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U.S. and USSR/Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles, 1945-2006.
U. S. and USSR/Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles, 1945-2006.
Nuclear weapons
One of the first nuclear bombs.
 Nuclear-armed countries 
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The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States allies, the Russian Army and their respective allies during the Cold War. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. The history of nuclear weapons chronicles the development of Nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapon designs are physical chemical and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness yield and explosive capability of Nuclear weapons Throughout the twentieth century most nations Underground nuclear testing refers to test detonations of Nuclear weapons that are performed underground The energy released from a nuclear weapon detonated in the Troposphere can be divided into four basic categories Blast &mdash40-50% of total energy Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a Nuclear weapon at the position of Detonation, on or near its intended target Nuclear espionage is the purposeful giving of state secrets regarding Nuclear weapons to other states without authorization ( Espionage) Nuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of Nuclear weapons, fissile material and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations This is a list of Nuclear weapons ordered by state and then type within the states Nations that are known or believed to possess Nuclear weapons are sometimes referred to as the nuclear club. The United States was the first country in the world to develop Nuclear weapons, and is the only country to have used them as actual weapons, Russia possesses the largest stockpile of Weapons of mass destruction in the world The United Kingdom was the third state to test an independently developed Nuclear weapon in October 1952 France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or The People's Republic of China is estimated by the US Government to have an arsenal of about 150 Nuclear weapons as of 1999, which matches India is believed to possess an arsenal of Nuclear weapons and maintains intermediate-range Ballistic missiles to deliver them Israel is widely believed to be the sixth country in the world to develop Nuclear weapons and to be one of four nuclear-armed countries not recognized The Islamic Republic of Pakistan began focusing on nuclear development in January 1972 under the leadership of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali North Korea claims to possess Nuclear weapons and the CIA asserts that it has a substantial arsenal of Chemical weapons. The term arms race, in its original usage describes a competition between two or more parties for real or apparent military supremacy The Russian Ground Forces (Сухопутные войска Российской Федерации tr Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the During the Cold War, in addition to the American and Soviet nuclear stockpiles, other countries also developed nuclear weapons, though none engaged in warhead production on the same size as the two superpowers.

Contents

World War II

The first nuclear weapon was created by the American Manhattan Project during the Second World War and was developed for use against the Axis powers[1]. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Axis powers also known as the Axis alliance Axis nations Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those Countries Scientists in the Soviet Union, then an ally of the United States, were aware of the possibility of nuclear weapons and had been doing some work in that direction[2]. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991

The Soviet Union was not informed of the American experiments until Stalin was informed at the Potsdam Conference on July 24, 1945[3][4]. The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, Germany, from July 16, Events 1132 - Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily. Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar The Americans did not trust the Soviets to keep the information from German spies; there was also deep distrust of the Soviets and their intentions, despite the wartime partnership. Even during the war many government and military figures in the USA saw the USSR as a potential enemy in the future.

The Soviets were well aware of the program due to a spy ring operating within the American nuclear program. The atomic spies (including Klaus Fuchs [5] and Theodore Hall) kept Stalin well informed of American developments [6]. Atomic Spies and Atom Spies are terms that refer to various people in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada who are thought to have Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs ( December 29, 1911 &ndash January 28, 1988) was a German -born theoretical physicist and Theodore Alvin Hall ( October 20, 1925  &ndash November 1, 1999) was an American Physicist and an atomic When U.S. President Harry S. Truman informed Stalin of the weapons, he was surprised at how calmly Stalin took the news and thought that Stalin had not understood what he had told him. The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by In fact Stalin had long been aware of the program[7]. The American program had been so secret that even Truman did not know about the weapons until he became president; Stalin had thus known about the Manhattan Project before Truman himself did[8].

In August of 1945, atomic bombs were dropped per Truman's order on designated Japanese cities. Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and then another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki by the B-29 bombers Enola Gay and Bock's Car respectively. The Japanese city of ( is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshū, the largest of Japan 's ( is the Capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan.

