GOV 312L Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Nuclear Warfare, Mutual Assured Destruction, Conventional Warfare
Document Summary
First nuclear weapons were developed during wwll by scientists working for the us government on the top secret manhattan project. Us government wanted to develop nuclear weapons to achieve political goals. They were competing with other global powers in a race to develop atomic weapons because of the advantages this powerful weapon offered to the states. Less american casualties than a land invasion of japan. Persuaded the soviet union to stay out of the pacific war and allowed for the subsequent american occupation and reconstruction of japan. The atomic bombs that were dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki were the first and only atomic weapons ever used in combat. If a nuclear war broke out between the soviet union and the us during the cold war it would have produced unimaginable losses. Nine states have successfully developed nuclear weapons. Us and russia have the majority of the worlds nuclear weapons.
