Siren’s voices, death surrounds you from all sides.
Fire, scream, and children or amputated adults, this is what war looks like.
But this can be a different war or any military operation through missiles or other weapons. But what does a nuclear war look like?
Since we are on the verge of World War 3, many of us are wondering what a nuclear war may look like.
Starting the Palestinian conflict, the war is in discussion, and with political power shifts in different regions, nuclear war might be coming for everyone.
So, what is meant by Nuclear War
When two or more nations use atomic bombs to fight, a nuclear war results. It’s not like an ordinary war; it’s much more risky and damaging for the entire world, not just the countries that take part.
When the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, it was the only time nuclear weapons were used in warfare.
The worst thing that humanity could do is start a nuclear war, and practically everyone agrees that starting such a conflict is legally unacceptable.
In comparison to wars fought with conventional weapons, it will be far messier and less controllable, resulting in a greater number of deaths and destruction.
The First Bomb: A Warning from Hiroshima and Nagasaki
In August 1945, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were hit by atomic bombs dropped by the United States. Providing us with two actual instances of how nuclear weapons affect human populations.
Approximately 140,000 people were thought to have died in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki by the end of the War.
Why Did America Attack Japan?
During WWII, to weaken Japan, America stopped supplying oil and metal to them, and in response, Japanese military aircraft in 1941 launched a surprise attack on America’s Pearl Harbor base, in which 2500 American troops were killed.
So the U.S then declared war against Japan, which became a part of WWII. Germany and Italy had surrendered by 1945, but Japan refused to surrender.
Here, America had two options
- Either they could go with an all-out war with Japan, which would lead to the deaths of millions of ppl from both sides and
- They could launch a nuclear bomb, but several lives of Japanese civilians would be lost.
Nuclear war doesn’t just affect soldiers—it destroys lives, families, and generations of people.
After Effects of a Nuclear War: How to Overcome Them?
The survivors, aside from suffering physical trauma, also had long-lasting effects of radiation poisoning.
- The burns of the survivors would heal slowly, or if at all. Many started dying from infections, organ failure, and cancer.
- When the survivors emerged from the rubble, they didn’t think that they survived; but thought that they had died and were now in hell.
Now, 80 years later, that same city has become unrecognizable. Unlike other cities that have faced the power of nuclear weapons, like Pripyat in Ukraine, Hiroshima is now full of life and flourishing.
They managed to rebuild their city, and now a well over a million people populate the city. Hiroshima is a living example of how humans can survive the most gruesome of acts, and why nuclear bombs should be banned and peace should be acquired.
Psychological Impact: A World Living in Fear
We can clean the rubble, you can see the cities rising again, but there is one thing that takes ages to recover from a mental trauma.
Toshiko Tanaka, a survivor who was six years of age at the time of the bombing, was right under the mushroom cloud, and she miraculously survived.
In an interview, she explained that her only mission, 75 years after surviving that attack, is that she wants to completely eliminate the making of future nuclear bombs.
A young American psychiatrist named Robert J. Lifton, in 1962, went to Hiroshima to conduct research on Japanese youth. He left shocked that even after 17 years a proper research was never conducted on the toll the bombing took on the mental health of the survivors.
Psychiatrist Alexander Leighton, the head of the USSBS Hiroshima mission, spent quite some time interviewing the survivors.
He explains that after hearing their stories, he first became angry, then numb. He reports one of his encounters with a survivor who left a clear impression on him, asking Leighton, “If there is such a thing as ghosts, why don’t they haunt the Americans?” Leighton replied, “Perhaps they do”.
The people, despite surviving such a horrific bombing, still had to face many challenges, like radiation sickness. The Hibakusha, a term used for survivors, due to the discrimination that radiation is contagious, had to give up on many things, like marriage and employment.
Forgetting such horrific events is not easy, but the ambition of wanting to live kept them going through those tough times.
Treaties and Trust: Attempts at Control
Over time, countries realized that nobody really “wins” in a nuclear war. So, they started making deals and treaties to reduce and control nuclear weapons.
- The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was established in 1968 to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
- Agreements like START and New START aimed to limit how many weapons countries could have.
Why, in 2025, It Still Matters
Even after eighty years of its introduction, the danger posed by nuclear weapons has only increased.
On observing, we can see that the impacts of these weapons are just growing progressively worse.
There is an estimate of about 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world. And this large amount of nuclear weapons is unevenly distributed among only 9 countries, and the use of just a few hundred could leave Earth’s population decimated by a nuclear winter.
And some of those weapons are hundreds of times more powerful than those that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
You may now wonder, “Why worry now? That was all in the past.”
Well, due to:
- The world still possesses more than 12,000 nuclear weapons.
- Nuclear capabilities are being developed or sought by new nations.
- Nuclear control systems could be impacted by cybersecurity threats.
- Major nations are once again experiencing an increase in political tensions.
The problem is that we cannot afford to ignore what history has already demonstrated.
Conclusion
If history teaches us anything, it is that while there is the potential to wipe out humanity, there is also the potential to stop it. How much we know from the past will determine what we do next.
Consequently, the next time someone asks, “Nuclear war? That’s outdated information. Perhaps remind them that outdated information can still influence the future.
Because we don’t get second chances when it comes to nuclear war.
