn't know if it's being targeted by American weapons stationed in silos or submarines. This means it's impossible to predict how much time they have to get to safety. If they're being targeted by submarines, they might have less than 10 minutes before the first Trident 2s begin delivering weapons to North Korean targets. But if the US is using mainland ICBMs, they could have just over 20 minutes to seek shelter. Their own weapons are being rolled out of mountain shelters and prepared for launch on massive erector vehicles. North Korea's missile launch process will take up to 30 minutes, but intelligence estimates that the rugged terrain of its mountainous regions suggests that most launch vehicles will survive long enough to fire. Even now, South Korean alert aircraft are taking off on a hunt for those erector launchers. In Israel, the nation is rushing to pair nuclear cruise missiles to alert aircraft. Israel will target Iran with its nuclear weapons, destroying the nation's nuclear infrastructure, major bases, and airfields. Its limited arsenal is largely meant to be a deterrent in case of war given the nation's precarious tactical position where a single major defeat could open the door to full occupation. Nuclear weapons serve as the ultimate safeguard against total collapse. French alert aircraft are taking off from airfields around the country. While most aircraft are being rushed and prepared for mating with nuclear weapons, France operates a nuclear capability independent of the United States, wary of being too dependent on the unpredictable ally. French nuclear war plans thus don't necessarily align with American or British plans, though their targets are all inside the Russian Federation. Doomsday, 9 minutes. In space, American and Russian ICBMs fire their third stage motors, lifting each missile to a height of 750 to 930 mi above the planet depending on their individual trajectory. The re-entry vehicle on each missile separates from the main body and deploys decoys and countermeasures to confuse enemy defenses. After a brief burn of the third stage motor, the re-entry vehicle uses control thrusters to make small, precise adjustments to its course. The missiles will now coast for up to 20 minutes before making re-entry. At this point, various missile defense attempts will be made, especially by the US Navy and shore-based missile defense network. However, with the deployment of countermeasures and decoys, the saturation attack means the vast majority of missiles will penetrate to reach their targets. Doomsday, 15 minutes. By the 15-minute mark, alert aircraft from Russia, the United States, France, and Israel are already in the air. The first North Korean missiles are also being fired. Iran is rushing to mate warheads to missiles, but their airfields will never survive the incoming Israeli strikes. Pakistan has fired its first nuclear tipped missiles aimed at Indian military bases along its border. India is just now preparing its own ballistic missiles for launch due to its no first use policy, but the bulk of its arsenal will take as much as hours to prepare for attack. India's nuclear armed missiles are moving into firing positions to strike into either Pakistan or China with the nation dividing its nuclear focus between the two regional adversaries. American, British, French, Russian, and Chinese submarines are now preparing their own launches. With longer range missiles, they don't need to move into position and can reach their targets from regular patrol routes around the world. French submarines fire their 64 M51 missiles, each carrying up to 10 warheads, allowing them to hit as many as 640 Russian targets. Despite being independent of US war plans, the French are aware of the US and UK nuclear response and thus reducing overlap in targeting. Fired from the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Arctic Ocean, French and British submarine launched missiles will be the first to reach their targets, likely to be Russia's vast missile fields. The goal is to eliminate the majority of Russian ICBMs while they're still in their silos under a normal attack. However, in this case, they'll simply be destroying mostly empty silos or silos with missiles that failed to launch. UK and American submarines carry Trident 2 nuclear missiles, the most devastating weapon on the planet. With 12 independently targetable nuclear warheads, the missiles can deliver total devastation on a footprint estimated to be several hundred miles in diameter. 336 American Trident 2 missiles along with 58 British Trident 2s are fired only a few hundred miles from the Russian coastline, allowing them to be the first weapons to reach their targets. These missiles will destroy Russian air defense radars, strategic bomber bases, and bases that house and maintain Russia's fleet of road mobile ICBM launchers. In a normal scenario, this would lead to the destruction of all of Russia's non-deployed road mobile launchers, but these two have already been fired in this ultimate doomsday scenario. Doomsday, 22 minutes. The first Trident 2 missiles are reaching their targets, devastating Russian missile fields and air bases. Most of Russia's strategic bombers will never get off the ground with only a few kept on alert. The rest require recalling their crews and hurriedly arming them with nuclear weapons, a process that can take hours. Doomsday, 24 minutes. The first Russian submarine launched nuclear missiles are reaching their targets in the northern and western United States. Just like Russian bombers, most of America's strategic bombers are destroyed before being launched as only a small number are kept on constant alert status. However, the widely dispersed nature of US forces makes it extremely difficult to destroy large amounts of the US airfleet in even a full-scale attack scenario, especially given the estimated failure rate of Russian missiles, which could reach as