Manufacturing Death: Birth of the Atom b*mb (2023)

[bunniefuu]

(quirky music)

(foreboding music)

(gentle music)

(rain pattering)

- [Alex] It's not an exaggeration to say

that there was a world

before Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed,

a world after Hiroshima

and Nagasaki were bombed.

- Oppenheimer's reaction to

when the first nuclear bombs

were dropped on Hiroshima

and Nagasaki were mixed.

There was obviously a professional pride

that this project that he had

masterminded had paid off,

but at the same time, what he was aware of,

that everything he had

created was causing death

on a monumental scale.

(expl*si*n blaring) (energetic music)

- I have been asked

whether, in the years to come,

it will be possible to k*ll

40 million American people

in the 20 largest American towns

by the use of atomic

bombs in a single night.

I'm afraid that the answer

to that question is yes.

(majestic music)

- I don't think, however,

there's been an event

in human history that's

quite so consequential

because what you showed with that

was that man was capable of

not just destroying each other

on a small human scale, but

capable of wiping out the world.

(film reel whirring)

(gentle music)

(rhythmic music)

- [Narrator] On the 22nd of August, 1939,

Albert Einstein and

Leo Szilard sent a letter

to the 32nd president of the United States,

Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The two scientists warned Roosevelt

that the Germans were

harboring uranium sources

for research into nuclear fission,

which could lead to the creation

of highly destructive bombs.

This letter would soon change

the very course of the world.

(suspenseful music)

At the time of its delivery,

Europe was on the verge of chaos.

n*zi dictator, Adolf Hitler,

sat at the helm of Germany,

infecting his citizens

with hate and division.

On the 1st of September,

1939, Germany invaded Poland,

triggering a declaration of

w*r from Britain and France

under the 1918 Treaty of Versailles.

Within six weeks, the

German Army crushed Poland,

executing thousands

of citizens in the process.

A dark cloud soon loomed over Europe.

(expl*si*n banging)

(suspenseful music continues)

(Adolf Hitler speaking in foreign language)

(spectators cheering)

(fighter planes rumbling)

(fighter plane crashing)

(suspenseful music continues)

(expl*si*n banging)

- [Winston Churchill]

Sure I am that this day,

now, we are the masters of our fate.

(fighter planes rumbling)

We shall defend our island

whatever the cost may be.

We shall fight on beaches, landing grounds,

in fields, in streets, and on the hills.

We shall never surrender.

(explosions banging)

(suspenseful music continues)

(a*tillery firing)

(expl*si*n banging)

(melancholy music)

(fighter planes rumbling)

(upbeat music)

- You've got to remember that America

does not enter the Second World w*r

until two years after it's broken out.

Of course it starts in September, 1939,

when Britain declares w*r on Germany

because Germany has invaded Poland.

And so, for two years, there

has been fighting in Europe.

Hitler invades countries like France,

and the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Hitler tries to invade the United Kingdom.

(upbeat music continues)

You then got Hitler, in the middle of 1941,

invading the Soviet Union.

That's a big event.

So, you know, w*r is

basically waging worldwide.

(artilleries firing)

(Adolf Hitler speaking in foreign language)

(spectators cheering)

(melancholy music)

- By the end of 1941,

America had been neutral.

I mean, in practice, it was supplying A*DS

to Britain in every way it could

because President Roosevelt was,

he was more than just a supporter,

he was somebody who actually saw

that the only way of having

any kind of peace in the world

was by defeating the Nazis

and the Axis is powerless.

What he also saw was to

involve America in another w*r

would've been politically catastrophic.

And people were not engaged

in it and they didn't want that,

so he was very, very cautious

about any kind of action

that would actually lead

America into declaring w*r.

And even though he'd said

to the king, King George VI,

a couple of years before,

if the Nazis would start bombing London,

we would come in on your side,

there was still great reluctance

to actually take further step

that would lead to such a commitment.

And obviously that changed

when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

(melancholy music continues)

- [Narrator] It was not until 1941

that the conflict spread

beyond Europe's borders.

In the December, Japan

launched a surprise attack

on US Naval base, Pearl Harbor.

The military strike

k*lled over 2,400 people

and destroyed 19 US Navy ships.