Early Cold War

In the years immediately after the Second World War, the United States had a nuclear monopoly on both specific knowledge and, most importantly, raw materials. Initially, it was thought that uranium was relatively rare in the world, but this was discovered to be incorrect. While American leaders hoped that their exclusivity would be able to draw concessions from the Soviet Union, this proved ineffective. Behind the scenes the Soviet regime was working furiously to build their own atomic weapons. During the war Soviet efforts had been limited by a lack of uranium, but new supplies in Eastern Europe were taken and provided a steady supply while the Soviets developed a domestic source. Uranium (jʊˈreɪniəm is a silvery-gray Metallic Chemical element in the Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. While American thinkers had predicted that the USSR would not have nuclear weapons until the mid-1950s, the first Soviet bomb was detonated on August 29 of 1949, shocking the entire world. Events 708 - Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708) The weapon (called "Joe One" by the West) was more or less a copy of the weapon which the United States had dropped on Japan ("Fat Man"). The RDS-1 (РДС-1 also Joe-1, was the USSR's first Nuclear weapon test, named in reference to Joseph Stalin. "Fat Man" is the codename for the Atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9

Governments devoted massive amounts of resources to increasing the quality and quantity of their nuclear arsenal. Both nations quickly began work on hydrogen bombs and the United States detonated the first such device on November 1, 1952. The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Again the Soviets surprised the Americans by exploding a deployable thermonuclear device of their own the next August, though it was not actually a "true" multi-stage hydrogen bomb (that would wait until 1955). Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) The Soviet H-bomb was almost completely a product of domestic research, as their espionage sources in the USA had only worked on very preliminary (and incorrect) versions of the hydrogen bomb.

The most important development in terms of delivery in the 1950s was the introduction of ICBMs. Missiles had long been seen as the ideal platform for nuclear weapons and in 1957 on the 4th of October with the launch of Sputnik the Soviet Union showed the world that they had missiles that could hit anywhere in the world. Year 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar) The United States launched their own on the 31 October 1959.

The period also saw attempts begin to defend against nuclear weapons. Both powers built large radar arrays to detect incoming bombers and missiles. Fighters to use against bombers and anti-ballistic missiles to use against ICBMs were also developed. Large underground bunkers were constructed to save the leadership of the superpowers, and individuals were told to build fallout shelters and taught how to react to a nuclear attack (civil defense). A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a Nuclear explosion. Civil defense or civil defence (see spelling differences) is an effort to prepare Civilians for Military attack These bombs could kill millions in the event of an attack by either side.

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

All of these defensive measures were far from fullproof and by the 1950s both the United States and Soviet Union had the power to obliterate the other side. Both sides developed a "second-strike" capability [9], i. e. they could launch a devastating attack even after sustaining a full assault from the other side (especially by means of submarines). This policy was part of what became known as Mutually Assured Destruction: both sides knew that any attack upon the other would be suicide for themselves as well, and thus would (in theory) restrain from attacking one another. Mutual assured destruction ( MAD; sometimes written as mutually assured destruction) is a Doctrine of military Strategy in which a full-scale

Both Soviet and American thinkers hoped to use nuclear weapons to extract concessions from the other side, or from other powers such as China, but the risk of any use of these weapons was so large that both sides refrained from what John Foster Dulles referred to as brinkmanship. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES John Foster Dulles ( February 25, 1888 &ndash May 24, 1959) served as U Brinkmanship is the practice of pushing a dangerous situation to the verge of disaster in order to achieve the most advantageous outcome While some like General Douglas MacArthur argued nuclear weapons should be used during the Korean War both Truman and Eisenhower disagreed. General MacArthur redirects here for other meanings see General MacArthur (disambiguation. The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korean and South Korean regimes with major hostilities lasting from June 25 1950 until the

Both sides were also unaware of how their relative arsenals compared. The Americans tended to be lacking in confidence, in the 1950s they believed in a non-existent "bomber gap" (aerial photography later discovered that the Soviets had been playing a sort of Potemkin village game with their bombers in their military parades, flying them in large circles to make it appear they had far more than they truly did), and the 1960 American presidential election saw accusations of a wholly spurious "missile gap" between the Soviets and the Americans. Potemkin villages were purportedly fake settlements erected at the direction of Russian minister Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin to fool Empress Catherine II The United States presidential election of 1960 marked the end of Dwight D Missile Gap is a 2006 Science fiction Novella originally published in the anthology "One Million AD" by British author The Soviet government structure tended to exaggerate the power of Soviet weapons to the leadership and Nikita Khrushchev. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (April 17 1894 – September 11 1971 served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 following

