North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un, vows to annihilate the U.S. with a “hail of fire.” President Trump threatens to “totally destroy North Korea.” The tensions have brought the world closer to a nuclear conflict than at any time since the end of the Cold War (1947-91).
Although North Korea’s ability to attack the U.S. mainland with nuclear missiles is still an open question, any war waged with atomic weapons could have horrific consequences, leveling whole cities and killing millions of people.
Where did such monstrous firepower come from? It all began 75 years ago, in September 1942, when the U.S. Army took command of a top-secret effort called the Manhattan Project. The project’s goal was to produce a powerful new weapon that could be used against America’s enemies in World War II (1939-45). The result would be the world’s first atomic bomb. In 1945, U.S. warplanes dropped two atom bombs, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing Japan to its knees and quickly ending the war—and changing the nature of warfare forever.
Today, as nuclear fears again make headlines, we’re still grappling with the destructive power that the Manhattan Project unleashed.
North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un, vows to wipe out the U.S. with a “hail of fire.” President Trump threatens to “totally destroy North Korea.” The tensions have brought the world closer to a nuclear conflict than at any time since the end of the Cold War (1945-91).
North Korea’s ability to attack the U.S. mainland with nuclear missiles is still an open question. But any war waged with atomic weapons could have horrific consequences. These type of weapons could level whole cities and kill millions of people.
Where did such monstrous firepower come from? It all began 75 years ago. In September 1942, the U.S. Army took command of a top-secret effort called the Manhattan Project. The project’s goal was to create a powerful new weapon to be used against America’s enemies in World War II (1939-45). The result would be the world’s first atomic bomb. In 1945, U.S. warplanes dropped two atom bombs, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings brought Japan to its knees and quickly ended the war. This moment changed the nature of warfare forever.
Today, nuclear fears are making headlines again. And we’re still grappling with the destructive power that the Manhattan project unleashed.