Nuclear War Research Paper

In order to end the war in a favorable manner to oneself, the four countries each developed nuclear programs that led to a race to arms. Each country had its own formula for developing a weapon of mass-destruction or (WMD). Whether Uranium or Plutonium, the end result was hoped to be the same, catastrophic. The five main countries in the war included: Great Britain, United States, Germany, Russia and Japan. They each had a plan or project to develop an a-bomb.

America and Britain- Manhattan Project

Germany- The Uranprojekt

Japan- Ni-Go Project

Russia- Soviet a-bomb project

The Manhattan Project was a secret (known only by about 30 people, including Roosevelt, but not Truman) military project in 1942 developed to create a WMD to end the

By December 1942, Enrico Fermi was able to produce and control a fission chain reaction in Chicago. At the same time Robert Oppenheimer was working in Los Alamos, New Mexico trying to solve the problem of combining the materials to create a nuclear explosion. The scientists also needed to develop the method of delivering and detonating the weapon. After years of research and experimentation the first Atomic Bomb was tested in New Mexico in July of 1945. The explosion was equivalent to 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT. A little over year later, Harry Truman, the President of the United States gave the orders to drop the bomb on Japan in hopes of bringing World War II to a decisive end. August 6, 1945, the “Little Boy” was dropped in Hiroshima, Japan. The end result of the Manhattan project was an explosion equivalent to 15 kilotons of

It lasted from 1939-1945 under the provision of Wehrmacht's Heereswaffenamt. At the time Germany was invading many countries, so they had a plethora of different facilities in action. One of the most remarkable projects they had was the work they were doing with Heavy Water.

Heavy water is water in which both hydrogen atoms have been replaced with deuterium.

The reason why The germans used heavy water because:

“The importance of heavy water to a nuclear proliferator is that it provides one more route to produce plutonium for use in weapons, entirely bypassing uranium enrichment and all of the related technological infrastructure. In addition, heavy-water-moderated reactors can be used to make tritium.”

In simple terms, the heavy water allows the reaction to continue, letting them create more plutonium for the bomb.

The German plans were well thought out, and well executed. They were very close to developing a nuke, until February 1943. Norwegian Commandos executed a successful mission to sabotage the operation. The raid was followed by bombs dropped by Allied forces. If it weren't for the Norwegian Commandos, our world would most likely be ruled by