An additional controversy formed in the United States during the early-1960s over whether or not it was known if their weapons would work at all if it came down to it. All of the individual components of nuclear missiles had been tested separately (warheads, navigation systems, rockets), but it had been infeasible to test them all as a whole. Critics charged that it was not really known how a warhead would function in the gravity forces and temperature differences encountered in the upper atmosphere and outer space, and Kennedy was unwilling to run a risky test of an ICBM with a live warhead. The closest thing to an actual test, Operation Frigate Bird, which involved testing a live submarine launching a ballistic missile, was challenged by critics (including Curtis LeMay, who used doubt over missile accuracy to encourage the development of new bombers) on the grounds that it was a single test (and could therefore be an anomaly), was a lower-altitude SLBM (and therefore was subject to different conditions than an ICBM), and that significant modifications had been made to its warhead before testing.

Strategic nuclear missiles, warheads and throw-weights of United States and USSR, 1964-82
Year Launchers Warheads Megatonnage
USA USSR USA USSR USA USSR
1964 2,416 375 6,800 500 7,500 1,000
1966 2,396 435 5,000 550 5,600 1,200
1968 2,360 1,045 4,500 850 5,100 2,300
1970 2,230 1,680 3,900 1,800 4,300 3,100
1972 2,230 2,090 5,800 2,100 4,100 4,000
1974 2,180 2,380 8,400 2,400 3,800 4,200
1976 2,100 2,390 9,400 3,200 3,700 4,500
1978 2,058 2,350 9,800 5,200 3,800 5,400
1980 2,042 2,490 10,000 6,000 4,000 5,700
1982 2,032 2,490 11,000 8,000 4,100 7,100
Source: Gerards Segal, The Simon & Schuster Guide to the World Today, (Simon & Schuster, 1987), p. 82

in: Edwin Bacon, Mark Sandle, "Brezhnev Reconsidered", Studies in Russian and East European History and Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)

Initial nuclear proliferation

In addition to the United States and the Soviet Union, three other nations, the United Kingdom[10], People's Republic of China[11], and France[12] also developed far smaller nuclear stockpiles. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. In 1952, the United Kingdom became the third nation to possess nuclear weapons when it detonated an atomic bomb in Operation Hurricane[13] in Australia on October 3, 1952. Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United Kingdom was the third state to test an independently developed Nuclear weapon in October 1952 For the Allied air forces show of force over Germany during World War II see Operation Hurricane (1944 Operation Hurricane was the test of the first For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. During the Cold War, British nuclear deterrence came from submarines and nuclear-armed aircraft. The Resolution class ballistic missile submarines armed with the American-built Polaris missile provided the sea deterrent, while aircraft such as the Avro Vulcan, SEPECAT Jaguar, Panavia Tornado and several other Royal Air Force strike aircraft carrying WE.177 gravity bomb provided the air deterrent. History Background During the 1950s and early 1960s Great Britain's nuclear deterrent was through the RAF's V-bombers. The Polaris missile was a submarine-launched two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed ballistic missile ( SLBM) built during the Cold War by Lockheed for WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Ground-attack aircraft are military aircraft designed to attack targets on the ground and are often deployed as Close air support for and in proximity to their own ground forces WE177 was the last air-launched nuclear bomb of the British Armed Forces.

France became the fourth nation to possess nuclear weapons on February 13, 1960, when the atomic bomb Gerboise Bleue was detonated in Algeria[14], then still a French colony. France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or Events 1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Gerboise Bleue ("blue jerboa" was the name of the first French nuclear test. Algeria ( ar [[Arabic]] الجزائر, Al Jaza'ir ælʤæˈzæːʔir Amazigh: ⴷⵥⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer) officially the People's During the Cold War, the French nuclear deterrent was centered around the Force de frappe, a nuclear triad consisting of Dassault Mirage IV bombers carrying such nuclear weapons as the AN-22 gravity bomb and the ASMP stand-off attack missile, Pluton and Hades ballistic missiles, and the Redoutable class submarine armed with strategic nuclear missiles. The force de frappe (literally Strike Force; meant for dissuasion, i WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The AN-22 was France 's second air-dropped Nuclear weapon, developed as a replacement for the earlier AN-11 bomb, entering service in 1967 The Air-Sol Moyenne Portée ( ASMP; medium-range air to surface missile) is a French air-launched nuclear Missile. The Pluton missile was a French nuclear -armed Short-range ballistic missile (SRBM system launched from a Transporter erector launcher (TEL The Hadès system was a short-range ballistic tactical nuclear weapon system designed by France as a last warning before use of strategic nuclear weapons in the perspective of a Soviet

