A
nuclear war
is a
war
in which
countries
fight with
nuclear weapons
. Because nuclear weapons are extremely powerful and could cause destruction throughout the world, the possibility of nuclear war has had a great effect on international
politics
.
So far,
two nuclear weapons
have been used during
warfare
. They were used in the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
and resulted in the deaths of approximately 120,000 people. Thousands of much more powerful bombs were made in later years. They have not yet been used in war.
[1]
Nuclear
bombs
were invented by the United States with Canadian and British help during
World War II
to help make that war stop. The destruction of
Hiroshima
and
Nagasaki
and the
Soviet
invasion of
Manchuria
caused
Japan
to surrender. They are still the only nuclear weapons that have ever been used in fighting a war. At that time only the United States had the
technology
needed to make these bombs, but within a few years the
Soviet Union
had developed it too. In the new
Cold War
, the United States and the Soviet Union were enemies and each had many nuclear weapons, but they did not dare to use them against each other, either directly or by attacking the other country's
allies
. Since either country could be completely destroyed by the other's weapons, nuclear war could no longer be limited to the use of only one or two bombs; if they were used anywhere by one side, the other would attack with its own nuclear weapons, and the fighting would almost certainly become greater. This situation came to be known as the "balance of terror," or
Mutually Assured Destruction
, and stopped conflicts between the two superpowers from leading to a third
world war
.
Since the
end of Communist rule
in
Russia
and
Eastern Europe
, tensions between America and Russia have eased and war has become less likely. However, today there is more worry about
nuclear proliferation
. Countries around the world who already have their own bombs include
Britain
,
France
,
China
,
Israel
,
India
,
Pakistan
and
North Korea
; as all kinds of technology tend to become cheaper and easier to get and use, there is a fear that nuclear weapons could become available to countries with unstable governments. There is also the possibility that
terrorists
might be able to capture or build nuclear weapons and use them. the threat of nuclear war is thought to have increased after the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
, as Russian threatened to use nuclear weapons during the invasion.
[2]
Ever since the end of World War II, writers, film-makers, and artists have created works of
fiction
imagining how a nuclear war might happen and what life would be like afterwards. Most have pictured widespread death and destruction, and a grim post-
armageddon
world where a few survivors struggle to live without power, medicine, or food. Some have pictured
civilization
breaking down completely, and primitive societies developing; with the past world becoming forgotten.