The threat of nuclear annihilation reshaped global diplomacy

Manhattan Project explained

Driven by fears of a Nazi nuclear bomb, the Manhattan Project united leading scientists to build the first atomic weapons. Its success ended World War II, caused catastrophic human loss, and launched the nuclear age that reshaped global politics and science.

Discovering how the dinosaurs went extinct may have helped avert nuclear war

This NPR Throughline episode explains how the 1980 discovery that an asteroid-driven dust cloud killed the dinosaurs inspired Cold War scientists’ fears of “nuclear winter”—a sunlight-blocking aftermath of nuclear war that may have discouraged leaders from launching one.

Four Cold War hawks warn: Nuclear weapons still threaten the world

Despite the Cold War's end, the US and Russia still hold 95% of the world's nuclear weapons—many on hair-trigger alert. In this 2010 documentary, top former officials urge urgent action to reduce and eliminate the threat.

Watch 'The Atomic Café'—Cold War satire that exposed nuclear propaganda and proliferation risks

This 1982 collage-documentary uncovers a surreal Cold War era: US civil defense films downplayed nuclear horror, arguing the films fueled public complacency, while the arms race and civilian nuclear hype fueled global proliferation fears before NPT safeguards emerged.

The Soviet Union’s surprising first atomic test ended the US nuclear monopoly

In 1949, the USSR successfully tested its first atomic bomb—ending the US monopoly on nuclear weapons and sparking an arms race that would define the Cold War.

Cold War nuclear tests exposed thousands to atomic blasts

After World War II, nuclear powers conducted thousands of weapons tests. This video pairs archival footage with interviews of veterans who witnessed Pacific test explosions, capturing the scale, shock, and human experience of being near a nuclear detonation.

Questions about the US' commitment to its allies may have sparked a new nuclear age

Some US allies—from Warsaw to Seoul—are reevaluating their security amid doubts over American nuclear commitment, signaling the possibility they may want to acquire their own weapons.

A primer on the president's nuclear football

During the Cold War, the United States and the USSR were forced to prepare for a nuclear strike at a moment's notice, leading to a new innovation: the so-called "football" (known as the chemodanchik in Russia), a bag containing nuclear strike plans, authentication codes, and likely a communication device, which attended the country's leader wherever they went. This easy-to-read piece breaks down the history and lore around the high-stakes quirk in nuclear governance.

Oppenheimer reflected on the atomic bomb's legacy two decades later

In a 1965 CBS interview, J. Robert Oppenheimer discussed his role as Los Alamos director, expressing deeply mixed feelings about Hiroshima and Nagasaki and reflecting on how nuclear weapons had transformed the world since their first use.

The failed Bay of Pigs invasion led to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation

Moscow's decision to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba—just 90 miles from the US—pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war. To prevent future crises, both sides later set up a direct hotline and boosted arms-control diplomacy

Chernobyl pushed the world to create rapid-alert systems for nuclear accidents

In the aftermath of the disaster, nations adopted new agreements requiring immediate international notification of nuclear accidents. They coordinated emergency assistance—efforts led by the International Atomic Energy Agency to prevent future disasters from being concealed when radiation emergencies occur.

The Cold War (1947-1991) prompted the birth of NATO and the Soviet Warsaw Pact

The geopolitical rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union was considered “cold" because the two countries never directly engaged in military combat during the time period. This page from the Kennedy Presidential Library outlines the causes and major events of the early Cold War.

Visualizing the chemistry of nuclear weapons

Nuclear weapons have devastating effects, but the science of how they work is atomically small. There are two main types of nuclear reaction: fission and fusion. The fission bomb produces immense energy by splitting an atom, the result of firing a...

The alliance operates under a "flexible response" doctrine—that is, proportionality

NATO countries' main deterrent against aggression is their ability to respond with nuclear weapons. This video from "The Infographics Show" outlines the purpose of this nuclear arsenal, NATO’s strategy to prevent attacks, and its plans in the event of escalation toward nuclear war.

The North Korean nuclear threat, explained

What would happen if North Korea gets a working ICBM Watch this six-minute video by Vox for an explanation of the North Korean nuclear threat. The Soviet Union first gave nuclear technology to North Korea in the 1950s, when they helped their ally...

The Non‑Proliferation Treaty was designed to prevent new states from developing nuclear bombs

The Treaty on the Non‑Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (created in 1968, effective 1970) binds non-nuclear states to forgo nuclear weapons and commits nuclear powers to share peaceful technology and pursue disarmament—forming the core of the global non-proliferation regime.

How Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill shaped the postwar world

The Yalta Conference was a pivotal 1945 meeting between Allied leaders that helped shape the postwar global order and laid the groundwork for the founding of the United Nations.

John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima’ focused on the stories of atomic bomb victims

The nonfiction book is considered one of the earliest pieces of New Journalism and an arresting case against nuclear warfare. Describing the pain, wounds and trauma of six ordinary citizens, “Hiroshima” played a powerful role in American perception of the war by focusing on its human toll.

A list of reasons against dropping the bomb on Japan

One of the perennial moral debates, the dropping of nuclear bombs on Japanese cities prompted strong, polarizing reactions at the time. This article breaks down one side of the argument: that the bomb was designed for defense, using it was illegal and racist, and that there were alternatives.

The treaty that ended the First World War laid the groundwork for the Second

On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles officially ended World War I by demanding severe reparations, territorial losses, military restrictions, and the infamous “war guilt clause” against Germany. However, its harsh terms fostered deep resentment, economic instability, and political turmoil—ultimately becoming a catalyst for World War II.

Relationships between countries have become more peaceful since the rules-based order was established

Our World in Data monitors bilateral relationships on a spectrum from open rivalry to "positive peace"—deep cooperation and mutual protection. In 1945, no countries had highly cooperative security relationships. Today, nearly a fifth do.

The 1967 war was the first use of oil as a geopolitical weapon

Following the June 1967 Arab–Israeli war, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Libya, and Algeria embargoed oil shipments to the US, UK, and West Germany. While the move did not have a large impact, it reshaped global oil flows, and foreshadowed OAPEC's later actions.

Truman's decision to enter the Korean War without congressional authorization marked a major shift in presidential war powers

Rather than seeking a declaration of war, Truman sent troops to Korea under his own authority, citing the UN Charter and his role as commander in chief. The decision set a precedent that subsequent presidents have relied on ever since.

How the NSA has changed through history

The National Security Agency was born in the Cold War and then transformed by 9/11. This article answers all the basic questions you might have about the NSA, from what it does to how much data it collects to some of its useful intercepts.

Explore the Council on Foreign Relations' essay collection on the future of US foreign policy

This project brings together expert essays examining the future of American strategy, regional relations, geoeconomics, great power rivalry, and war in a rapidly changing global landscape.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is not a pristine document, and even features a smudged anonymous handprint in the bottom left corner.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

Experimental hantavirus vaccines and therapies, still under development, have long been funded by the US military.