The People's Republic of China became the fifth nuclear power on October 16, 1964, when it detonated a uranium-235 bomb in a test codenamed 596[15]. Events 456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the western Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar. Uranium-235 is an isotope of uranium that differs from the element's other common isotope Uranium-238, by its ability to cause a rapidly expanding fission 596 is the codename of the People's Republic of China 's first Nuclear weapons test, detonated on October 16[[ 964]] Due to Soviet/Chinese tensions, the Chinese might have used nuclear weapons against either the United States or the Soviet Union in the event of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Sino-Soviet split was a gradual divergence of diplomatic ties between the People's Republic of China (PRC and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR During the Cold War, the Chinese nuclear deterrent consisted of gravity bombs carried aboard H-6 bomber aircraft, missile systems such as the DF-2, DF-3, and DF-4[16], and in the later stages of the Cold War, the Type 092 ballistic missile submarine. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout See also Type 094 submarine Notes and references

Détente

Economic problems caused by the arms race in both powers, combined with China's new role and the ability to verify disarmament led to a number of arms control agreements beginning in the 1970s. This period known as détente allowed both states to reduce their spending on weapons systems. Détente is a French term meaning a relaxing or easing the term has been used in international politics since the early 1970s SALT I and SALT II and all limited the size of the states arsenals. Bans on nuclear testing, anti-ballistic missile systems, and weapons in space all attempted to limit the expansion of the arms race through the Partial Test Ban Treaty.

These treaties were only partially successful. Both states continued building massive numbers of nuclear weapons, and new technologies such as multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (also known as MIRVs) limited the effectiveness of the treaties. A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle ( MIRV) is a collection of Nuclear weapons carried on a single Intercontinental ballistic missile Both superpowers retained the ability to destroy each other many times over.

Reagan and Star Wars

Towards the end of Jimmy Carter's presidency, and continued strongly through the subsequent presidency of Ronald Reagan, the United States rejected disarmament and tried to restart the arms race through the production of new weapons and anti-weapons systems. James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr (born October 1 1924 was the thirty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981 and the recipient of the 2002 The central part of this strategy was the Strategic Defense Initiative, a space based anti-ballistic missile system derided as "Star Wars" by its critics. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI was a proposal by US President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded During the second part of 1980s, the Soviet economy was teetering towards collapse and was unable to match American arms spending. Numerous negotiations by Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to come to agreements on reducing nuclear stockpiles, but the most radical were rejected by Reagan as they would also prohibit his SDI program. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician

Post-Cold War

With the end of the Cold War the United States, and especially Russia, cut down on nuclear weapons spending. Fewer new systems were developed and both arsenals have shrunk. But both countries still maintain stocks of nuclear missiles numbering in the thousands. In the USA, stockpile stewardship programs have taken over the role of maintaining the aging arsenal. Stockpile stewardship refers to the United States program of reliability testing and maintenance of its Nuclear weapons without the use of Nuclear testing

After the Cold War ended, a large amount of resources and money which was once spent on developing nuclear weapons in USSR was then spent on repairing the environmental damage produced by the nuclear arms race, and almost all former production sites are now major cleanup sites. In the USA, the plutonium production facility at Hanford, Washington and the plutonium pit fabrication facility at Rocky Flats, Colorado are among the most polluted sites. The Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex on the Columbia River in south-central Washington operated by the United States government The Rocky Flats Plant was a United States Nuclear weapons production facility near Denver Colorado that operated from 1952 to 1992

United States policy and strategy regarding nuclear proliferation was outlined in 1995 in the document "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence". " Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence " is a document produced in 1995 as a "Terms of Reference" by the Policy Subcommittee of the Strategic Advisory Group (SAG of

