Last Minute Decisions that Changed History

Whether it’s changing your jacket just before you leave the house, or booking a spontaneous weekend getaway, we make last minute decisions every single day. But, crazy as it sounds, did you know there are some eleventh hour calls that have literally changed the course of history? From a last-second change of personnel that cost over 1,500 people their lives, to one wrong turn that caused one of the world’s deadliest wars, let's discover some of the craziest last-minute decisions that changed history.

The Key That Could Have Saved The Titanic

The Titanic has gone down as the most infamous shipwreck in history. And it’s no wonder, with more than 1,500 passengers tragically losing their lives, as the near 900-foot long cruise liner crashed into a giant iceberg in April 1912. But well-known as the Titanic is, little is known about the fact the ship was doomed by a last-minute change of personnel.

Shortly before the ship embarked on its journey from Southampton to New York, an officer shake up from the White Star Line meant the second officer, David Blair, was swapped out with Charles Lightoller. Well, as he was removed from his position, Blair accidentally carried a crucial key off the ship with him.

Blair, in his rush to leave, had unwittingly taken with him the key to a locker containing binoculars for the ship’s lookout! For the first four days of the Titanic’s voyage, no-one even noticed the key was missing. However, that all changed on the night of April 14th. As the Titanic sailed its way towards an iceberg, the ship’s lookout, Frederick Fleet, was none the wiser.

After all, there were foggy conditions, and of course, he couldn’t get his hands on the binoculars. It wasn’t until the Titanic was bearing down on the iceberg that Fleet noticed it. Immediately, the ship’s engines were stopped, as the captain attempted to steer the vessel around. But, given the distance to the iceberg, disaster was inevitable.

Just moments later, the Titanic struck the 400-foot long iceberg, sending the supposedly unsinkable ship and most of its passengers down into the Atlantic Ocean. At an official U.S inquiry following the shipwreck, Frederick Fleet stated that had he had access to the binoculars, he reckoned he’d have been able to see the iceberg earlier, allowing the Titanic to avert the collision. Overall, the Titanic disaster could’ve all been avoided if Blair had just bothered to check his pockets!

Mahalia Jackson Prompts Martin Luther King’s Speech

Martin Luther King Jr. is heralded as a legendary social rights activist, leading the civil rights movement in an attempt to end racial segregation in the United States during the 1950s and 60s. His most recognized moment came in August 1963, while speaking in front of 250,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.

King delivered his famous "I have a dream speech". Yet those four words nearly weren’t muttered at all, if it wasn’t for a last-second change of plans. King has used the phrase "I have a dream" in several speeches at least nine months before. However, his advisors discouraged him from repeating the phrase, thinking it was too cliché.

So, during the first few minutes of his speech in Washington DC, King read off his notes in a formal format. Then, during a brief 10-second pause, came the moment that changed history. During the silence, King’s close friend, singer Mahalia Jackson, shouted, "tell ‘em about the dream, Martin."

Presumably, he heard the message, as almost instantly he rousingly delivered the famous segment. The stirring speech was an instant success, captivating the millions of people who heard it. In fact, so captivating was King’s speech, within two years the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were passed, both of which were pivotal in the fight for racial equality in the U. S. Who knows what would’ve happened if Mahalia Jackson didn’t tell King to talk about the dream?

The Speech That Saved Theodore Roosevelt's Life

After serving as the 26th President of the United States from 1901-1909, Theodore Roosevelt fancied another stab at the whole presidency gig, putting himself in the running for the 1912 election. In an attempt to sway votes, Roosevelt gave a speech at the Milwaukee Auditorium. His first words were uninspiring: Friends, I shall ask you to be quiet as possible. Then, he shocked the audience: I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot.

He then unbuttoned his vest to reveal a bloodstained shirt underneath. Turns out, as he made his way to the auditorium, he was shot in the chest from a would-be assassin standing just a few feet away. Somehow, Roosevelt finished his 90-minute speech before receiving medical attention.