(bombs exploding)

- The reason why it was so

symbolic and so successful

was America had never

been attacked like that

on their home shores,

especially in the modern era.

And it was proof that the Japanese

were this highly mechanized

force, utterly ruthless,

who could commit an act like this

of absolute audacity and absolute violence.

- [Narrator] As his citizens

mourned, FDR retaliated fast,

declaring w*r on Japan and bringing the US

into the most destructive

conflict in history.

(melancholy music)

- That the Congress declare

that since the unprovoked

and dastardly attack by Japan

on Sunday, December 7th, 1941,

a state of w*r has existed

between the United States

and the Japanese Empire.

(spectators applauding) (melancholy music)

- [Narrator] Although under no obligation,

Germany and Italy also joined Japan's side,

whilst the US gained

support from Hitler's enemies,

Britain and the Soviet Union.

(melancholy music continues)

- It's one of Hitler's

most perplexing decisions

as to why he decided to

declare w*r on the United States.

Well, actually, his reason for doing it

is because he thinks,

finally, this is an opportunity

to show that he really

wants to rid the world

of what he sees as being the

evils of international finance

and Jewish control of economies.

Of course he's dead wrong about that.

He's also in a pact with Japan

so he feels that Japan's a natural ally.

And so, this is why w*r breaks out,

it's Hitler saber-rattling.

He doesn't know what it's gonna lead to.

(film reel whirring)

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] In the summer of 1942,

FDR approved the creation

of the Manhattan Project,

bringing together research scientists

and military engineers from

across the US and Canada.

The birth of the atomic

b*mb finally commenced.

- The Manhattan Project

has got lots of different roles,

if you like.

The primary role of course

is to build a nuclear b*mb

that you can use in the w*r.

Some of the other roles

are also to try and establish

what level of nuclear capacity

do other countries have,

and of course especially n*zi Germany.

Of course the Manhattan

Project is also there

to construct all the stuff around

to build a nuclear b*mb.

So it's got to mastermind factories,

it's got to mastermind

getting hold of uranium,

it's got to mastermind creating plutonium.

So it's got lots and

lots of different roles.

And this is gonna take place,

initially, you know,

masterminded from Manhattan,

hence the name, but it's gonna take place

in locations all over the United States,

all the way through to

California and even in Canada.

- [Narrator] General Leslie Groves

of the Manhattan Engineer

District commanded the project.

A hardheaded leader with

an intensity often feared

by his inferiors, Groves stopped at nothing

to make the mission a success.

To many people's surprise,

Groves put forward J. Robert

Oppenheimer for lead physicist,

a notably contentious figure.

Oppenheimer lacked a Nobel Prize.

He preferred theoretical

science over practical.

He was politically left-leaning,

often attending communist front activities

and even going on to marry a

member of the Communist Party.

- Oppenheimer's political activities

and Oppenheimer's political sympathies

actually drew the attention of the FBI,

the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

And actually, he had his phone tapped,

he had his mail opened, he

was watched, he was followed.

You know, obviously, he was

in an incredibly sensitive position.

And the fact that he had loyalties

that may lie elsewhere

outside the United States

of course could have

been considered a problem.

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] He soon became

the US's greatest chance

of building an atomic

b*mb before the Germans.

- But even though Groves wasn't a genius,

his single act of genius, the

one thing he really gets right

is to appoint Oppenheimer.

(melancholy music)

- [Narrator] The most

secretive project in US history

took place in Los Alamos, New Mexico,

an isolated desert region

where Oppenheimer's team

would never be disturbed.

(melancholy music continues)

- There were very, very few people

working on the Manhattan Project

that knew what was happening.

You know, people who were doing the laundry

were given these weird devices

that they had to rub over the clothes

and to see how many

clicks this device meant.

Now, those people had no

idea what they were doing,

but of course today we know

those are Geiger counters

which are measuring levels of radiation.

So, you know, people were aware.

There was a lot of weird stuff going on

in all the locations of

the Manhattan Project,

especially Los Alamos in New Mexico.

- [Narrator] Both Groves

and Oppenheimer's scientists

set out to create nuclear chain reactions

using Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239,

two rare isotopes which needed huge levels

of funding to procure.