Despite efforts made in cleaning up uranium sites, significant problems stemming from the legacy of uranium development still exist today on the Navajo Nation in the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The Navajo Nation ( Diné in the Navajo language) is a semi- autonomous Native American homeland covering about 26000 square miles (67339 square The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Hundreds of abandoned mines have not been cleaned up and present environmental and health risks in many Navajo communities. In addition to this, Navajo communities now have to face proposed new uranium solution mining that threatens the only source of drinking water for 10,000 to 15,000 people living in the Eastern Navajo Agency in northwestern New Mexico. The Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) aims to provide the public with information on resource exploitation on the people and their cultures, lands, water, and air of the American Southwest. The Southwestern area of the United States could be defined as the states west of the Mississippi River, with the qualification of a certain northern limit such as the 37

India and Pakistan

The South-Asian states of India and Pakistan have also engaged in a nuclear arms race. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and India detonated what it called a "peaceful nuclear device" in 1974 ("Smiling Buddha") [17] much to the surprise and alarm of the world who had been giving India nuclear technology for civilian, energy producing and peaceful purposes. Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. The Smiling Buddha was the first nuclear test explosion by India on May 18, 1974 at Pokhran. The test generated great concern in Pakistan, which feared that it would be at the mercy of its long-time arch rival and quickly responded by pursuing its own nuclear weapons program. In the last few decades of the 20th century, Pakistan and India began to develop nuclear-capable rockets, and Pakistan had its own covert bomb program which extended over many years since the first Indian weapon was detonated. In 1998 India, under a new hardline religious government, test detonated 5 more nuclear weapons near its border with Pakistan with many of its politicians openly threatening war. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) While the international response to the detonation was muted, domestic pressure within Pakistan began to build steam and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered the testing of its own nuclear weapons in a tit-for-tat fashion and to act as a deterrent. India claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb as well. Their arms race is somewhat analogous to the US/USSR race. In this case India possesses higher resources than Pakistan to devote on research and development of nuclear arms, but Pakistan has managed to keep pace despite having lesser resources.

Israel

Israel is widely believed to possess a substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons and maintains intermediate-range ballistic missiles to deliver them. The Israeli government refuses to officially confirm or deny that it has a nuclear weapon program, and has an unofficial but rigidly enforced policy of deliberate ambiguity, saying only that it would not be the first to "introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East". Israel is widely believed to be one of the nuclear-armed nation-states not within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the other three being India, Pakistan and North Korea. North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, In a December 2006 interview, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Iran aspires "to have a nuclear weapon as America, France, Israel and Russia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. " Olmert's office later said that the quote was taken out of context, in other parts of the interview, Olmert refused to confirm or deny Israel's nuclear weapon status. According to The Nuclear Threat Initiative, based on Vanunu's information, Israel had approximately 200 nuclear explosive devices by 1980 and a Jericho missile delivery system . Mordechai Vanunu (מרדכי ואנונו born in Marrakech, Morocco on October 13 1954 is an Israeli former nuclear

Milestone nuclear explosions

The following list is of milestone nuclear explosions. In addition to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first nuclear test of a given weapon type for a country is included, and tests which were otherwise notable (such as the largest test ever). The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at All yields (explosive power) are given in their estimated energy equivalents in kilotons of TNT (see megaton). Trinitrotoluene ( TNT) is a Chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO23CH3