The question is, how? How could he survive an hour with a gunshot wound? As much as it'd be fun to imply that Theodore Roosevelt was The Terminator, it turns out a last-minute stroke of fortune saved his life. Tucked into his breast pocket was his folded 50-page speech, along with a metal eyeglass case.

Presumably, just before rushing out of his hotel room for the auditorium, Roosevelt folded up his speech and placed it into his breast pocket. Together, the folded paper, and metal eyeglass case absorbed the bullet’s impact, meaning the ammunition only reached his fourth right rib, failing to penetrate any of his vital organs, saving his life.

John Parker: Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard

On the topic of presidents, that brings us onto Abraham Lincoln, one of America’s most influential figures. But arguably, what Lincoln is most remembered for is his tragic end. After Lincoln’s Union forces won the American Civil War over the Confederate south in 1865, the President knew he was a wanted man.

Despite that, both Lincoln and general of the Union army, Ulysses S. Grant, were due to watch a play at the Ford’s Theater less than a week after they’d won the war. However, at the last minute, Grant had a change of heart. It turned out his wife had fallen out with the First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, so neither decided to go. In truth, Lincoln was reluctant to go himself. Even reportedly saying "I know I am in danger". Clearly, Abe was weighing up whether to go right up till the last minute.

Yet Lincoln, seeing that the newspapers announced his attendance, felt obliged to go, not wanting to let down the general public. For some reason, Lincoln felt confident enough to send his closest bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, on an assignment in Richmond just one day before the President’s visit to the theater. In his absence, Lamon warned Lincoln not to go out at night when he was gone, particularly to the theater. Not that the president listened.

On April 14th, just before the play began, Lincoln and his wife got seated in their box. John Parker was the bodyguard drafted in. Parker was seated outside Lincoln’s box. But, from his position, he couldn’t see the stage, so he apparently decided to move to the gallery to watch the play.

At intermission, Parker made another, even bigger blunder, deciding it was a good idea to head to a nearby saloon for some drinks. Thanks to Parker’s rash decision Lincoln, who was already a high-risk target, was left unprotected in his box. And John Wilkes Booth was able to walk into Lincoln’s box untroubled, before pulling out his pistol and taking out the President. One of America’s most tragic tales, which all came down to a bunch of last-minute decisions!

Johann Rall & The Unopened Letter

Nearly 100 years before Lincoln’s avoidable demise, the fate of the United States was altered by yet another eleventh hour event. From 1775 to 1783, the country was gripped by the American Revolutionary War where American Patriot forces, commanded by George Washington, were battling it out with the British Army.

By the end of 1776, the British forces had the upper-hand, and were driving Washington and his troops south. Low on ammunition, supplies and food, Washington planned a daring assault in December 1776. On 25th December, Washington along with over 2,000 troops, improbably crossed the icy Delaware River.

There was a problem, though. A local, who was sympathetic to the British cause, spotted the American troops. On the night of December 25th, Johan Rall, a German Colonel given command of a garrison at Trenton, was celebrating Christmas by playing cards at his headquarters. But the game was interrupted, with one of the colonel’s servants delivering him a message from a courier.

The message would’ve informed Rall about Washington’s forces imminent arrival. But, for some reason, Rall didn’t read it. Instead, he made the fatal error of stuffing the note into his coat pocket and continued on with the card game. The very next day, Washington’s forces arrived, and the Battle of Trenton took place.

Unsurprisingly, Rall and his unprepared troops proved no match for the reinvigorated American forces. Though it’s never been verified, it was rumored Rall still had the note in his pocket when he passed away on the battlefield, just hours after the warning was handed to him!

What’s more certain is the battle’s massive impact. After success at Trenton, Washington’s men then went on to a decisive victory at the Battle of Princeton. By 1783, America had won the war, seizing political independence from Britain and forming the United States. So, if Old Rall wasn’t so crazy on cards, maybe we Americans would be speaking like brits now!

