A Brief History
On April 12, 1831, 74 British soldiers got the surprise of their lives when the “new fangled” suspension bridge they were marching across collapsed!
Digging Deeper
The bridge at Broughton, near Manchester, England, was built in 1826 in the new “suspension” style. Being one of Europe’s first suspension bridges and only 5 years old, it was considered state of the art.
As the British troops marched “in time” in 4 columns across the bridge their synchronized footsteps began a rhythmic resonance creating a pleasant sort of bounce, causing some of the men to start whistling in time! Unfortunately, the troops did not realize that the bouncing resonance created more and more up and down movement of the bridge until the structure started breaking up and collapsed, taking the soldiers with it!
Luckily for those troops, the river was only a couple feet deep, and although many men were injured, some with broken bones, nobody drowned or died of their injuries.
Obviously, a lesson was learned and afterwards British soldiers would march in “break step” not in time with each other. US military veterans will recognize this as being ordered to “Route step, March!” upon approaching a bridge and not resuming marching to cadence until the bridge is crossed.
In 2004 the television show, Mythbusters, examined the resonance from marching causing bridge collapse theory with an elaborate set up, including building a bridge for testing and using 12 robot-soldiers with pneumatic “feet” to “walk” across the bridge in unison. After a test where the footfalls were too hard, and another where the footfalls were too soft, they got it just right and determined that the phenomenon is definitely true. Unfortunately, this experiment was edited from the episode and only appeared in Mythbusters Outtakes.
Although not caused by troops marching, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington collapsed in 1940 from harmonic resonance caused by winds, basically the same effect. Perhaps you have seen the famous film of “Galloping Gertie” collapsing! Although “Gertie” is another story to be discussed in more depth at a different date, you should know The Tacoma Narrows bridge was the third longest bridge in the world at the time of its collapse, and it lasted less than 4 months!
Question for students (and subscribers): Have you ever been on a bridge when it collapsed? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more on the history of suspension bridges, please see…
Kawada, Tadaki. History of the Modern Suspension Bridge: Solving the Dilemma between Economy and Stiffness. ASCE Press, 2010.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1720 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1720">31 Comments
This is very interesting. I never thought I would like crossing a suspension bridge, now I know I don’t want to cross one.
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It is interesting that the reason why British soldiers changed their formation was because of an incident on a bridge. I am sure that some of these bridges were not safe when they were first built, so I am not surprised that this happened to the british soldiers.
The Mythbusters comment caught my attention, as it was interesting to read how the phenomenon of marching in unison can actually cause a bridge to collapse. I love watching Mythbusters to learn whether or not there is truth to what people claim. Seeing that marching in unison really can collapse a bridge is compelling, and it is funny that the British soldiers had to change the way they march because of this incident.
I first wondered if the bridge was just poorly made and that is why it collapsed. I didn’t think it was possible for the soldiers to make it collapse and then I read the comment about Mythbusters. I assume that with the resources we have available today the bridge built for Mythbusters was is a good condition. Therefore, I find it really interesting that this phenomenon actually exists and even more interesting that the British soldiers changed the way they marched.
I think its interesting how a change in marching could make the difference when walking on bridges. The soldiers, after this incident, have to break cadence while marching across bridges and then fall back into rhythm after crossing. I can only imagine how scared I would be if the bridge just suddenly collapsed underneath me. Luck for them, though, that the river wasn’t that deep and no one was mortally wounded. It could have been a lot worse.
This is a new interesting story to me and I watch Mythbusters all the time and have never seen this Outtake show before. The concept of hundreds of soldiers walking in unison collapsing a bridge is mind blowing. This is like the concept as a little kid in the pool with your friends all walking in the pool towards the same direction and creating a current so strong to collapses the pool. The fact that the British figured out that the collapse happened because of the steps in unison is pretty remarkable.
This was an interesting article, and it surprises me that the marching of the troops was strong enough force to make the suspension bridge collapse. At least a lesson was learned from this ironic situation that soldiers can not walk in unison across a suspension bridge.
It must have been hard to build something like a bridge in a time before modern technology. I was just telling a friend I never imagined growing up how much math goes into building! I’m not sure if calculation were or could be done during the time when this suspension bridge was built to ensure it wouldn’t calapse.
The unison to which the soldiers marched with caused the bridge to collapse. Instead of looking prestigious, the British soldiers probably looked funny and awkward. It’s a good thing that no one died from this funny incident.
It seems so crazy and unlikely for the soldiers to be synced up so perfectly to cause the bridge to collapse. But I guess that is what history is known for, giving us crazy stories. I’m glad no one was killed in this incident.
I am amazed that no soldiers died when the bridge collapsed!
I’m wondering if the soldiers marching in unison was the real cause for the bridge collapsing. Thankfully for the soldiers who did go down with the bridge none of them died. Although some of them were injured, none of them died from their injuries and the water was not deep enough to drown in.
It is interesting that the timing of the marching caused the bridge to collapse. It is something you would not really think about but who knows. Maybe how it was designed played a role as well.
It is lucky that no troops died in the collapse of the bridge. That would have been a major blow to morale. It is good that this bouncing resonance was discovered and mostly sorted out so it would ALMOST never happen again.
It is fortunate that no soldiers had died. It is also cool that Mythbusters examined the resonance from the marching and determined that the footfalls were just right to make the bridge collapse.
Really interesting to learn that this was the 3rd longest bridge that only lasted 4 months! Really cool that the marching soldiers did not make it collapse, but wind with the same effect did.
How do you even react after learning that a bridge collapsed underneath you after stepping in unison with your fellow soldiers. Also interesting that wind was able to collapse a bridge.
I am really shocked that nobody died when this bridge collapsed. The soldiers that feel during this probably had a hard time crossing bridges after this. I know I would!
I find it interesting how once the bridge sways like that, that it immediately doesn’t just crumbled. It looks like its made out of rubber or something, to make it stretch.
It is fascinating that these soldiers knew how to change up their march in order to make the bridge not crumble again. They knew science without even knowing the science behind it.
Crazy that out of the 74 soldiers marching, not a single one lost their life and it all happened because of a synchronized march. Who would have thought?
It is insane how no soldiers died from the fall. This shows that things that are “state of the art” might not be so when put into practice in the real world.
I find it interesting that the bridge was state of the art and in great condition but it was not able to hand the way the soldiers were marching. The good part was that no one died or was seriously injured.
Amazing to read this and for soldiers to only have been injured and no deaths. Must have been a very terrifying experience.
Good thing no one died. You would never presume a bridge you are crossing is about to collapse. Must have been horrifying.
Amazing that no one died from this! Good thing bridge building has come a long since then. I am going to look this up on myth busters now.
I hope civil engineers have made the correct architectural adjustments to fix this sort of problem with today’s suspension bridges.
What an interesting story! It goes to show that even the best constructions have their weak points. That is also interesting how this event led to breaking step across bridges around the world.
This is definitely an intriguing story. Tragedies fascinate me and I like to read about the causes.
I am glad that no one lost their lives from that bridge collapsing.