Date Name Yield (kT) Country Significance
16 Jul 1945 Trinity 19 Flag of the United States USA First fission device test, first plutonium implosion detonation
6 Aug 1945 Little Boy 15 Flag of the United States USA Bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, first detonation of an enriched uranium gun-type device
9 Aug 1945 Fat Man 21 Flag of the United States USA Bombing of Nagasaki, Japan
29 Aug 1949 RDS-1 22 Flag of the Soviet Union USSR First fission weapon test by the USSR
3 Oct 1952 Hurricane 25 Flag of the United Kingdom UK First fission weapon test by the UK
1 Nov 1952 Ivy Mike 10,400 Flag of the United States USA First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test (not deployable)
12 Aug 1953 Joe 4 400 Flag of the Soviet Union USSR First fusion weapon test by the USSR (not "staged", but deployable)
1 Mar 1954 Castle Bravo 15,000 Flag of the United States USA First deployable "staged" thermonuclear weapon; fallout accident where some people were radiation-poisoned
22 Nov 1955 RDS-37 1,600 Flag of the Soviet Union USSR First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the USSR (deployable)
8 Nov 1957 Grapple X 1,800 Flag of the United Kingdom UK First (successful) "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the UK
13 Feb 1960 Gerboise Bleue 70 Flag of France France First fission weapon test by France
31 Oct 1961 Tsar Bomba 50,000 Flag of the Soviet Union USSR Largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested
16 Oct 1964 596 22 Flag of the People's Republic of China PR China First fission weapon test by the People's Republic of China
17 Jun 1967 Test No. 6 3,300 Flag of the People's Republic of China PR China First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the People's Republic of China
24 Aug 1968 Canopus 2,600 Flag of France France First "staged" thermonuclear test by France
18 May 1974 Smiling Buddha 12 Flag of India India First fission nuclear explosive test by India
11 May 1998 Shakti I 43 Flag of India India First potential fusion/boosted weapon test by India
(exact yields disputed, between 25kt and 45kt)
11 May 1998 Shakti II 12 Flag of India India First deployable fission weapon test by India
28 May 1998 Chagai-I 9-12 Flag of Pakistan Pakistan First fission weapon test by Pakistan. The explosive yield of a nuclear weapon is the amount of Energy, called the Yield, discharged when a Nuclear weapon is detonated expressed usually Events 622 - The beginning of the Islamic calendar. 1054 - Three Roman legates fractured relations between the Western and Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Trinity was the first test of technology for a Nuclear weapon. The United States was the first country in the world to develop Nuclear weapons, and is the only country to have used them as actual weapons, Events 1538 - Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Little Boy was the Codename of the Atomic bomb, developed via the "Manhattan Project" which was dropped on Hiroshima, on August 6 1945 by the The United States was the first country in the world to develop Nuclear weapons, and is the only country to have used them as actual weapons, The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at The Japanese city of ( is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshū, the largest of Japan 's For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Events 48 BC - Caesar's civil war: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar "Fat Man" is the codename for the Atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9 The United States was the first country in the world to develop Nuclear weapons, and is the only country to have used them as actual weapons, The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at ( is the Capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Events 708 - Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708) Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The RDS-1 (РДС-1 also Joe-1, was the USSR's first Nuclear weapon test, named in reference to Joseph Stalin. The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb began during World War II in the Soviet Union. Events 42 BC - First Battle of Philippi: Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight an indecisive battle with Caesar's Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. For the Allied air forces show of force over Germany during World War II see Operation Hurricane (1944 Operation Hurricane was the test of the first The United Kingdom was the third state to test an independently developed Nuclear weapon in October 1952 Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Ivy Mike was the codename given to the first US test of a fusion device where a major part of the explosive yield came from fusion The United States was the first country in the world to develop Nuclear weapons, and is the only country to have used them as actual weapons, Events 1099 - First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon - Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid Year 1953 ( MCMLIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Joe 4 (Warhead name RDS-6s ( Reaktivnyi Dvigatel Stalina; Stalin's Reaction Engine was an American nickname for the first Soviet test of a Thermonuclear The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb began during World War II in the Soviet Union. Events 86 BC - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army enters in Athens, removing the Tyrant Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) Castle Bravo was the Code name given to the first US test of a so-called dry fuel thermonuclear Hydrogen bomb device detonated on March 1, The United States was the first country in the world to develop Nuclear weapons, and is the only country to have used them as actual weapons, Fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a Nuclear explosion, so named because it "falls out" of the atmosphere into which it is spread during the explosion Events 498 - Kofi Aseidu- After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) RDS-37 was the Soviet Union's first "true" (staged Hydrogen bomb, first tested on November 22, 1955. The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb began during World War II in the Soviet Union. Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration Year 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar) Operation Grapple, and operations Grapple X, Grapple Y and Grapple Z, were the names of British nuclear tests The United Kingdom was the third state to test an independently developed Nuclear weapon in October 1952 Events 1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Gerboise Bleue ("blue jerboa" was the name of the first French nuclear test. France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or Events 445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 91 NLTse Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Tsar Bomba (ru Царь-бомба literally " King Bomb" is the Western name for the RDS-220 hydrogen bomb (codenamed "Иван" (Ivan by its The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb began during World War II in the Soviet Union. Events 456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the western Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar. 596 is the codename of the People's Republic of China 's first Nuclear weapons test, detonated on October 16[[ 964]] The People's Republic of China is estimated by the US Government to have an arsenal of about 150 Nuclear weapons as of 1999, which matches Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. The People's Republic of China is estimated by the US Government to have an arsenal of about 150 Nuclear weapons as of 1999, which matches The People's Republic of China is estimated by the US Government to have an arsenal of about 150 Nuclear weapons as of 1999, which matches Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar 's General Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Canopus (also Opération Canopus in French) was the code name for France's first two-stage France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or Events 1152 - Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. The Smiling Buddha was the first nuclear test explosion by India on May 18, 1974 at Pokhran. India is believed to possess an arsenal of Nuclear weapons and maintains intermediate-range Ballistic missiles to deliver them Events 330 - Byzantium is renamed ''Nova Roma'' during a dedication ceremony but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) Pokharan-II refers to test explosions of five Nuclear devices three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998 conducted by India India is believed to possess an arsenal of Nuclear weapons and maintains intermediate-range Ballistic missiles to deliver them Events 330 - Byzantium is renamed ''Nova Roma'' during a dedication ceremony but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) Pokharan-II refers to test explosions of five Nuclear devices three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998 conducted by India India is believed to possess an arsenal of Nuclear weapons and maintains intermediate-range Ballistic missiles to deliver them Events 585 BC - A Solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) Chagai-I refers to the nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan in 1998. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan began focusing on nuclear development in January 1972 under the leadership of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali
9 Oct 2006 Hwadae-ri <1 Flag of North Korea North Korea First fission device tested by North Korea; resulted as a fizzle