- I think there was also a sense

that America wants to be top dog

in terms of its technology

and its research.

It wants to be this

country that was dominant,

because obviously at this stage,

Germany was seen as the threat.

It wasn't Russia, or

Britain, or anywhere else.

There's very much a race against time

as to who was going to be the first

to harness this energy

and to come out on top.

- [Narrator] Three years into the project,

the scientists had created two new bombs

named Little Boy and Fat Man.

Little Boy had the simpler design.

The g*n-shaped b*mb

triggered a nuclear expl*si*n

by firing one piece of

Uranium-235 into another,

causing a chain reaction.

Fat Man was in turn the

more complex of the two.

A bulbous 10-foot b*mb

containing a sphere of metal Plutonium-239,

it was surrounded by blocks of expl*sives

that were designed to produce

an extremely accurate implosion.

However, the high risk

and high cost of Fat Man

made the Los Alamos scientists feel uneasy.

And so, Oppenheimer's

team insisted on a test run.

- [Announcer] Minus 30 seconds.

(ominous music)

Minus 20 seconds.

Minus 10 seconds.

Minus five seconds.

(nuclear b*mb exploding) (melancholy music)

(camera clicking)

(camera clicking)

- There was a big worry that, actually,

by triggering a nuclear expl*si*n,

you might cause the entire

atmosphere to burn up.

And if that happened, that

would be the end of the world.

Now, even though many scientists

didn't think that was gonna

happen, there were a few

who were just a little

bit worried about it.

So in fact, when that

first b*mb does go off,

there's a relief in some ways

that the world hasn't

exploded along with it.

(melancholy music continues)

- Oppenheimer was the American Prometheus,

because he was this man

who had this enormous power,

and he was frightened of it

because when he saw the test,

he said, "I am become

death, destroyer of worlds."

And I think that's a very

powerful thing to say.

(nuclear b*mb exploding)

(melancholy music continues)

The entire Trinity test

was not just for fun.

It was leading to what's going to become

probably the most single

notorious act of 20th century.

- [Narrator] The Trinity test succeeded,

and onlookers finally realized

the enormity of the b*mb's power.

(film reel whirring)

(melancholy music)

The Allied powers secured

victory in Europe in May, 1945.

The n*zi empire finally

fell after six long years,

and Hitler escapes to his

bunker to die by cyanide.

(melancholy music continues)

However, for the United

States, the w*r was not over yet.

Trouble still brewed in the Pacific,

and American blood continued to spill.

- After V-E Day was declared in Europe,

there was a real problem.

America and the rest of the Allied powers

were still at w*r with Japan.

And Japan showed absolutely

no signs of surrendering.

(rhythmic music)

The difference between Germany and Japan

was Germany, especially after Hitler died,

knew they were beaten, knew

there was nowhere else to go.

They just basically have to

settle for a humiliating peace,

the best possible terms they could get.

The thing about Japan

is that there is no concept

of surrender in their national identity.

The whole idea was that

they would literally fight

until the last man.

- When Japan and the United States

are fighting this w*r in the Pacific,

what they're doing is fighting

for islands strongholds.

(rhythmic music continues)

You've gotta think of the w*r

as like a kind of to and froing,

of trying to grab stepping

stones on a big pond,

if you like.

And so, you know, the more

stepping stones you control,

the more of the pond you control.

And so, you have huge battles

on islands like Iwo Jima, Peleliu,

which are very bloody,

very attritional fights,

in which the Japanese are often dug in

and fight to the last man,

and it costs an enormous amount of lives.

So it's a very bloody, very vicious,

very drawn out combat.

And of course, as well as these battles

on these small islands,

you also have these huge

naval engagement as well,

like the Battle of Midway,

which again are very

costly in men and material.

(canons firing)

(machine g*n firing)

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] President

Roosevelt passed away

a month before the n*zi regime's defeat.

Harry S. Truman assumed

the role of president,

only learning of the

Manhattan Project's existence

24 hours into the job.

The major task of

leading the world to peace

now landed in Truman's hands.

- Roosevelt was a very sober man.