Thomas Farriner: The Baker Who Started Great Fire of London

With a population nearing 10 million, and sites like Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, London is one of the world’s most famous cities. But believe it or not, that place hasn’t always looked so polished. In fact, there was once a time when that city was little more than a pile of ruins. And, even crazier, it was all down to one man.

In the early hours of 2nd September 1666, Thomas Farriner was woken up by smoke wafting under the door of his bedroom. His house was on fire! Though he managed to escape out of the window, the fire kept burning. Even worse, it was a hot summer, and most of London’s infrastructure was built out of wood, serving as fuel to the blaze.

In the mid-17th century London didn’t have a fire brigade, instead it was up to the city’s citizens, to put the fire out. As you can imagine, that didn’t end too well. The city burned for 5 days, by which point roughly a third of London was destroyed and 100,000 people were made homeless. Yet, the craziest part is, it could’ve all been avoided.

The fire was caused by Thomas Farriner himself. Farriner was a baker, who used a wood fire oven. He claimed to have extinguished the fire before bed. But it’s believed a spark from his oven fell onto the flammable mixes of flour and wood he kept nearby.

One house on fire alone wouldn’t have been so bad, but Thomas’ bakery was on Pudding Lane, an area surrounded by warehouses containing other flammable materials like rope, timber and oil the bakery was just the match that started the Great Fire of London. If Farriner had made the decision to properly check his oven, rather than head off to bed, then the fire might never have started.

Dirty Laundry & Buddy Holly's Death

On the topic of fire, that brings us to the work of Buddy Holly, the artist behind flaming tunes like Peggy Sue, and Everyday. A lot of young people won’t know Buddy Holly, but back in the day Holly was taking the musical world by storm.

In February 1959, Holly and his tourmates were on the 11th night of their tour in the snowy Midwest of America. After the show they were tired, and to top things off, all their clothes were dirty. So, at the last minute, Holly called to hire a charter plane to fly to the next show from Iowa to Minnesota.

By catching a flight, Holly and his mates could arrive early, do their laundry and get some much-needed rest. A 21 year old pilot named Roger Peterson agreed to fly the singer. A snowstorm was on its way and the young pilot was fatigued from a 17-hour workday, but still, it’s not every day you get to fly a rockstar to their next gig!

Holly's bass player, Waylon Jennings, was scheduled to fly on the plane, but gave his seat to fellow musician, Big Bopper, who was suffering from a cold. While Holly's guitarist, Tommy Allsup, agreed to flip a coin with the singing star Richie Valens for a seat, Valens won.

Despite the conditions, the plane took off from Iowa around 12:30 AM. Unfortunately, the plane only stayed in the sky a few minutes. No-one knows for sure exactly what went wrong, but most likely Peterson flew straight into a blizzard, losing sight and crashing down.

Unsurprisingly, with the four-passenger plane plowing into a nearby cornfield at over 170 mph, there were no survivors. Sadly, we’ll never know how big Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and Richie Valens would’ve got to be. Saying that, considering Don Maclean referred to the crash as The Day the Music Died in his 1971 song, American Pie, it’s fair to assume they would’ve made it pretty big! Think of all the songs we missed out on, and all because of some dirty laundry!

Marita Lorenz VS Fidel Castro

In the same year as Holly’s fateful last-minute plane ride, another seismic event was taking place in Cuba. Fidel Castro was one of the 20th century’s most recognized men, he was the central figure behind the Cuban Revolution. In 1959, Castro came to power in Cuba, overthrowing dictator Fulgencio Batista in an armed revolt.

As Prime Minister of Cuba, Castro implemented a Communist regime, forging closer ties with the Soviet Union enemy number one for the U.S during that period. In the same year that he took charge of Cuba, he met a 19 year old woman named Marita Lorenz. It’s fair to say Marita fell head over heels for Castro. Unfortunately, according to her, their fling didn’t end in the best circumstances. In fact, things ended so sourly, Lorenz joined an anti-Castro operation.

