The atomic bomb: universal evil or a panacea for world wars?

The history of atomic weapons begins with the discoveries of J. Curie in 1939. Then the scientists realized that the chain reaction of some elements can be accompanied by the release of a prohibitive amount of energy. Subsequently, this formed the basis of nuclear weapons.

The atomic bomb is a weapon of mass destruction. In the process of its explosion, so much energy is released in a relatively small space, which, when projected to the ground, causes seismic shocks.

The damaging factors of nuclear weapons: a strong shock wave, thermal energy, light, penetrating radiation, and a powerful electromagnetic pulse. The atomic bomb is made on the basis of plutonium. Uranium is also used.

The first atomic bomb was created and tested by Americans on July 16, 1945 in the town of Almogordo. This demonstrated to the world the whole formidable force of nuclear weapons. Then, in August of the same year, new weapons were used against civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japanese cities were practically erased from the face of the planet by shock waves, and the survivors of the bombings later died of radiation sickness. Their death was painful and long. The use of US nuclear weapons was conditioned not so much by military necessity as by the intention to intimidate the USSR with new weapons. In fact, this marked the beginning of the Cold War and the arms race.

Stalin correctly understood the hint, but did not yield to blackmail. All the forces of the country were thrown to create a "symmetrical response" - Soviet nuclear weapons. For its development, a special committee was formed under the leadership of L. Beria, which included such luminaries of science as I. Kurchatov, P. Kapitsa and A. Ioffe. The captured German documents on the Bulgarian high-quality uranium deposits helped to provide the project with nuclear fuel, and timely intelligence on US nuclear weapons significantly accelerated the development.

Information that the USSR is actively developing an atomic bomb, caused the ruling elite of the United States the desire to unleash a preventive war. For these purposes, the Troyan plan was developed, according to which the military operations were planned on January 1, 1950. At that time, the United States already had 300 nuclear bombs. The plan provided for the destruction of the seventy largest Soviet cities.

However, the Soviet Union outstripped the aggressors. In 1949, on August 29, the USSR atomic bomb was successfully tested at the test site near Semipalatinsk. The device, code-named "RDS-1", was undermined at 7 am. The whole world was informed about this event. Successful tests of nuclear weapons in 1949 thwarted plans for an attack by the Americans on the Soviet Union because of the threat of a retaliatory strike. After all, now the Soviet Union also had an atomic bomb, which put an end to the "atomic monopoly" of the United States. A new, active phase of the Cold War began.

The Soviet nuclear bomb was only 22 kilotons in strength. Now, high-power thermonuclear devices carry a megaton of destructive energy. Humanity has created the most destructive weapons, but the presence of such weapons keeps it from new world wars.