He understood that what

they were dealing with

was something of absolute magnitude.

And so, therefore his idea,

and I think he was absolutely right,

was as few people knew

about this as possible.

And in fact, Truman was, at one point,

before he was aware

of the Manhattan Project,

he was seeing all these documents,

which seemed to be this

vast government expense,

and he didn't understand why people

were spending so much

money on a secret project.

He tried to look into it,

but he was informed very

sternly, no, this is not for you.

And so, obviously, the context of w*r,

there are so many things

that you're not involved with,

he just let it go.

But of course, after Roosevelt died

and when he became

president, he became aware

of what was the greatest

scientific endeavor

that America had been involved in.

(gentle music continues) (clock ticking)

- [Narrator] On the 26th of July, 1945,

Allied leaders gathered at the

Potsdam Conference in Berlin

to draw up plans for Japan's surrender.

President Truman,

alongside Britain and China,

issued the document.

- The Potsdam Declaration that was made

at the Potsdam Conference said to Japan,

listen, you have got to surrender,

and without any conditions whatsoever.

Now, this has got to be a complete defeat.

Otherwise, hell is gonna be

rained down on your country.

(gentle music continues)

What Truman, the

American president, didn't do

was to reveal, actually, I've

got a big ace up my sleeve,

and that's an atom

b*mb, but he hinted at it.

- [Narrator] The Potsdam Declaration

gave the Japanese an ultimatum,

accept defeat or suffer

incomprehensible destruction.

Japan showed no sign of bowing down.

Prime Minister Suzuki

announced that the Japanese policy

towards the declaration

was one of mokusatsu,

k*lling with silence.

From that moment, the

dropping of the atomic b*mb

was inevitable.

(rhythmic music)

(majestic music)

(gentle music)

(plane engine rumbling)

(plane engine rumbling)

(plane engine roaring)

At 8:15 AM on the 6th of August, 1945,

the lead plane, Enola g*y,

released the Little Boy

b*mb over Hiroshima.

(b*mb whistling)

Residents awoke to the most

almighty site in human history.

(siren blaring)

(nuclear b*mb exploding)

(majestic music)

Little Boy fell almost

six miles in 43 seconds

before detonating at

an altitude of 2,000 feet.

80,000 people died instantly,

some even evaporating on the spot.

- [Reporter] A short time

ago, an American airplane

dropped one b*mb on Hiroshima

and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy.

- You can imagine that

if you are in Hiroshima,

you're going about your daily business,

there's just this flash

of blinding white light,

and then all of a sudden

everything around you is destroyed.

And it's something biblical.

I mean, you would've genuinely

imagined, if you'd seen it,

that this was the end of days.

(majestic music continues)

Japan at this point was faced with the fact

that one of their major

industrial and military bases

no longer existed.

I mean, a huge number

of civilians had been k*lled.

It was an act completely

without parallel in modern warfare.

It was literally the first atomic b*mb.

You would've expected

that they would've thought,

we can't carry on.

But this is Japan we're talking about.

This isn't any other country.

(majestic music continues)

And so, they refused to surrender

on the grounds that,

(indistinct) can keep bombing us,

we don't care.

We are not going to surrender to you.

But of course the problem is

they didn't really understand

what they were up against.

- [Narrator] The b*mb obliterated

Hiroshima and its people,

and yet the Japanese Government

still refused to surrender.

Three days later, a second

b*mb landed on Nagasaki.

- The devastation at Nagasaki is,

you know, make no mistake, it's huge,

but because Nagasaki

is built in sort of valleys

and it's got cliffs and things like that,

the expl*si*n was much more contained.

So relatively less, fewer

parts of the city were destroyed

compared to Hiroshima.

But still, you have a death toll

approaching a hundred thousand people.

You know, it is still devastating

and it is far greater than

any other single b*mb

can possibly produce.

- [Narrator] Emperor Hirohito

broke the government's deadlock,

expressing that the Japanese

race will be destroyed

if the w*r continues.

And so, on the 15th of August,

Hirohito announced the

end to Japan's suffering

over radio broadcast.

- I have received this afternoon

a message from the Japanese Government

in reply to the message

forwarded to that government

by the Secretary of State on August 11th.

