When the US B-29 bomber the Enola Gay used the first nuclear weapon on 6 August 1945, dropping the ‘Little Boy’ on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, humanity entered a new era.
One in which countries worldwide wanted to have a nuclear threat in their arsenal.
Since then, two things have become clear. Firstly, that it’s very unlikely we’ll see a Third World War.
And secondly, that if a global conflict did break out, nuclear arms would make it the shortest and most destructive in history.
A “war at the speed of light”, as Michael Crichton described it in his novel Congo.