"Deployable" refers to whether the device tested could be hypothetically used in actual combat (in contrast with a proof-of-concept device). Events 768 - Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned Kings of The Franks. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The 2006 North Korean nuclear test was the detonation of a nuclear device conducted on October 9, 2006 by the Democratic People's Republic North Korea claims to possess Nuclear weapons and the CIA asserts that it has a substantial arsenal of Chemical weapons. In Nuclear weapons a fizzle occurs when the testing of a nuclear bomb fails to meet its expected yield. "Staging" refers to whether it was a "true" hydrogen bomb of the so-called Teller-Ulam configuration or simply a form of a boosted fission weapon. The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the A boosted fission weapon usually refers to a type of Nuclear bomb that uses a small amount of fusion fuel to increase the rate and thus yield of a fission For a more complete list of nuclear test series, see List of nuclear tests. See also Nuclear testing The following is a list of nuclear test series designations organized first by Country and then by date Some exact yield estimates, such as that of the Tsar Bomba and the tests by India and Pakistan in 1998, are somewhat contested among specialists. Tsar Bomba (ru Царь-бомба literally " King Bomb" is the Western name for the RDS-220 hydrogen bomb (codenamed "Иван" (Ivan by its

References

  1. ^ Key Issues: Nuclear Weapons: History: Pre Cold War: Manhattan Project
  2. ^ The Soviet Nuclear Weapons Program
  3. ^ The Potsdam Conference between allied forces
  4. ^ Atomic Bomb: Decision - Truman Tells Stalin, July 24, 1945
  5. ^ Klaus Fuchs: Atom Bomb Spy
  6. ^ Los Alamos National Laboratory: History: People of Wartime Los Alamos: Spies
  7. ^ Potsdam Note (Animation)
  8. ^ Potsdam Note (Animation)
  9. ^ scramble
  10. ^ United Kingdom Nuclear Forces
  11. ^ China Nuclear Forces
  12. ^ France Nuclear Forces
  13. ^ A toxic legacy : British nuclear weapons testing in Australia [in: Wayward governance : illegality and its control in the public sector]
  14. ^ http://www.senat.fr/rap/o97-179/o97-1799.html (in French)
  15. ^ China's Nuclear Weapons
  16. ^ Theater Missile Systems - China Nuclear Forces
  17. ^ India's Nuclear Weapons Program - Smiling Buddha: 1974

See also


" Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence " is a document produced in 1995 as a "Terms of Reference" by the Policy Subcommittee of the Strategic Advisory Group (SAG of This article refers to deterrent theories of punishment For the legal theory of justice see Deterrence (legal. Nuclear disarmament is the proposed dismantling of Nuclear weapons. A nuclear-free zone is an area where Nuclear weapons (see Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone) and/or Nuclear power is banned The Space Race was a competition of space exploration between the Soviet Union and the United States, which lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975
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