The Decision When Harry Truman learned of the success of the creation of nuclear weapons, he was faced with the most difficult decision in history. The capacity to end the war with Japan was in his hands, but it would involve unleashing the most terrible weapon ever known. Truman ultimately had to decide if the gains from ending the war would outweigh the destruction from ordering the bombs and leading the world into the nuclear age. After very careful deliberation Truman made the right decision on ordering the use of the atomic bomb. The decision prevented millions of American casualties, millions of Japanese casualties, and served as a deterrent to the USSR expansion.
The roots can be found in the stagnation of the Soviet system in the late 1970s and early 1980s and perhaps most importantly in the ascension of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who opened the floodgates of change.Yet the ending might not have happened but for outside pressures, and this is where Reagan's legacy lies.The United States, in the years before and during the Reagan presidency, underwent a revolution in high technology that the Soviets could not match. The Soviet system was under pressure from Reagan's defense buildup and deployment of medium-range missiles in Europe, the CIA-backed mujaheddin fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan and Reagan's proposed missile defense system, the Strategic Defence Initiative. Reagan also challenged Soviet regional power in several conflicts from Nicaragua to Angola and lent support to the Polish dissident movement. These final battles of the Cold War shaped Reagan's foreign policy, including his determination to support rebels fighting Nicaragua's ruling Sandinistas, a Marxist group, in the 1980s. In Reagan's second term, it was disclosed that he had bypassed congressional restrictions on aiding the rebels, known as the contras, in part by diverting $3.8 million from the secret sale of 2,000 antitank missiles
America then created the Hydrogen bomb. Both countries steadily built their nuclear weaponry in secret which prompted both sides to send spies to collect information of the other country’s progress. This caused a feeling of mistrust and contempt and caused a strong dislike between the two. Another incident that affected the relationship was the Berlin Blockade in 1948 that lasted into 1949. The Soviets cut off the western side of Berlin and prevented the Americans, British and French from accessing the city.
More recently, there was Hitler's genocidal six-million-death final solution to the Jewish problem, and the Communists' ten of millions of mass murders continue to this day. All this has been done without benefit of nuclear power. Many made comments came at the beginning of the atomic or nuclear age, and while the source and the judgment deserve respect, experience has shown that nuclear power in Western hands deterred a third world war and ultimately caused the collapse of the greatest
In response to the bombing of Japan, the Soviet Union and Communist China developed their own nuclear weapons. This marked the beginning of the Cold War, the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United Sates was due to the fact that both countries wanted to become the sole superpower of the world, and they also disagreed on what the world should look like postwar. The Cold War lasted for several years and had many period of heightened tension such as the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. World War II impacted America in many ways the GI Bill helped stimulate the economy which led to development and expansion into the west. Due to the financial securities family sizes increased and gave us the baby boom era.
Kelly Roberts Dr. Jodie Nicotra ENGL 505 Essay #2 September 19, 2011 Reagan’s Challenger Disaster Speech Appealed to American Values The Cold War between the United States and Russia lasted for nearly 50 years. Throughout the war, the United States worked to maintain an international profile of superiority and power. No image demonstrated this more than that of rockets launching into space. The space race between the United States and Russia was more than just a show of strength, it served as a way for each country to show the other how quickly their technology was progressing. This may not seem important now, but at the time both countries were conducting top-secret nuclear research and while they did not want to publicly reveal their progress, they did want to project the message to the world that—whatever progress they had made—it was better and farther along than the progress of their enemies.
At the time, revenge, geopolitics and an expensive project that could not be allowed to simply rust away, meant the atomic bomb had to be hastily deployed “in the field” in order to see its power and aftermath – though little was known about radiation and its effects on humans. The price to keep the USSR in check was steep: the use of a weapon of mass destruction that caused around 200,000 deaths (most of them civilians) and massive suffering through radiation. However, it did not stop the USSR from creating the same weapon within four
The decision to drop the bombs was one of the most difficult things President Truman had to do during his Presidency. Japan would remember the tragic dates and the aftermath it brought. People can only imagine what the inventors of the atomic bomb felt; they created such
The arms race began in 1945 when the US dropped their atomic bomb on Japan. Not only did this demonstrate the power of the USA but was the catalyst for an age of rapid weapon development, the arms race. This ended with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963, an event that bought the superpowers dangerously close nuclear war. A number of factors other than the accumulating advancements in weaponry lead to the Cuban missile crisis, the personalities of the leaders and the national interests of each country all effected how the arms race developed, leading to the inevitable situation where the USA and USSR were left hovering over the trigger. The main aspect that lead to the Cuban missile crisis was the arms development between 1945-1963.
The Chernobyl accident that took place in 1986 is worst ever nuclear disaster faced by mankind. The accident that took place on April, 1986 is the result of a flawed reactor design and incompetent personals that were not properly trained. As a result of the accident, extremely harmful and toxic radioactive elements were released into the environment, the fallout of which is felt even to this day. The accident had tremendous health, economic, social and environmental consequences and it severely affected the lives of a huge section of population in the countries of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. The main radioactive elements that cause maximum damage to the affected population were iodine-131 and caesium-137.