What Happens If America Drops Another Nuclear Bomb? | Unveiled

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What Would Happen if America Dropped Another Nuclear Bomb?</h4>

History remembers J. Robert Oppenheimer as the father of the atomic bomb. He was a leading, guiding figure in the Manhattan Project, the USA’s mission to develop nuclear weapons during the Second World War. And he was present at the Trinity Test, the first ever detonation of a nuke on Earth. Considering that moment afterwards, Oppenheimer famously channeled Hindu scripture. “Now I am become death” he said, “the destroyer of worlds”. Less than a month after Trinity, the US dropped the bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. And then another on Nagasaki, three days later. The war swiftly ended, and the world was left reeling in the wake of those two, massive, mushroom cloud explosions. Nothing like them had ever been seen before. Until now, nothing comparable has ever been seen since. But what if, at some nightmarish time in the future, that were to change?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; what would happen if America dropped another nuclear bomb.

The nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on the 6th and 9th of August 1945, claimed more than 200,000 lives - the majority of them, civilians. And, while the data varies, it’s thought that more than half of those who were killed died either instantly or within the first twenty-four hours. The merciless power of the atomic bomb is unlike anything else that humankind has ever inflicted on itself. Today, the use of nukes is massively prohibited. However, and despite their numbers falling since a mid-1980s peak, there are still thousands of active nuclear warheads on Earth right now. Most of the world’s leading political powers - including the US, Russia, and China - control a nuclear arsenal that’s now many, many times stronger than those early, devastating weapons used on Japan. For this generation, the possibility of nuclear war perhaps isn’t spoken about quite so much as it has been in the past… but that might only be because it has morphed into a depressing and disturbingly inevitable background noise.

All to say that many countries in the twenty-first century do have nuclear capability. Issue the right series of commands, and multiple world leaders could launch another bomb at any one moment. In America, specifically, the final call rests with the President. There are multiple, purpose built command centers in the US - including in a basement below the White House - from which the President could launch an attack. More famously, though, there’s the so-called nuclear football. This is a small, portable briefcase, which it’s said is always carried by a nearby aide whenever the President is traveling. Also known as the atomic football, the black bag, and the black box, inside there are launch codes to stage an attack on the move. As well as classified documents detailing emergency locations that the President should head to. In terms of US national security, there are few more significant items than the nuclear football.

Naturally, many of America’s weapons are housed in the US itself. But, actually, some of the most strategically important are stored elsewhere, such as in Europe. The US has nuclear weapons facilities, for example, in Germany, Italy and Turkey, and well within easy range of most other nuclear powers - including Russia. While, then, the stereotypical image of nuclear war sees missiles being launched from faroff coastlines, over oceans, and into target regions… the reality wouldn’t be like that. Nowadays, there are countless potential hotspots all over the world map; checkpoints and territories for either side in any potential conflict. And with millions of people inevitably caught in the crossfire. There would then be very little time between the President issuing the command, and the world witnessing the carnage.

So, what happens next? Most likely there would be counter strikes, and counter strikes to those counter strikes, and so on. The deadliest war of all time really could unfold within just a few days. Perhaps even just a few hours. When the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it marked the end of an incredibly dark technological race; a race to be the first to develop nuclear weaponry. America won that contest, and the untold destruction was proof of that. At the time, no one could retaliate in kind. Today, though, the diplomatic picture has hugely changed, and multiple countries can respond. If America dropped another nuclear bomb - on, really, any target - then it would be placing itself under instant threat, as well. Under Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s, this brutal and unsettling point of balance came to be known as MAD (or, M.A.D., Mutually Assured Destruction). Decades have passed since Reagan’s tenure, but the situation remains much the same. And Robert Oppenheimer’s words, “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds”, are perhaps even more relevant.

Because would any political links remain unsevered for America, if they were the ones to push this particular button? Would any other state be able to support whoever it was that lit this particular fuse? There’s the physical destruction that a nuclear attack would bring, yes, but how would the diplomacy (or lack of) play out? If another nuclear bomb is ever used - by anyone - then would that also signal an end to globalization? Would those that survive the probable war afterwards struggle to rebuild civilization itself, as it once was? With all things considered, would they want to? Oppenheimer’s destroyer of worlds can be taken literally, referring to the smoking, choking, toxic ruin that a nuclear strike would leave… but there are more indirect meanings too, relating to the long term wounds and scars on society and the human psyche.

That said, there’s no doubt that the immediate situation would be desperately bleak for everyone affected. Consider the damage and devastation that would litter global landscapes once the initial flurry of missile launches had finally ceased. Perhaps some of those missiles would be intercepted before impact; perhaps some wouldn’t strike with as much force as expected; but many (probably most) would reach their target, and basically disintegrate it. If America (or anyone) dropped another nuclear bomb, then one week later there could literally be millions of people dead. Maybe a couple hundred thousand from that first act of aggression, perhaps half a million or more if a large city is struck… but then double, treble, quadruple those harrowing numbers to account for just trading blows in the nuclear age. The potential death rate of nuclear war is truly off the scale compared to anything else. This would be no slow, strategic battle, with soldiers lost in the field; instead, it would be fast and fiery explosions, detonating in built-up areas over and over, and over again. 

Of course, there would be various (and variously terrible) long-term effects, too. Many predict that if a nuclear strike were to lead to nuclear war, then that could lead to a nuclear winter. This is a large-scale, worldwide environmental event that could even lead to a temporary blocking out of the sun - according to some models. In a world plagued by fallout, food that’s safe to eat and water that’s safe to drink become rarer and rarer commodities. Whole sections of the map would be dangerous to even walk through, with radiation lining the soil. Even the cities that weren’t hit directly during the war itself, will’ve become highly unstable and dangerous places. The buildings and towers we built before standing only as bygone relics of a long gone age.

Clearly, this same scenario could unfold if any aggressor made the first move - not just the United States. If any nuclear power were to drop their first nuclear weapon, then the same terrifying chain of events could quickly unravel - strike, counter strike, war, and winter. America stands apart because it alone has used nuclear weapons before. Whether or not this means that it would be more likely to resort to them again, is impossible to know. But the watching world understands that the finger in the US is always poised. The notorious nuclear football - carried from place to place, wherever the President goes - is clear evidence of that.

So, what do you think would happen if America dropped another bomb? Do you think it will ever happen again, at all? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. For now, we can take some comfort in the fact that there are international laws and regulations designed to stop the worst from happening. We can only hope that they continue to hold up.