Post archives
Filtering for posts tagged with ‘Soviet Union’
2022
May 2022
6
Redactions
What if Japan did offer nearly-full surrender terms to the US in early 1945? In the 1940s, just this was claimed — but it's not very likely.
2
Redactions
Did the Japanese offer to surrender before Hiroshima? Short answer: no. Long answer: also no, but it's a bit complicated.
2021
November 2021
19
Visions
The Rosatom historical website has an entire section devoted to "Atomic Fun" — jokes and stories from the Soviet nuclear program. It's... something.
October 2021
29
Redactions
The untold story of the world's largest nuclear bomb, the Tsar Bomba, and the secret US efforts to match it.
2020
June 2020
9
Meditations
As we approach the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings, we're going to see a lot of journalistic takes on them — many of them totally wrong.
2016
July 2016
25
Visions
On the anniversary of America's first nuclear disaster, when the Manhattan Project still ruled the bomb...
15
Meditations
How the US came to have three major strategic nuclear platforms, and why it started calling them a "triad."
May 2016
9
Visions
Taking a close look at the targets and consequences of a declassified US nuclear war plan.
February 2016
12
Redactions
How did the first history of the atomic bomb end up in a Soviet Gulag prison?
2015
June 2015
26
Visions
The Soviet space dogs were more than just adorable mutts — but they were those, too.
2014
February 2014
14
Redactions
In a short story published in 1949, Leo Szilard contemplated how well he and President Truman would fare at a war crimes tribunal. His conclusion: not well.
January 2014
31
Visions
How the wonderful, terrible display of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb changed Andrei Sakharov's views on the responsibility of scientists.
2013
November 2013
8
Meditations
A portrait of a year in flux, when the possibilities of a new order moved from the limitless to the concrete.
1
Redactions
How many people did it take to make the atomic bomb? Probably many more than you realize.
August 2013
23
Redactions
Did Klaus Fuchs tell the Soviet Union how to make a hydrogen bomb? Recently released documents from the Russian archives shed new light on the question.
July 2013
5
Redactions
An unusual view on the possibility of scientific secrecy from physicist who was inside the Manhattan Project but not making the bomb.
April 2013
5
Visions
A vision of future war, only a few months after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
March 2013
8
Meditations | Redactions
Where do historians stand, in the 2010s, about the decision to use the atomic bomb? A report from a recent workshop.
2012
November 2012
30
Redactions | Visions
The US government doesn't like to draw atomic bombs, but the Russians don't mind drawing American nukes.
2
Meditations
Are there new things to be said about the Cuban Missile Crisis after 50 years of talking about it?
October 2012
25
Meditations
Contrary to popular perception, Kennedy's "quarantine" of Cuba during the Missile Crisis wasn't a complete success — there were already lots of nukes there.
September 2012
12
Redactions
What drove Edward Teller to push for a 10,000 megaton hydrogen bomb?
August 2012
10
Visions
American newspaper front pages from the first five days of the atomic bomb's public debut.
1
Redactions
In November 1945, Beria sent an agent to interview Niels Bohr about the atomic bomb. Both Bohr and Beria, though, held their cards close.
July 2012
27
Visions
A recent Russian-language book has a treasure trove of rare images of the Soviet atomic bomb project.
23
Meditations
Milton Leitenberg and Raymond A. Zilinskas' new book on the Soviet bioweapons program, answers big questions, and raises new mysteries.
June 2012
18
Meditations
What would have happened if the US hadn't decided to try and build an H-bomb in early 1950? Some alternative scenarios are considered.
15
Visions
Considering the test site of the first Soviet atomic bombs, from 1949 to the present.
May 2012
28
Meditations
Gas centrifuges could have been made to work during the Manhattan Project, but they didn't figure out how.
9
Redactions
Barely a month after the bombings of Hiroshima, the Army Air Forces made its first request for more atomic bombs — and a list of targets.