I deem this reply a full acceptance

of the Potsdam Declaration,

which specifies the

unconditional surrender of Japan.

In the reply, there is no qualification.

- [Newscaster] Reporters rush out

to relay the news to an anxious world

and touch off celebrations

throughout the country.

(majestic music continues)

- [Narrator] A new wave

of cruelty and devastation

ended the conflict.

Japan officially signed the

Surrender Act soon after.

(film reel whirring) (rhythmic music)

Relief spread across the United States.

The Second World w*r was over.

Fathers, brothers, and

sons could come home again.

But what exactly did this

new power mean for America?

(suspenseful music)

- The reaction in the United States

was one largely of jubilation.

You know, hang on a minute,

we've got this amazing new weapon

that no one really quite understood yet.

All they knew was one b*mb could do the job

of months and months of

bombing in just one second.

So it meant obviously

immense source of national pride.

It also meant an immense source of relief

because of course what

those two A-bombs led to

was the Japanese surrender

just a few days later.

w*r was over.

And who was not gonna be happy about that?

(rhythmic music)

- What was very interesting

about American public

reaction to atomic b*mb

was that it was sold

exceptionally well by Truman.

Truman managed to

convince them in such a way

that if the atomic b*mb

hadn't been launched,

that it might've vastly

prolonged the w*r

and vastly more people dying.

And so, there was actually

almost unanimous public support for it.

- [Narrator] The dropping

of the atomic b*mb

destroyed the traditional competition

between offensive and

defensive warfare methods.

No amount of blockades or shelters

could shield citizens from

the b*mb's fury and rage.

The Americans had ultimate control

over the most feared weapon on earth.

No one could stand in their way.

(rhythmic music continues)

- I don't think, however,

there's been an event

in human history that

was quite so consequential,

because what you showed with that

was that man was capable of

not just destroying each other

on a small human scale, but

capable of wiping out the world.

It's also a sign as if you'd

ever been needed to have it,

that we were not anymore in

this old fashioned w*r of g*ns,

and the military invasions, and stuff,

it was this new, much

more terrifying world.

It was ahead of people.

- These devices were just gonna get bigger,

and bigger, and bigger.

And actually, the devastation

we see at Hiroshima

and at Nagasaki, it's tiny

compared to what nuclear weapons

would shortly be capable of delivering.

(rain pattering)

- [Oppenheimer] Science

has profoundly altered

the conditions of man's life,

both materially and in

ways of the spirit as well.

It has extended the range of questions

of which man has a choice.

It has extended man's freedom

to make significant decisions.

- [Narrator] It's easy to think

that the story of the Manhattan Project

ends in August, 1945.

However, that's far from the case.

- It's not an exaggeration

to say that there is a world

before Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed,

a world after Hiroshima

and Nagasaki were bombed.

(melancholy music)

- [Narrator] The monopoly

over atomic weapons

placed serious strain on

America's relationship with Stalin.

A new era of diplomatic

tensions burst open at the seams.

- The use of the atomic

b*mb in the theater of w*r

was something that I think America

was perfectly prepared to do.

And the fact that it was done

in this context in World w*r II

was essentially for way of ending of a w*r

and also showcasing American might.

(melancholy music continues)

We can also see that

it was a way of showing

that Stalin and the Soviet Union,

who were very much intent on

making their own atomic b*mb,

we have this power, we have this weapon.

If you seek to emulate us,

essentially we got here first.

(expl*si*n banging)

- [Narrator] The Soviets and

Americans faced each other

in a state of neither w*r nor peace.

And yet the push of one button

could have led to total global destruction.

- The Soviet Union's

development of nuclear weapons

was vastly behind that

of the United States.

But what the Soviet Union did have

was spies working in the Manhattan Project

and taking that information,

ultimately relaying it back to Moscow.

And so, you have a spy

who was actually employed

by the British.

He was a physicist called Klaus Fuchs,

and he came to work in the United States

on the Manhattan Project.

And he was giving as

much information as he could

to the Soviet Union.

Now, what information

from people like Fuchs did

was ultimately to shorten by a year or two

how long it took the Russians

to develop the nuclear b*mb.