high as 80%. Doomsday, 30 minutes. American airborne command posts are on patrol, one over the West Coast, one over the central US, and a third over the Atlantic. The president is aboard Air Force One and currently well out to sea over the Atlantic, escaping Washington DC. As a priority target, Washington DC is targeted by dozens of independent missiles, ensuring the destruction of the capital despite failure rates of Russian weapons and US missile defenses. By now though, most of the senior elements of the US government have already fled the city. Civilians have been rushed into Cold War era bunkers, but these have mostly fallen into disrepair due to the end of the Soviet nuclear threat. Likewise, across the country, American civilians have few places to shelter from the nuclear devastation about to rain down on them. The first Russian weapons and Chinese submarine launched missiles strike their targets in the US. Due to a separation of war plans, the Russians and Chinese do not coordinate their strikes, leading to overlap of critical targets such as Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and other major cities. This dramatically increases casualties in those areas, though the Chinese submarine arsenal is limited. In China, American ICBMs begin to rain down on their missile fields. Chinese missile fields are targeted by US ICBMs rather than faster submarine launched weapons. Also, due to the low number of Chinese weapons, the bulk of America's initial nuclear attack is aimed at Russia. With 80% of US ready weapons being aimed at the Russian Federation, missile fields, airfields, submarine docks, and naval bases across Russia go up in nuclear fire set to maximum yield. American weapons either explode in ground or air burst configuration depending on the target. For missile fields, the weapons are set to ground burst, which delivers the maximum amount of kinetic energy to the hardened missile silos. The same goes for Russian naval ports in the Pacific and especially at submarine bases. These explosions vaporize massive amounts of debris and rock, which in turn becomes a deadly fog of radioactive particles. This ensures that these facilities are not just mostly destroyed but out of commission without a full-scale cleanup effort first. Russian and American cities, however, experience air burst detonations. This increases the lethality of a nuclear weapon by avoiding the absorption of blast energy through terrain and buildings. Instead, detonating almost 1300 ft above the city. The nuclear bomb creates a massive shock wave that travels unimpeded. However, it also generates a secondary shock wave that rebounds off the ground, surging outward and merging with the initial blast. The two waves combine, amplifying the force and expanding the destructive energy even further. Over 200 million people die in the initial nuclear attacks, vaporized instantly or suffering victim to thirdderee burns and structural collapses. Russian submarine launched missiles are kept in better condition than their ICBMs, and they have a higher reliability rate. With multiple warheads per missile, they blanket American cities and military bases in a wave of destruction hundreds of miles in diameter. This radius represents the missile's total footprint, the vast area where it can disperse its warheads as they streak through space. With no propulsion of their own, each warhead relies solely on precisely timed thrusters to separate from the delivery vehicle. However, the warheads are precisely targeted so that their destructive efforts only overlap over critical targets such as airfields. Multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles or MIRV weapons on all sides make use of a phenomenon where the successive close by nuclear detonations create massive firestorms that can spread swiftly across vast areas. The real destruction from their impacts isn't just the initial detonation, but the city-sized firestorms that grow in intensity over time and will take days or weeks to fully extinguish. As a full-scale strike that combines countervalue and counterforce targets, both sides unleash destruction on an unprecedented scale. Major cities are reduced to rubble. Strategic air bases are obliterated and keyport facilities vanish in firestorms. Submarine bases critical for rearming nuclear equipped subs at sea are wiped out along with industrial and economic hubs. Nuclear weapon storage sites, research centers, and production facilities are systematically targeted, ensuring no possibility of recovery. The goal is not just to destroy the enemy's ability to use his existing nuclear weapons. It is to ensure that the enemy is incapable of using its reserve inventory of nuclear weapons as well as destroying the ability to design and construct future nuclear weapons. It is an allout attempt to permanently destroy a nation's ability to ever field nuclear weapons again. This is also why both Russia and the US keep a secret reserve of nuclear weapons and extremely wellprotected sites, anticipating that a full-scale nuclear exchange would lead to near total, if not complete collapse of their military forces. Both the US and Russia have a contingency in place. A secret stockpile of nuclear weapons is reserved not for immediate use but as a safeguard against future conventional threats. If either nation survives the initial devastation, these remaining warheads would serve as a last line of defense, ensuring deterrence while they attempt to rebuild and rearm. If they can still function as a nation state amid the chaos, nuclear weapons are not just used to secure today. They're also planned to be used in a number of post-apocalypse wars that might spring up. It ensures that despite being completely devastated, a surviving US or Russia still remains a major regional player. Doomsday, 32 minutes. The destruction of European cities is well underway as secondary targets to America's military