Nuclear warfare

Not to be confused with NukeWar or nukewar (warez). "Nuclear War" and "Nuclear strike" redirect here. For other uses, see Nuclear War (disambiguation).
The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima following the detonation of the Little Boy nuclear bomb on 6 August 1945. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain the first and only wartime uses of nuclear weapons in history.
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Nuclear weapons
Photograph of a mock-up of the Little Boy nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945.
Background
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Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can produce destruction in a much shorter time and can have a long-lasting radiological result. A major nuclear exchange would likely have long-term effects, primarily from the fallout released, and could also lead to secondary effects, such as "nuclear winter",[1][2][3][4][5][6] nuclear famine, and societal collapse.[7][8][9] A global thermonuclear war with Cold War-era stockpiles, or even with the current smaller stockpiles, may lead to various scenarios including the human extinction.[10]

To date, the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict occurred in 1945 with the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 6, 1945, a uranium gun-type device (code name "Little Boy") was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, on August 9, a plutonium implosion-type device (code name "Fat Man") was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Together, these two bombings resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 people and contributed to the surrender of Japan, which occurred before any further nuclear weapons could be deployed.

After World War II, nuclear weapons were also developed by the Soviet Union (1949), the United Kingdom (1952), France (1960), and the People's Republic of China (1964), which contributed to the state of conflict and extreme tension that became known as the Cold War. In 1974, India, and in 1998, Pakistan, two countries that were openly hostile toward each other, developed nuclear weapons. Israel (1960s) and North Korea (2006) are also thought to have developed stocks of nuclear weapons, though it is not known how many. The Israeli government has never admitted nor denied having nuclear weapons, although it is known to have constructed the reactor and reprocessing plant necessary for building nuclear weapons.[11] South Africa also manufactured several complete nuclear weapons in the 1980s, but subsequently became the first country to voluntarily destroy their domestically made weapons stocks and abandon further production (1990s).[12][13] Nuclear weapons have been detonated on over 2,000 occasions for testing purposes and demonstrations.[14][15]

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the resultant end of the Cold War, the threat of a major nuclear war between the two nuclear superpowers was generally thought to have declined.[16] Since then, concern over nuclear weapons has shifted to the prevention of localized nuclear conflicts resulting from nuclear proliferation, and the threat of nuclear terrorism. However, the threat of nuclear war is considered to have resurged after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, particularly with regard to Russian threats to use nuclear weapons during the invasion.[17][18]

Since 1947, the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has visualized how close the world is to a nuclear war. The Doomsday Clock reached high points in 1953, when the Clock was set to two minutes until midnight after the U.S. and the Soviet Union began testing hydrogen bombs, and in 2018, following the failure of world leaders to address tensions relating to nuclear weapons and climate change issues.[19] Since 2023, the Clock has been set at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been.[20] The most recent advance of the Clock's time setting was largely attributed to the risk of nuclear escalation that arose from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[21]

  1. ^ 7 Possible Toxic Environments Following a Nuclear War – The Medical Implications of Nuclear War 1985 – The National Academies Press. 1986. doi:10.17226/940. ISBN 978-0-309-07866-5. PMID 25032468.
  2. ^ "nuclear winter". Encyclopædia Britannica. August 2023.
  3. ^ Martin, Brian (December 1982). "The global health effects of nuclear war". Current Affairs Bulletin. 59 (7).
  4. ^ "Critique of Nuclear Extinction – Brian Martin 1982".
  5. ^ "The Effects of a Global Thermonuclear War". www.johnstonsarchive.net.
  6. ^ "Long-term worldwide effects of multiple nuclear-weapons detonations. Assembly of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Research Council,1975".
  7. ^ Ehrlich, P. R.; Harte, J.; Harwell, M. A.; Raven, P. H.; Sagan, C.; Woodwell, G. M.; Berry, J.; Ayensu, E. S.; Ehrlich, A. H.; Eisner, T.; Gould, S. J.; Grover, H. D.; Herrera, R.; May, R. M.; Mayr, E.; McKay, C. P.; Mooney, H. A.; Myers, N.; Pimentel, D. & Teal, J. M. (1983). "Long-term biological consequences of nuclear war". Science. 222 (4630): 1293–1300. Bibcode:1983Sci...222.1293E. doi:10.1126/science.6658451. PMID 6658451.
  8. ^ "Overview of the Doomsday Clock". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
  9. ^ The Nuclear Winter: The World After Nuclear War, Sagan, Carl et al., Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985
  10. ^ Tonn, Bruce & MacGregor, Donald (2009). "A singular chain of events". Futures. 41 (10): 706–714. doi:10.1016/j.futures.2009.07.009. S2CID 144553194.
  11. ^ Hersh, Seymour (1991). The Samson Option. Random House. p. 130. ISBN 0-394-57006-5.
  12. ^ Albright, David. "South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program". MIT.edu.
  13. ^ "South Africa: Why Countries Acquire and Abandon Nuclear Bombs". World101. 27 July 2023.
  14. ^ ""1945–1998" by Isao Hashimoto". Archived from the original on 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  15. ^ "The Nuclear Testing Tally | Arms Control Association". www.armscontrol.org.
  16. ^ Denemark, Robert A. (14 August 2018). "Nuclear War in the Rivalry Phase of the World-System". Journal of World-Systems Research. 24 (2): 349. doi:10.5195/jwsr.2018.749. S2CID 158444919.
  17. ^ Sanger, David E.; Troianovski, Anton; Barnes, Julian E. (2022-10-01). "In Washington, Putin's Nuclear Threats Stir Growing Alarm". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  18. ^ "Could the war in Ukraine go nuclear?". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  19. ^ Koran, Laura (January 25, 2018). "'Doomsday clock' ticks closer to apocalyptic midnight". CNN.
  20. ^ Weise, Elizabeth (2023-01-24). "Doomsday Clock 2023 time says the world is closer than ever to global catastrophe". USA Today. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  21. ^ Spinazze, Gayle (2023-01-24). "PRESS RELEASE: Doomsday Clock set at 90 seconds to midnight". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Retrieved 2023-01-24.