She was willfully hired by the CIA as a contract-agent back in America and handed the task of taking out Castro. Lorenz was given two pills containing a deadly botulinum toxin that she’d drop in Castro’s drink! With that she was sent on a flight to Havana, Cuba, where she’d meet Castro in a hotel room to carry out the deadly deed. Everything was going to plan, she arrived in Havana and met Castro at the hotel room.

But then, at the vital moment, she got cold feet. Whether out of love or fear, Marita threw the pills down the toilet, rather than into Castro’s drink. And with that the CIA’s best hopes of taking down Castro went up in smoke. Much to their anguish, Castro would rule Cuba for another 56 years, until he passed from natural causes back in 2016. Yes, things would’ve panned out a way differently had Marita stuck to her guns (or her pills)!

The Underwater Cuban Missile Crisis

So, after Marita Lorenz failed to topple Fidel Castro, the U.S hatched another plan. They decided to just invade Cuba. So, in 1961, 1,400 Cuban exiles sponsored by the United States launched an invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. But within days they were crushed by Castro’s forces. Still, Fidel asked the Soviet Union to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter any future attacks, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

After American spy planes spotted the presence of the Soviet nuclear missile site, a tense standoff ensued between the two forces. In October 1962, during the height of the tension, the American destroyer, USS Beale, began dropping depth charges on the nuclear-armed Soviet submarine, B-59, which was lurking in the waters near the coast of Cuba.

Though the charges were non-lethal warning shots, intended to force the B-59 to surface, two of the sub’s senior officers wanted to launch the nuclear torpedo. The grave misunderstanding could’ve resulted in nuclear warfare. Thankfully, a crucial contingency plan was in place, requiring all three of the sub’s senior officers to sign off on a nuclear launch. Fortunately, for the sake of the planet, Vasily Arkhipov, the second in-command, wasn’t so hot-headed.

Instead, he refused to consent to the firing of the nuclear torpedo, before coolly convincing his fellow officers at the last possible moment to bring the B-59 to the surface. That nerve-jangling close call sobered both leaders, John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, leading to a cooling of tensions.

Stanislav Petrov: The Man Who Saved the World from Nuclear War

But Vasily Arkhipov isn’t the only super-Soviet to have saved the world from total disaster. Stanislav Petrov was a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Defense Force. He’d led an accomplished, but unremarkable life. However, that all changed on one fateful day back in September 1983. Petrov was on duty at a Soviet control center, when, all of a sudden, the screen in front of him turned bright red, while a screeching alarm went off.

It was the Soviet Union’s missile attack warning system, informing Petrov that 5 American intercontinental ballistic missiles had been launched, and were heading straight for the Soviet Union. It was Petrov’s job to call the alarm, likely leading to some Russian retaliation and a full-on nuclear war.

After sweating over what to do, Petrov came to a decision. For some reason, Petrov, despite professionally being required to do so, made the last-gasp call to not ring the alarm. Instead, he treated the warning as an error message, and alerted his higher-ups of a system malfunction. He reasoned that if the United States really were to start a nuclear war, they’d do it with more than 5 missiles.

And, incredibly, he was right! Turns out Soviet satellites mistook the sun’s refection off the top of some clouds for a missile launch. So, how bad would the situation have been? Well, for some context the two rivals possessed nearly 60,000 nuclear missiles between them.

The Birthday That Changed D-Day

If you’ve ever seen Steven Spielberg’s classic "Saving Private Ryan", you’ll know just how monumental D-Day and the Battle of Normandy were. What’s not shown in the movie is the fact that the invasion could’ve easily failed before it started.

By 1944, Erwin Rommel was one of the most respected commanders in the German army. He had the vital job of defending the north French coast against an Allied invasion. In early June 1944, Rommel was convinced that bad weather made crossing the English Channel an impossible task. So, presuming there was no threat of an oncoming invasion, the General made the split decision to attend to a more personal matter, his wife’s birthday!

After the storm broke out, Rommel decided to head back to Herrlingen in Germany. But to Rommel’s horror, as he made his way eastwards, the storms around the English Channel started to subside. United States President, Dwight Eisenhower, made the late decision to set the invasion for the early hours of June 6th. By the morning nearly 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on Normandy Beach. Without Rommel, the German reaction to the landings were slow and confused.

