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Nuclear weapon: Difference between revisions
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A '''Nuclear Weapon''' is a weapon of mass-destruction created in the middle 20st century by physicists and scientists on [[Earth]]. A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. As a result, even a nuclear weapon with a small yield is significantly more powerful than the largest conventional explosives, and a single weapon is capable of destroying an entire city. | A '''Nuclear Weapon''' is a weapon of mass-destruction created in the middle 20st century by physicists and scientists on [[Earth]]. A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. As a result, even a nuclear weapon with a small yield is significantly more powerful than the largest conventional explosives, and a single weapon is capable of destroying an entire city. | ||
The first nuclear weapon (and later, more nuclear arms) was created by the [[United States]] with help from an international team, including many displaced scientists from central Europe, which included [[Federal Republic of Germany|Germany]], with assistance from the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Canada]] during World War II as part of the top-secret "Manhattan Project". While the first weapons were developed primarily out of fear that | The first nuclear weapon (and later, more nuclear arms) was created by the [[United States]] with help from an international team, including many displaced scientists from central Europe, which included [[Federal Republic of Germany|Germany]], with assistance from the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Canada]] during World War II as part of the top-secret "Manhattan Project". While the first weapons were developed primarily out of fear that Nazi Germany would develop them first, they were eventually used against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first test was conducted on July 16, 1945 at a site near Alamogordo, New [[Mexico]]. The [[Soviet Union]] developed and tested their first nuclear weapon in 1949, based partially on information obtained from Soviet espionage in the United States. Both the U.S. and USSR would go on to develop weapons powered by nuclear fusion (hydrogen bombs) by the mid-1950s. With the invention of reliable rocketry during the 1960s, it became possible for nuclear weapons to be delivered anywhere in the world on a very short notice, and the two Cold War superpowers adopted a strategy of deterrence to maintain a shaky peace. | ||
===World War II=== | ===World War II=== | ||
During World War II, two major nuclear detonations took place on [[Earth]] on the territory of the former [[Japan|Empire of Japan]], in the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The detonations were made by the [[United States of America]], and they represented the decisive strike in the fall of the Axis Powers. | During World War II, two major nuclear detonations took place on [[Earth]] on the territory of the former [[Japan|Empire of Japan]], in the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The detonations were made by the [[United States of America]], and they represented the decisive strike in the fall of the Axis Powers. | ||