- [Narrator] The Cold w*r continued

right up to the late '80s,

over 40 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Europe suffered division once again,

and a nuclear arms race

conquered political discourse.

- Because of the existence

of the atomic b*mb,

what would've I think been a

conventional world w*r three

between America and the Soviet Union

became a Cold w*r instead.

Neither side wanted to go about

creating what was known as

mutually assured destruction.

And while you have this immense power

and you have this immense

ability to destroy your enemy,

there's also the absolute certainty

that whoever's going to blink first,

it's gonna be the one

who's gonna be in trouble.

- The Cold w*r would've

happened without nuclear weapons,

but it just made the

stakes feel so much higher.

(film reel whirring)

- I have been asked

whether, in the years to come,

it will be possible to k*ll

40 million American people

in the 20 largest American towns

by the use of atomic

bombs in a single night.

I'm afraid that the answer

to that question is yes.

(expl*si*n banging)

(Geiger counter clicking)

(expl*si*n banging)

(expl*si*n banging)

(expl*si*n banging)

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] In the

aftermath of World w*r II,

the US Congress transferred

the Manhattan Project's assets

to a new agency, the

Atomic Energy Commission.

Oppenheimer took on the role of president

of the General Advisory

Committee of the AEC.

However, from his new

role sprang a commitment

to nuclear disarmament and control,

a debate many nuclear scientists

found themselves drawn to

during the Cold w*r era.

(gentle music continues)

- Oppenheimer's reaction to

when the first nuclear bombs

were dropped on Hiroshima

and Nagasaki were mixed.

There was obviously a professional pride

that this project that he had masterminded

against the clock, vast

expense, long hours,

had paid off.

But at the same time, what he was aware of,

that everything he had

created was causing death

on a monumental scale.

So, you know, you

couldn't help but be human,

but feel very mixed about that.

- If there is another world w*r,

this civilization may go under.

We need to ask ourselves

whether we're doing all we can

to avert that.

We need, I think, to learn to understand

the realities of life abroad

not so much in terms of slogans,

as in terms of the lives of men.

In our response to these

realities, there is hope for peace.

- Oppenheimer was a leading

voice in wanting arms control.

He knew that nuclear Armageddon

could be imminent if there was going to be

a huge nuclear arms race

between the world's superpowers.

So he actually, ironically,

despite being the father in

many ways of the atom b*mb,

spent much of his time

subsequently speaking out against it.

(gentle music continues)

- Certainly, he was

somebody who, after the w*r

and after the launch, was somebody who was,

I think he was mistrusted

because he didn't seem to be

positive about what he'd done,

he seemed to rather racked with guilt.

'Cause ultimately, it doesn't matter

how much of a scientific

breakthrough it is,

there are consequences.

And Oppenheimer knew

(indistinct) he was terrified of.

- [Narrator] In 1954, these views,

coupled with his political

convictions, led him to testify

before the House Committee

on Un-American Activities,

during the so-called witch hunt

promoted by Senator McCarthy.

- The committee is determined

that the hearing shall

be fair and impartial.

We have subpoenaed witnesses

representing both sides of the question.

All we are after are the facts.

- After the w*r, you have the establishment

of all sorts of committees

that are investigating

whether people have been

loyal to the Soviet Union,

acted as Soviet agents.

It was considered that if

you really were a member

of the Communist Party,

you were un-American,

you were a de facto traitor.

And in fact, Oppenheimer,

despite proving his loyalty

to the United States

by constructing for them

the world's first atomic

weapon that ended the w*r

and arguably saved

hundreds of thousands of lives,

he was still hauled up by committees

and asked to justify himself.

So you have this situation in which,

eventually, Oppenheimer's

security clearance is revoked

because he's considered to

be a threat to national security.

(gentle music continues)

- I remembered the line

from the Hindu scripture,

the Bhagavad-Gita.

Vishnu

is trying to persuade

the prince that he should do his duty,

and to impress him,

takes on his multi-armed form and says,

"Now I am become death,

the destroyer of worlds."

- I think he had probably

enough humility to know

that even if he wasn't involved,

it still would've happened.

You know, the nuclear physics was there,

the money was there, the

nuclear b*mb would've been built.

