What Would Really Happen During A Nuclear War? | Unveiled

What Would Really Happen During a Nuclear War?

Since the end of the Cold War, people have clung to the hope that the threat of a massive nuclear war had passed. Now, with countries in conflict and huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons on Earth, scientists are sounding the alarm again. Fresh studies show precisely how nuclear war would not just affect the areas attacked, but could blanket the entire planet in soot and smoke… leading to a new ice age and threatening the very survival of our species.

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question: What would really happen during a nuclear war?

It’s no secret that multiple countries maintain hoards of active nuclear weapons, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and China. Russia, for example, currently has at least 4,000 active nuclear warheads, which is enough to cause one hundred times more explosive destruction than that seen in World War Two. In February 2022, Russian troops invaded Ukraine; and what especially worries leaders in other parts of the world is that Russia's nuclear policy has been extremely unpredictable in recent times. Therefore, the decision of whether to implement that first nuclear attack, to begin a third and possibly final world war, suddenly rests with one person, who could determine whether literally billions of people live or die.

If this seems incredible, bear in mind that Putin isn’t the only person in the world with such power. One command from the President of the United States, for instance, could initiate an equal amount of destruction. Current president Joe Biden hasn’t expressed any intention to do this, but there’s no guarantee that he, or another, future president, or the leader of another nuclear country, would never make such a decision. There have already been several instances in history where, due to an accident or faulty equipment or even to a misunderstanding, a nuclear attack was just barely averted in time. And so, the threat of nuclear war won’t vanish at the end of the Russia-Ukraine War, even if Putin doesn’t use nuclear weapons within that particular conflict. It will simply have been deferred.

So the questions surrounding it are unfortunately always relevant. Because what is the threat specifically? How much damage would a nuclear war truly cause? While it’s impossible to know for certain, thanks to various studies and quantifications, we can predict what’s most likely to happen.

First would be the bombing. We know to some extent what that is like, because it happened twice in Japan in 1945. The United States became the first, and so far only, country to employ nuclear weapons against another when they dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and then Nagasaki. Of course, the weapons are far more advanced and numerous now, but their immediate effects would be similar.

A white-hot flash of radiation would incinerate thousands of people in seconds; a shock wave would level buildings for miles around; and, depending on the circumstances, a massive firestorm would probably destroy what was left. In the following weeks, many more people would succumb to burns, injuries from flying debris, and radiation poisoning. Those apparently unharmed by the initial blast could be at a higher risk of getting cancer for the rest of their lives, if they happened to be nearby and unprotected; and if a healthy person got sick or hurt after the attack, they would be more likely to die. With hospitals in ruins, and doctors and nurses among the dead, there would be little medical care available.

Even if rescuers from other places wanted to come, and were willing to risk dangerous levels of radiation, they would face tremendous difficulties. Travel by air or sea would probably be impossible. The sun and stars would be blocked out by smoke, plus nuclear explosions produce high levels of electromagnetic pulse, which interferes with electronic and satellite-based communication. Both traditional and technological means of navigation, then, would be severely disrupted… leaving would-be aid workers not knowing where to go, or having the means to get there.

It would be a faster, more destructive, more deadly event than the world has ever seen. And all from a distance. Those initiating such an attack would not have to witness the results; they could simply press a few buttons and let it happen. But they would not remain unaffected for long.

A full-scale nuclear war would be different from the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the accidents at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima. Its effects would not dissipate over the course of a month, or a year, or perhaps even a hundred years. And no matter where the bombs were dropped, all life on Earth would face the consequences.

During a wildfire or a volcanic eruption, large amounts of soot and ash are thrown into the air, sometimes darkening the sky even miles away. A nuclear war would cause something like that - only much, much worse. According to studies - including an August 2022 paper by a team at Rutgers University - the billions of tons of dust, smoke, and soot produced by nuclear firestorms would fill the upper atmosphere, potentially blocking most of the light from the sun. In about a month, most plants - including nearly all food crops - would die. Temperatures would drop, potentially by a larger fall than seen in the last ice age. Large sections of the ocean could freeze, and marine algae - the basis of the entire ocean food web - could disappear.

The tremendous initial heat from the blasts would shoot through the stratosphere and destroy the ozone layer. The Earth’s surface would no longer be protected from harsh ultraviolet rays produced by the sun; and runaway climate change further sets in. The Earth, as we’ve known it and evolved to inhabit it, would never be the same. In the aftermath of such an event, could humanity survive? Although it’s impossible to know for sure, some probably would - but not easily.

A long, cold night would fall over the world. Plants on land and in the water would die, then the animals that eat them, then the animals that eat those animals. Within a few years, billions of people - perhaps the majority of the remaining global population - would starve to death. Those left would be isolated and desperate. Depending on their location, they might have access to stored food and water, but it would likely not last as long as the nuclear winter. Survivors would have to find other sources of nourishment, then. They’d depend largely on what few living creatures might be left in their vicinity - perhaps tough weeds or hardy insects. The lingering radiation, cold, and lack of sanitation would make everyone highly susceptible to infection; and without access to medical care, even mild infections could be deadly.

Still, since there would be a smaller population competing for resources, and enforced isolation would prevent the spread of disease, small groups of people here and there might survive, and even reproduce. After a decade or so, the Earth’s climate might begin to recover - according to one, multi-authored 2019 study - but what would be left? Barren lands, empty seas, a handful of other life-forms tough enough to make it through the nuclear winter with us… and that’s it.

Thanks to one war, the next war, civilization as we know it would be over. Whether the remnants of humanity would someday be able to rebuild a global community is impossible to tell; for the immediate future, though, they’d merely be struggling to survive, alone, in a ruined wasteland.

Obviously, most people don’t want this to happen. So why is the risk still present? Why have humans stockpiled enough nuclear weapons to wipe out most of life on Earth, including ourselves? But, really, the most important question we face now is; What can we do to prevent nuclear war in the future? While the knowledge of nuclear fission cannot be unlearned, there is an obvious solution: get rid of nuclear weapons. To quote the Union of Concerned Scientists, “The only way to completely eliminate nuclear risks is to eliminate nuclear weapons from the planet”. Without nuclear weapons, no one person or country would have the power to threaten the future of all humankind.

Unfortunately, now that the weapons do exist, no country wants to be the first to destroy them; they fear that without nuclear bombs of their own, they will be vulnerable to attack by others. And no nation trusts all other countries to get rid of their nuclear weapons, too, even if there were a world-wide agreement to do so. The result is a perilous standoff, with everyone holding their breath and hoping that no one else will decide to start World War Three.

Do we really want to let the fate of our species rest on the decision of one person, or one group of people? How long must we all live in fear of a blinding flash that would destroy in seconds what took centuries to build? And then the long, dark winter that would follow, slowly killing whoever was left… should that always loom over us? These are further questions we must all consider, since we would all suffer the consequences: the consequences of what would really happen during a nuclear war.