Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear weapons have been the most consequential technology of the postwar era — a class of weapons so destructive that their mere existence has reshaped international politics, military strategy, and human psychology. Since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, no nuclear weapon has been used in war, yet the threat of their use has been the central fact of international security for eight decades.

The nuclear arms race between the United States and Soviet Union produced arsenals of staggering destructive power. At their peak, the two superpowers possessed over 60,000 nuclear warheads — enough to destroy human civilization many times over. The strategy of mutually assured destruction (MAD) created a paradoxical peace: stability through the certainty that any nuclear attack would result in mutual annihilation.

Nuclear proliferation has expanded the 'nuclear club' to nine states: the US, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel (undeclared), and North Korea. Arms control agreements (NPT, SALT, START, New START) have reduced stockpiles from Cold War peaks but have not eliminated the weapons. The risk of nuclear use — through miscalculation, accident, terrorism, or deliberate choice — has not disappeared. Nuclear weapons remain humanity's most profound technological achievement and its most terrifying — a reminder that the power to create and the power to destroy often come from the same source.