The United States and Nuclear Weapon

The United States Were the first Country to Create a Nuclear Weapon (Harris). The First sustained nuclear chain reaction was in December 1942 (Harris). Nuclear weapons have been involved in many wars (Harris).

A nuclear weapon is a device designed to release energy in an explosive manner as a result of nuclear fission, or nuclear fusion (Harris). When a nuclear weapon detonated a fireball occurs with temperatures similar to those at the center of the sun (Harris). Fission weapons are atomic bombs (Harris). Fusion weapons are hydrogen bombs (Harris). The energy emitted takes several forms; Approximately 85% of the explosive energy produces air blast and thermal radiation (Harris). The remaining 15% is released as initial radiation, produced within the first minute or so, and residual radiation emitted over a period of time, some of which can be in the form of a local fallout (Harris).

The United States supervised the development of the atomic bomb, under the code name Manhattan Project, during World War Two (Harris). The first sustained nuclear chain reaction was in December 1942 at the University of Chicago (Harris). The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 at Japan (Harris).

The bombs were assembled on Tinian Island in the Marinaras and loaded into the bays of specially equipped B-29s (Le Max). As in the test at Alamogordo, the explosion began with a burst of light brighter than a thousand suns, accompanied by a tremendous blast of sound (Le Max). On the morning of August 6, 1945, a plane piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets Jr. dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan (Le Max).
They dropped the bomb on Hiroshima on August 6th at 8:15 am (Le Max). An area of 4.4 square miles was almost completely burned out and over seventy thousand people were killed (Le Max). Between seventy thousand and eighty thousand more people were injured, and tens of thousands subsequently would succumb to radiation poisoning (Le Max).

A second bomb was dropped at 11:02 am on August 9, 1945, over Nagasaki, Japan (Le Max). Roughly 1.8 square miles were devastated (Le Max). Between thirty-five thousand and forty thousand people were killed, and an equal number injured (Le Max).

On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union had declared war against Japan (Le Max). On August 10th the Japanese government surrendered (Le Max).
The Cold war developed after World War Two between The United States and The Soviet Union and their allies (Cold War). After the surrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945, the alliance with the Soviet Union began to crumble. By 1948 the Soviets had installed left-wing governments in the countries of Eastern Europe (Cold War). The American feared this, but the Soviets remained control, at the same time United States aid under the Marshall Plan had made Eastern Europe in American influence (Cold War). In 1949 the Soviets exploded their first atomic warhead, ending the United States monopoly on the atomic bomb (Cold War). Also in 1949, the Chinese communists came into power, and in 1950, the Soviet-supported communist government of North Korea invaded United States-supported South Korea Setting off the Korean war, which lasted until 1953 (Cold War).

From 1953 to 1957 Cold War tensions relaxed somewhat, owing to the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, but the standoff continued (Cold War). The Soviet bloc-countries formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955, the same time West Germany was admitted into NATO (Cold War). In 1958-1962 the United States and the Soviet Union began developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (Cold War). In 1962 the Soviets began secretly installing missiles in Cuba that could be used to launch nuclear attacks on US Cities (Cold War). That sparked the Cuban missile crisis (Cold War).

The two superpowers soon signed the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty of 1963, Which banned above-ground nuclear weapons testing (Cold War). But the Soviets began a buildup of both conventional and strategic forces that the United States was forced to match for the next twenty-five years (Cold War). In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and 15 newly independent nations were born (Cold War).

The Cuban missile crisis was an event that occurred in October 1962 (Cuban Missile). The crisis happened during the period known as the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union (Cuban Missile). In 1959 communists, led by Fidel Castro, had taken control of Cuba (Cuban Missile). The United States cut off supplies to the island and demanded that the missiles be removed (Cuban Missile).

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