infrastructure. Europe still benefits from US military hegemony. Even in nuclear war, this strategic buffer buys precious minutes for people to seek shelter. Nonetheless, though, shorter range Russian weapons, especially from road mobile launchers, are creating a carpet of destruction across Western Europe. Cities across the UK, France, Spain, Germany, and Poland, go up in nuclear fire. Turkey too receives its fair share of nuclear wrath thanks to their basing of US nuclear weapons on their territory. However, across Europe, fighters and strategic bombers are already in flight with shorter range nuclear cruise missiles and even gravity bombs. Likewise, a portion of the Russian air force is on its way to Western Europe. Doomsday 1 hour. As we get to the first hour of Doomsday, despite most of the northern hemisphere's major cities being completely destroyed, global nuclear war is still well underway. F-16s from Turkey began dropping American nuclear bombs on southern Russia. French, British, and American aircraft launch nuclear tipped cruise missiles deep into Russia to strike secondary targets. American F-16s flying out of Ramstein air base in Germany carry gravity bombs. The crew must wear special eye protection as they fly through Russian airspace on a strike corridor, experiencing nuclear detonations approximately once every 3 minutes. Some of the F-16s must strike targets that are so deep in Russia, the aircraft will not have the fuel needed to return to base. These pilots will need to try to find friendly airfields in Eastern Europe or take their chances ditching the aircraft. Both sides air forces will struggle to defend from incoming nuclear air strikes thanks to the destruction of air defense radar sites across Europe and Russia. Even satellites are proving unreliable due to the use of a Russian nuclear anti-satellite weapon which has disabled satellites belonging to every country on Earth. India is finally carrying out a large-scale nuclear retaliation against Pakistan. Though a portion of its submarine-based missiles and air launched missiles target China, Pakistan sees its capital leveled along with dams, airfields, and military bases. Due to Pakistan's small nuclear arsenal, most of India's own arsenal managed to survive. India will carry out nuclear strikes against Pakistan for as long as 48 hours as more and more weapons are mated with warheads and prepared for use. Pakistan likewise retaliates as it too makes more missiles to warheads. But the momentum is with India and their numerically and technologically superior arsenal. Of the two nations, India fares best, at least until Chinese strategic bombers begin their own campaign against Indian cities and military bases. However, Chinese airfields are themselves targeted by a number of American first strikes, slowing their response. With Russia the greater priority though, China is relegated to second strike priority by American strategic bombers, a number of which are already on their way. In the Middle East, Israeli nuclear bombs destroy Thrron and key military and missile sites in the nation. Using Americanmade deep penetrating munitions, Israel's able to destroy a number of deeply buried Iranian missile bases before they can launch a large-scale retaliatory conventional attack. Due to the chaos of global military war and Israel's defenses, as well as the defenses of regional partners such as Jordan, Iran's attempts to attack Israel with conventional missile strikes largely fail. Doomsday, 3 hours. 3 hours into doomsday and the first American strategic bombers began to penetrate Chinese airspace. Chinese nuclear missiles have devastated Guam and Diego Garcia from where the US could launch nuclear armed aircraft. But the US was able to launch a number of aircraft first. With Russia bearing the brunt of America's ICBM and submarine launched missiles, the US utilizes its strategic bombers to destroy Chinese targets. China will take as much as hours to mate warheads to weapons, giving time for longrange air launched nuclear cruise missiles to reach their targets before that happens. These long range strikes are launched from B-52 aircraft. But B2 bombers slip in much closer to deliver both cruise missiles and gravity bomb attacks against Chinese civilian and military targets. Beijing and Shanghai are destroyed and the destruction of the Three Gorges dam with a nuclear attack leads to a massive flood as billions of gallons of water are suddenly released. The on-rushing wall of water smashes into Yang and continues down the Yangze River, killing millions as the inland tsunami makes its way all the way to the sea hundreds of miles away. It's the most catastrophic flooding event in human history. Over the Arctic, Russian bombers began firing their own long-range nuclear tipped cruise missiles. These missiles have ranges up to 2100 m, allowing them to reach the continental US. These attacks have a counter value and counterforce element, hitting at American military bases, but also destroying the vast swaths of the American Midwest. The target seemed to have little value, at least at first, as massive swats of farmland is destroyed with ground burst detonations that irradiate trillions of tons of soil. However, the value of Russia strikes against the American Midwest will be revealed in the days and weeks to come. The United States grows much of the world's wheat to the point that it's known as the world's bread basket. This farmland has now been hopelessly poisoned. ground burst detonations creating fallout that will spread across the region and taint farms not directly affected by nuclear strikes. The point is to starve the United States by poisoning its pantry. With Earth already scarred by nuclear fire, this ensures that hunger, not just radiation, will bring the nation to its knees. Doomsday, 8 hours. The reign of strategic nuclear strikes continue as those aircraft which were able to get