Even worse for the Germans, less than a week after the invasion began, the Allies secured the Normandy beaches. From there, the Allies fought their way across through France. In the aftermath of D-Day, Germany was fighting a two-front war it couldn’t win. And, less than a year later, Germany surrendered. Fair to say Rommel probably regretted the decision to celebrate his wife’s b-day on D-day!

The Sandwich That Started WW1

It goes without saying that World War One was one of the most significant conflicts in history. Between 1914-1918, more than 100 countries around the world became involved in the war that claimed some 40 million casualties. But did you know it all could’ve been avoided if it wasn’t for a minor mishap by a driver?

In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was visiting Sarajevo to inspect the imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country annexed by Austria-Hungary 6 years earlier. The annexation had angered Serbian nationalists in the country, who believed their territories should be part of Serbia, not under the rule of Austria-Hungary.

One group of nationalists, known as the Black Hand, were especially angry. One of their members threw a bomb at Ferdinand’s car as it drove through Sarajevo, but the vehicle sped away before it detonated, injuring people in a trailing car.

Undeterred, Ferdinand went on to deliver a speech at Sarajevo Town Hall. Then, following his talk, Ferdinand decided to visit a hospital to check on the wounded. As noble a decision as it was, it’d be a fatal one. For security reasons, it was decided the car would take a quieter route out of the city.

Unfortunately for Franz, his driver could only speak Czech, so he wasn’t able to actually hear the change of plans, instead choosing to drive on the original route. As a result, the car took a turn onto the busy Franz Joseph Street. Unfortunately for Ferdinand, the car swerved straight in the direction of one of the ‘Black Hand’ members, Gavrilo Princip.

Princip, who gave up on the assassination attempt, apparently decided to head to a café to grab a sandwich. As he recognized Ferdinand’s car coming towards him, Princip pulled out his pistol, and the rest is history!

Just days later, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, triggering a series of declarations that led to World War One. Just one month after Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, one of history’s deadliest conflicts had begun. All because someone wanted a sandwich.

When The Clouds Spared Kokura

Just over 20 years after the horrors of the First World War, another major conflict had begun, World War Two. By the end of the war in 1945, the U.S. wanted to force a quick surrender by the Japanese. And, horrifyingly, they decided they’d achieve that by dropping atomic bombs on several Japanese cities.

In May a list of potential target cities were drawn up, including Hiroshima, Kokura and Kyoto. After the devastating bombing of Hiruddy Holly oshima on 6th August, the next target was set Kokura, a city of 130,000 people and the home to one of Japan’s largest military arsenals.

Planes were dispatched to scope out the weather on 9th August, reporting minimal cloud coverage with a forecast of improving conditions. However, by the time pilot Charles Sweeney made it over Kokura later that day, conditions had drastically changed. Now there was thick cloud cover, meaning Sweeney couldn’t see what was beneath his plane.

That being an atomic bomb, you can’t exactly drop it blind. The target has to be seen visually, as the U.S didn’t trust radar-assisted bombing for such a weapon. That lack of visibility forced Sweeney to change his course at the last moment. Instead of obliterating Kokura, he’d move onto the secondary target, Nagasaki.

Clearer conditions allowed Sweeney to gain sight of the city below. And with that, he dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki, taking the lives of nearly 40,000 with it. You might be wondering what happened to Kyoto. After all, it was drawn up on the list of cities to be taken out. Much like Kokura, that place got a late blessing.

It wasn’t decided until late July, just days before the attack, that Kyoto was taken off the list. Why? Not because of clouds, but due to the city being viewed as the cultural heart of Japan, with more than 2,000 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. So, the United States, not wanting to provoke a Japanese rally, gave it a miss altogether.

I hope you were amazed at these last minute decisions that changed History! You might also want to read about near apocalypses that we survived! Thanks for reading.