The effects of nuclear weapons on politics

According to the trustworthy online encyclopedia Britannica, a nuclear weapon is defined as

“device designed to release energy in an explosive manner as a result of nuclear fission, nuclear
fusion, or a combination of the two processes”. 1However, I am of the opinion that this definition
does not serve the bombs enough justice and recognition. A more appropriate explanation would
be a tool of massive destruction, used in times of war and hardship, that has the capability of
eradicating vast areas in one single blow. This characterization does not come from imagination,
but is rather proved by historical events which have shifted the course of humanity drastically
and irreversibly. In continuation, this paper will examine the effects of such a weapon on society
and politics, the laws and regulation that affect the ownership and use of these resources and the
possibility of a modern-day nuclear war and its outcomes.
To commence with, it is mandatory to examine the motives underlying the development of the
first nuclear bombs and their usage. The entire operation, which would later receive the code
name “Manhattan Project”, was the consequence of a letter the notorious German-born physicist
Albert Einstein addressed to the president of the United States of America at the time, Franklin
Delano Roosevelt. On August 2nd 1939, Einstein brought to the president’s attention the potential
use of the element uranium in constructing “extremely powerful bombs”2, which “carried by boat
and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the
surrounding territory” . In correspondence, the scientist also added that the most abundant
3

source of raw uranium is in the Belgian colony of Congo, in Africa. Moreover, Einstein
mentioned the possibility that the Germans may have got a head start in the nuclear race, as “the
son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsacker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm
Institute in Berlin, where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated.” 4In
exchange, F.D. Roosevelt expressed his gratitude on October 19, 1939, when he established a
Board to research Einstein’s hypothesis.
Following these events, in 1940, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls wrote the Frisch-Peierls
memorandum, which “contained the first calculations about the size of the critical
mass of fissile material needed for an atomic bomb. It also anticipated the strategic and moral
implications of nuclear weapons.”5

Bibliography:
Cochran, T. B. and Norris, . Robert S. (2021, October 22). nuclear weapon. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/technology/nuclear-weapon

1
Cochran, T. B. and Norris, . Robert S. (2021, October 22). nuclear weapon. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/technology/nuclear-weapon
2
Einstein, A. (1939, 2 August), Albert Einstein to F.D. Roosevelt, August 2, 1939 [Letter]
3
Einstein, A. (1939, 2 August), Albert Einstein to F.D. Roosevelt, August 2, 1939 [Letter]
4
Einstein, A. (1939, 2 August), Albert Einstein to F.D. Roosevelt, August 2, 1939 [Letter]
5
"Frisch–Peierls memorandum - Wikipedia", 2021