Here are some online videos that are recommended for preparing to survive nuclear war, and general nuclear war and nuclear bomb information:

Protect and Survive

Protect and Survive — Excellent. Here is a lower quality video version split into its individual episodes. Shows how to make fallout shelters inside your house out of simple home and garden items like doors, boxes/bags/suitcases, and sand/dirt/books. These videos were classified when first made, and intended only to be shown to the public in the case of impending nuclear attack.

Note that the comments at around 8 minutes into the video about no place being safer for avoiding fallout than any other are incorrect, other than perhaps over a very small geographic area. It may be true in a small country such as England where a large number of bombs are detonated over many parts of the country. However it would be absolutely untrue for a large country (such as Australia) where vast areas of the country have almost zero population (or military installations) and basically zero chance of being targeted by nuclear weapons. Generally speaking, the further you are away from where any nuclear bombs are exploded, the better. This is true of heat and blast, and in most cases it's also true of fallout. Anyone who claims that "there is no safe distance to escape fallout" is ignoring the fact that over 500 atmospheric nuclear bombs have already been exploded (in weapons tests, plus another 1400 more underground) and we are obviously not all dead from fallout. These tests were conducted a long way from population centres for the obvious reason that distance from the explosions is in fact critical in avoiding the effects of the bombs, which include fallout.

As a good example of how we currently live in what could be called the "Age of Entertainment", the most well-known part of this video is the short section beginning around 5:10. This is the original source that was sampled and used at the beginning of the song "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. "...The air attack warning sounds like. This is the sound. [Sirens begin...] When you hear the air attack warning you and your family must take cover".

Other Free Nuclear War Survival Videos

How to build a Basement Core Shelter by Cresson Kearny. Excellent.

Part 1 of how to build a Kearny Fallout Meter.

Testing the effectiveness of the Kearny Fallout Meter with a dental X-ray machine.

YouTube playlist with a lot of vintage civil defence videos.

The Shelter - A must watch for preppers and survivalists. Sorry it seems to be gone from YouTube. SEE LINK BELOW. Or if that's gone by the time you read this, try and search youtube or the web for twilight zone the shelter. This one is quite dark, but like the title says, it really is a "must watch", unfortunately. It's an episode from the 1959 TV series The Twilight Zone, which in 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the third best-written TV series ever, and TV Guide ranked it as the fifth greatest show of all time.

NEW: This link for The Shelter is working in February 2019.

Ark Two #19: Expedient Shelters. It's only six minutes. Just watch it. A bit incoherent in style but several good ideas shown in a short time.

How to Survive a Nuclear Bomb, Part 3: Dealing with Radiation. Another good video about sheltering from fallout radiation.

Surviving a nuclear attack - Irwin Redlener. TED video shown on YouTube. The first part of the video concentrates on nuclear terrorist attacks, and the lack of civil defence programs. The last part of the video has some direct advice on surviving a nuclear bomb.

How to Survive a Nuclear Bomb Attack. 16 minutes. Most of the survival advice is in the second half of the video.

Scenario for inbound nuclear attack. "What would you do if you had one hour to get ready for an inbound nuclear attack on the largest city closest to you right now?" A few ideas plus an introduction to the use of the online simulator NUKEMAP.

Movies about Nuclear War (Free and Non-free)

I went over these in January 2017 to update which free online ones still work. In February 2017 I started adding links to buy the DVDs of some of the ones I can source, especially the ones that aren't on YouTube anymore.

Note that in most of these movies, what happens is based on the lives of people living relatively close to the nuclear bomb explosions. These effects would be far less severe in locations a long way away. This is a major reason to aim to not be living in such a place by the time that any nuclear bombs are exploded in wartime.

Threads, 1984. Seems to be gone from youtube unfortunately. Many people say this is the most depressing/disturbing movie ever made, so you have been warned. It also gets a lot of votes for most realistic nuclear war movie ever made. It's set in England (unlike most nuclear war movies which are American). Threads was nominated for seven British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards in 1985. It won for Best Single Drama, Best Design, Best Film Cameraman and Best Film Editor. Its other nominations were for Best Costume Design, Best Make-Up, and Best Film Sound. Watching this movie should be interpreted as motivation to be living somewhere far away from nuclear targets.

Purchase Threads DVD from Australia (Fishpond) Region 2 (UK), needs a multi-region player to watch in Australia. Or Purchase Threads from Amazon.

The Day After, 1983. If that link doesn't work anymore, try here or here. For the script click here. The thing that affected me the most in this movie was something I hadn't really thought about before, at least not to the extent that settled into me after watching this. It wasn't any of the deaths, or other losses as consequences of the bombs, most of which I had seen in other movies and was expecting. The scene that made me think the most is right as the missiles are launching, and the five army guys are standing at the entrance to their base, arguing about what they should do now. If you watch it, see if you can pick what idea is presented in that scene that I hadn't fully considered before. (It wasn't the fact that the guys had been abandoned by the higher ranking officers).

By Dawn's Early Light, 1990. Shows some of the life of the pilots flying the nuclear bombers, among other things.

Testament, 1983. (Taken off YouTube). More "gentle" than some of the other movies in this genre. Nothing much is seen of the actual nuclear explosions. The main thing to take away from this movie is that almost every death in the movie (and there are many) would have been prevented if the people in the town had been able to shelter from the nuclear fallout. Purchase Testament from Amazon

Trinity and Beyond.(Taken off YouTube). Really good documentary about nuclear tests and the development of nuclear weapons and their effects. The first nuclear bomb ever exploded was codenamed "Trinity". In some countries you may still be able to see it. Try here. Purchase Trinity and Beyond from Amazon

White Light & Black Rain - The Destruction of Hiroshima & Nagasaki (Requires login to verify you're an adult).

On The Beach (1959) Doesn't seem to be there. Here it is.

On The Beach (2000). Sorry it's gone. This one is currently working. A remake of the 1959 film.

Fail Safe (2000). It's gone too. World Nuclear Holocaust. Here's a 1964 one with altered voices which may still work. Or here.

The War Game 1965. Gone too now it seems :(

Survival Zone (1983). Also gone but this one is working currently.

Many more to be added later on....

Other Movies and Documentaries (Not Free)

On The Beach 1959 (Amazon link)

War Games 1983 Purchase from Booktopia DVD or Blu-ray.

America's Atomic Bomb Tests - The Collection 2005 (Amazon link)

Atomic Bomb Collection Complete Library (including Trinity and Beyond) 6 DVD discs 2006 (Amazon link)

The Road 2009 (Amazon link)

Tomorrow When the War Began 2010 Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Secrets of the Dead: World's Biggest Bomb 2011 (Amazon link)

The Man Who Saved the World 2014 (Amazon link)

Uranium: Twisting the Dragon's Tail 2015 (Amazon link) (Region 4 Booktopia link)

The Bomb 2015 (Amazon link)

Command and Control 2017 (Amazon link)

Cover image by Ihor Khomych.