into the sky penetrate deeper into enemy territory. These aircraft are targeting second and third tier targets such as academic centers or even cities themselves. Many populations who thought they were safe from the nuclear Armageddon soon realize how wrong they were. Mushroom clouds appear on the horizon from this last element of strategic bombers. India and Pakistan both continue their nuclear war though as both nations bring more weapons to a ready state. Doomsday 24 hours. As the world ends its first day of nuclear war, things are mostly silent. Nuclear strikes have ceased across the world as stockpiles are either exhausted, destroyed, or their delivery methods are destroyed. Mass migrations out of cities are in full swing. Even cities that haven't been targeted are gripped by fear, convinced that they will be next in another wave of nuclear attacks. Theoretically, most of America's military infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian and Chinese strikes. In reality, due to the almost certain state of readiness of Russian missiles, much of American capabilities remain intact. The US spends between 30 and $40 billion every year maintaining its nuclear weapons, which is almost the size of the entire Russian defense budget before the Ukraine war. With Russia claiming to have a nuclear stockpile larger than that of the US, there's simply no realistic way they could maintain as many weapons at full readiness. China, meanwhile, is believed to have a greater readiness. But the nation, too, has a rich history of corruption to consider. Even more alarmingly, China has recently experienced a massive scandal, specifically with its nuclear forces. Between 2023 and early 2025, President Xi conducted purges of senior officials from the People's Liberation Army rocket forces. Details remain scarce thanks to Chinese secrecy, but it's believed that a number of missiles were not in a ready state, and even more importantly that a large number of lids, which cover missile silos, were discovered to be defective. This falls in line with China's large-scale corruption within its construction industry, resulting in the Chinese people disparagingly calling tofu drag construction projects that are poorly built, resulting in serious safety risks. Given a similar history of corruption and revelations that China also may be neglecting its nuclear weapons, the likelihood that a large amount of US infrastructure survives is high. This means that after the first day of nuclear war, the United States continues using its strategic bomber forces to deliver further nuclear attacks. In any normal situation, these attacks would likely receive global condemnation. But the US still has a job to do in eliminating the possibility of Russia and China utilizing either nuclear or conventional force in future hostilities. Just because the world is headed for total collapse, it doesn't mean there aren't things like critical food and water resources left to fight over. US bombers continue to strike, especially at Chinese targets which were lower priority the first day of fighting. Chinese cities important to its economy or industry are destroyed in nuclear blasts, as are Chinese nuclear laboratories, manufacturing, and design facilities. The US aims to ensure that a post-apocalyptic China like Russia cannot develop or use nuclear weapons ever again. Day seven after doomsday. After the first week of nuclear war, the world is finally silent. Over 4,000 nuclear strikes have been carried out. All of the world's major militaries are in ruins. Massigration events have begun in earnest with Europeans fleeing south to Africa. While the Chinese seek to shelter inland and south of their own border, the US too joins in the global exodus to the southern hemisphere. All across the US Mexico border, the largest reverse illegal immigration event in history has begun. Remnants of the US military as well as a heavily armed American population enter into Mexico and move further south, but most will never make it as nuclear strikes across the American heartland have created massive radiation storms. Earth's weather patterns are drastically altered due to massive cooling brought on by the injection of massive amounts of debris into the atmosphere. The destruction of so many cities and the materials used in their construction has added so much debris and smoke into the atmosphere that temperatures have already dropped across the world. Sunlight has been cut in half leading to a dramatic drop in productivity for crops in the southern hemisphere which has been largely untouched by nuclear strikes. Extreme weather helps to feed massive continent spanning super fires. The heat from these fires itself only adds to the extremity of the weather, resulting in supercell radiation storms that tear across the American Midwest and down south toward Mexico. Everyone caught in one is poisoned thanks to the radioactive dust carried by the storms. The massive dust clouds themselves get lifted high up into the atmosphere. Once their high-speed atmospheric winds help spread them around the planet, reaching as far south as Australia, the entire world races south to find salvation from the radioactive storms, leading to a historical outbreak of global violence. The radiation storms ultimately won't reach everywhere, but survivors will still face a lengthy period of global cooling lasting a few years, leading to global crop collapse. Radiation that will take decades to reach tolerable levels poisons humanity's survivors. In the end, small groups may survive doomsday, but they will inherit a world so poisoned it'll take thousands of years to make it liveable again. What do you think would happen if every country unleashed its nuclear arsenal? Would any part of the world survive, or would humanity be doomed? Let us know in the comments. Now, go check out how to survive a nuclear explosion or click on this other video instead.