Nuclear weapons cause a great deal of controversy. Arguments over whether their creation is a benefit to the country or an unnecessary danger are very popular. Because of ongoing tensions between America and Iran, when Iran began to create nuclear weapons, the US believed it was best for the country to continue creating them. A major reason that people may be against the creation of these weapons, is because of their lack of knowledge on how the nuclear weapons have been developed since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the bombings many peoples perspectives changed. Treaties and tensions were created after the bomb droppings and the it brought the world a lot more worry than was ever necessary.
Most people don’t entirely understand how nuclear bomb work and how they are safeguarded, which can really affect their idea of nuclear weapons. One obvious fact is that these nuclear weapons are extremely powerful and need to be protected. Nuclear weapons either split an atom or fuse an atom to make an explosion much larger and powerful than any conventional weapon. The reason nuclear weapons and America were created was because their was a race to be the first country to create the atom bomb. Many countries had already started trying to create their own, so the US along with the United Kingdom began the “Manhattan Project”.
The “Manhattan Project” was a project conducted by a group of American scientists trying to create nuclear weapons. The government began funding this project in 1940 saying that because other countries were creating there own, it was necessary. It was completed on July 16, 1945 and was dropped in Alamogordo desert in New Mexico, away from anything it could hurt. Only a little less than a month after the test bomb was dropped, the actual bomb was dropped on Hiroshima killing 70,000 people instantly. A little later another nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki killing only a little less than the 70,000 killed with the last bomb but still caused Japan to surrendered on August 15, 1945 from World War II. The mind set had of America was effected heavily and for a lot of people the thought of the thousands of innocent people killed with the nuclear weapons frightened them.
People all across the world became worried of the powers that the nuclear bomb and other nuclear weapons had, and if in the wrong hands what they would do with it. Nuclear weapons practically split the countries of the world into two categories: countries with nuclear weapons and countries without them. Countries all over the world worked very hard to try and develop their own nuclear powers to match that of the US and countries with nuclear powers worked hard to advance the nuclear powers they already had and create different nuclear weapons. The US and Soviet Union both had developed the H-bomb and tested it by 1954. The nuclear power crave was getting way out of hand and needed to be slowed and hopefully eventually stopped. There was a treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean that established the world's first nuclear weapons-free zone called the Treaty of Tlatelolco which already had 21 countries sign it by 1968. There also needed to be a treaty for countries with nuclear weapons.
The US and Soviet Union created a treaty that addressed both countries with nuclear weapons and without them, in 1968, called the NPT. The NPT or the Non-Proliferation Treaty was a treaty made to try and get rid of nuclear weapons by getting countries to agree not to use nuclear weapons or in any way help another country create nuclear weapons. The NPT quickly received many signatures and helped to slow the creation rate of nuclear weapons. Other than secret creation projects and non signees of the NPT, the treaty worked very well. The only real trouble that the NPT faced, happened when North Korea threatened to withdraw themselves after the US pushed the United Nations to punish North Korea for their third nuclear test. The treaty is still in use and all members of the United Nations with the exception of Israel, India, and Pakistan have signed it.
Iran and America have had tension for many years because of terrorist attacks on America and because in 1979 Iran protestors took dozens of staff members in the American Embassy in Tehran as hostages. Ever since then America and Iran have not been on the greatest terms with one another which worries the US especially with the thought of Iran progressing their Nuclear weapons. America has many reasons to worry about Iran progressing their nuclear weapons because of their many acts of terrorism, and because Iran already has a very aggressive foreign policy and it would become much worse with the addition of more powerful nuclear weapons. Although Iran’s nuclear missiles don’t have the power to reach all the way to the US, they could still be launched of a ship or plane or many other things that would make it easily possible.
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| Hiroshima Nuclear Bomb |
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| Hiroshima Explosion |
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| Nagasaki Nuclear Bomb |
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| Nagasaki Explosion |
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| Nuclear Weapon States |
This Site was helpful because it gave me some questions to help start my research. It also helped me learn how controversial the bombings were among people and things that they would argue.
This site was good for my research because it gave me an overview of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I told me how the US warned Japan before the bomb droppings and the reasoning for them dropping them.
This site helped me get information on why there is tension between the US and Iran which could help me further explain why the US should be worried about Iran's nuclear weapons.
This site was my favorite and most used site because it was structured in a timeline and helped me get an idea of what the bombings after effects were. It also introduced me to some treaties that were created because of nuclear power including the NPT and the Treaty of Tlatelolco.
This site was really helpful in explaining how the nuclear bomb works and how it was developed. It explained what a neutron was and which famous scientist worked on creating nuclear weapons.How Nuclear Weapons Work
I used this site to explain in more detail how exactly nuclear weapons and explosions work. I learned that there are two types of nuclear explosions: nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.
I found this site to explain to me why the US was worried about Iran's nuclear power. It gave me multiple examples of why it would be a problem and why the US wanted Iran's advancing in nuclear weapons to be stopped.Nuclear Fusion and Fission
This was another site that I used to learn how nuclear weapons were created and how the scientists split or fused the atoms. It was very hard to understand but I received a good overview of how they work.