So I think Oppenheimer knew that,

ultimately, his place in

history was being there

at the right place at the right time.

(gentle music continues)

(film reel whirring)

(melancholy music)

- [Narrator] The legacy of the

Manhattan Project is immense.

The advent of nuclear

weapons not only brought an end

to the largest w*r in history

but also ushered in an atomic age

and a defining era of big science.

- Research into nuclear physics

has both been hugely

beneficial for mankind.

So, you know, understanding

how the atom works

of course has created

forms of scanning technology

which have been brilliant

for medicine, nuclear power,

which is arguably the greenest

power source on the planet.

You've got all sorts of developments

that have been very beneficial for mankind.

(melancholy music)

- [Narrator] However, in the years

following Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

the world's two superpowers,

America and Russia,

entered a race to nuclear domination,

peaking in the 1980s.

(melancholy music continues)

(Soviet supporters

chanting in foreign language)

(Soviet supporters cheering)

- Countries which have

a new nuclear capability

feel that they're carrying

a very big stick indeed.

It gives 'em an enormous

amount of negotiating power.

It gives them an enormous

amount of potential power

in any conflict to say, look,

we've always got the big one,

so watch out for us.

(melancholy music continues)

- The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989

symbolized a new era for world peace.

(sledgehammer thudding)

(crowd applauding)

(crowd cheering)

With the West and East united once again,

many thought the years ahead

would bring an age of

nuclear compromise and calm.

(melancholy music continues)

And for a time, they did.

Nuclear stockpiles peaked in 1986

and steadied off from the 1990s onwards.

The appetite to produce

more warheads declined.

(rocket roaring)

Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin's

invasion of Ukraine in 2022

brought fears of nuclear obliteration

to the surface once again.

The current tension

between the West and Russia

is merely a new phase in a

Cold w*r that never ended.

(suspenseful music)

- I think, at the moment,

we're probably closer

to a nuclear w*r than we have been

since the second World w*r.

It's what's been interesting

over the last two and a half decades.

When you watch how Russia has changed

in terms of our acceptance of them,

it's gone from being a

slightly chaotic country,

which nonetheless was broadly on our side,

to being our enemy.

And I think we can certainly see Putin

as public enemy number one.

(suspenseful music)

And it's terrifying, really,

that we all go about our daily business,

and there's this man

not so very far from us

with his finger on this trigger.

And if he pulls the trigger,

our lives as we know could cease to exist.

- Russia is, I think, the

greatest threat to world peace.

And I think the fact that

Russia has a nuclear capability

is worrying.

(suspenseful music continues)

But it's had a nuclear

capability in one way or another

since 1949.

And it's never yet

used one in any conflict.

So, you know, we just gotta

keep our fingers crossed.

(birds chirping)

(ethereal music)

- [Narrator] The birth of the atomic b*mb

changed the world forever.

In the years before the Manhattan Project,

a weapon of such power was

not even remotely imaginable

to most people on Earth.

And yet, with w*r comes new inventions,

new ways of destroying the enemy,

new machines to wipe out human life.

(fighter plane crashing)

(g*ns firing)

(expl*si*n banging)

- You know, we have

potentially got the power now

to literally destroy the world.

- [Narrator] The destruction in Japan

has left a mark on every

generation since 1945.

There isn't a person alive today

who does not fear a repeat

of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

(ethereal music continues)

As the only country to have

experienced a nuclear attack,

Japan stands firm in

stating that human beings

and nuclear weapons cannot coexist,

a profound belief in a world

gripped by the nuclear age.

- I think we've all seen the pictures

of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We've all seen exactly

what nuclear weapons do.

I think that anybody like Putin

or anybody else in the world

who's ever tempted to think about,

oh, this might further

my own personal heroism

or whatever else, should

take a look at those pictures

and think very hard about

what they're about to do,

because there are no heroes in this.

You know ultimately

that all that is going to do

is lead to untold devastation,

untold destruction.

(ethereal music continues)

- [Narrator] We cannot predict the future.

But if one thing is for certain,

the threat of nuclear w*r hangs

heavy over the human race,

now more than ever.

(ethereal music continues)