v2. May 2020

I assert that timelines are great avenues to teach basic content, spark interest, and induce inference. We find timelines for climate change, climate change denial, war, terrorist events, countries, biographies, technology, organisations/businesses… the topics are virtually limitless (see examples at the end). Instructors can choose areas that interest students or overlap with their curriculum. They can create lessons (country comparison e.g.) or attract attention at the start of class, and use them for tests (repetition builds recall). So please find below a timeline inspired by Lawrence Freedman’s book Nuclear Deterrence (2018). Hope it helps!

Background notes: A-bomb = atomic bomb; H-bomb = hydrogen bomb; the latter (second) is more potent/stronger.

Professor Paddy Regan, professor of physics at the University of Surrey, explains…

“An atom bomb takes a material called uranium and splits it up. That releases a huge amount of energy, a process that’s called fission. A hydrogen bomb works along a similar theme but has a secondary element to it. After the fission explosion happens it causes a heating of hydrogen and basically sets off a series of further nuclear reactions. It’s often called a two-stage atomic bomb. It’s very similar to what goes on in the sun…

What is an H-bomb? (6 Jan 2016). Newsbeat. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35242069/what-is-an-h-bomb.

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1942 – Manhattan Project: joint US, UK, Canadian effort to make nuclear bomb

1945 – US drops two A-bombs on Japan to attain victory in Asia-Pacific theatre of World War Two. That the bombs were used after the German surrender in Europe allows some to argue that this launched the Cold War (against the Soviet Union or USSR led bloc).

1949 – Formation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO on the US side). Later, USSR detonates its own A-bomb.

1952 – US successfully tests H-bomb. The UK joins the A-bomb club.

1955 – In Mar, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives a speech noting: “‘we shall by a process of sublime irony have reached a stage in this story where safety will be the sturdy child of terror, and survival the twin brother of annihilation”. May saw the creation of the Warsaw Pact; this united Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria with the USSR in a military alliance. Later in Nov, the USSR gains H-bomb capability. (An earlier one was tested in 1953 but it was weaker than an A-bomb).

1957 – UK explodes its own H-bomb.

1958 – UK based Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament organises first march.

1960 – France becomes A-bomb power.

1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis, where the US faced off the USSR, puts world on brink of destruction.

1964 – China gains A-bomb capability.

1967 – China detonates H-bomb. NATO takes up ‘flexible response’ strategy which avoided using nuclear weapons against the USSR if possible.

1970 – Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to “prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, to further the goals of nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament, and to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy” entered into force. (Source: United Nations)

1972 – In May, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks I (SALT I) signed by US and USSR. Two significant covenants were the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABMT) and the Interim Agreement on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The former restricted interceptor missiles on each side to one hundred, and launching areas for Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABM’s) to only one. The latter stopped the growth of strategic ballistic missiles, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) at 1972 levels for five years.

1980 – This decade sees the peak of nuclear weapon reserves. The Soviet Union held the majority.

1981 – Israel eradicates Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor. It was the world’s first air strike against a nuclear plant.

The Israelis criticised the French and Italians for supplying Iraq with nuclear materials and plegded to defend their territory at all costs.

1981: Israel bombs Baghdad nuclear reactor (7 Jun). http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/7/newsid_3014000/3014623.stm. On this Day. BBC.

1986/88 – Mordechai Vanunu who worked at Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant gave details to Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper; this led experts to conclude Israel had produced at least 100 nuclear warheads.

1989 – Berlin Wall falls, paving the way for a united Germany, and an end to the Cold War.

1991 – South Africa accedes to the NPT in Jul, it had garnered nuclear weapons as defence against Soviet expansion. In Dec, the USSR breaks down with Russia rising dominant from the ashes.

1994 – Talks begun to end North Korean nuclear programme. Ukraine, former part of the USSR sends nuclear arms back to Russia in exchange for promises of enhanced security.

1998 – India explodes underground H-bomb. Soon after, its neighbour Pakistan also detonated nuclear weapons. (Some experts say that the strength was overestimated in both cases).

2002 – Iran revealed to be creating weapons grade uranium.

2003 – Based on perceptions of Iraq nuclear weapon efforts, the US and UK invade it.

2006 – North Korea tests its nuclear missiles.

2007 – Israel hits (suspected) nuclear reactor in Syria.

2014 – Russia annexes the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.

2015 – Iran signs multilateral treaty committing to remove nuclear arms capacity or civilianise it.

2018 – In May, US retreats from 2015 treaty with Iran and re-establishes sanctions. In June, the US and North Korea meet in Singapore for a denuclearisation summit with inconclusive results. Before the summit, Evans J.R. Revere (The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, US) published the piece Kim Jong-un will not give up North Korea’s nuclear weapons (9 Apr 2018).

2019 – In Apr, a John Maggio produced documentary Korea: The Never-Ending War is screened; it cites Victor Cha (Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C, US) and William Stueck (historian), who suggest that North Korea intends to remain a nuclear power. In Nov, Catholic Pope Francis calls for an end to nuclear weapons while visiting Japan. He mentioned this target earlier in 2014 and 2017. He described nuclear weapons as wasteful diversion of public funds, and drew connections between nuclear disarmament and human rights.

“Convinced as I am that a world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary, I ask political leaders not to forget that these weapons cannot protect us from current threats to national and international security. We need to ponder the catastrophic impact of their deployment, especially from a humanitarian and environmental standpoint, and reject heightening a climate of fear, mistrust and hostility fomented by nuclear doctrines.”

Pope calls for nuclear-free world in Nagasaki. (24 Nov 2019). https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191124_22/. NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), Japan.

Related / Examples