Doomsday
An Essay by me, M.J. Matteson
"...A nuclear disaster, spread by winds and water and
fear, could well engulf the great and the small, the rich
and the poor, the committed and uncommitted alike. Mankind
must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind."
--John F. Kennedy
This is The End
Death and destruction surrounds me. All that is left of my small town is piles of rubble! I can feel the radiation sickness starting to take its affect. It has only been a day since the whole world ended as we know it, nuclear holocaust finally happened and World War III only lasted two days. Nobody knows who started it or who won, we just know that whatever damage the Soviets did to us, we destroyed them ten fold. That just means that they were lucky! They won't have to suffer from the radiation sickness or the sight of human suffering that the U.S. and most of Western Europe is now experiencing. As Nikita Khrushchov put it "...the survivors would envy the dead." How true that statement is, I find myself wishing I was dead, and somehow there is something deep inside me that say's I must survive. I don't know what it is, but the will to survive, or is it just the fear of dying keeps me walking and searching for survivors. Along with that fear of dying there is now a fear of living too. I am confused and scared how could something like this happen, I thought we had been so careful to prevent nuclear war?
Someone launched something and the other side saw it as a threat and launched back. All countries possessing a nuclear arsenal spent it on who ever was their advisory. The Soviet Union sent over thousands of nuclear weapons to the U.S., Great Britain, France, and most other countries of the "Free World". All those countries sent thousands of nuclear weapons to the Soviet Union. The U.S. sent some to China, Libya, and Iraq, just to get all other threats out of the way too. Doomsday of the twentieth century, destruction of the world as we know it occurred all because one button was pushed, maybe even on accident, by a poor soul in some nuclear possessing country.
I see people wandering around in a daze, blackened, burned, and bleeding. They look desperate and hopeless. I feel sorrow for them, but then I think that I probably look the same. Looking for remains of a once strong nation. All brought to ruins by the deadliest weapon ever developed. The control of the atom led many countries to espionage, killing, and fear. Our greatest fear was fulfilled by World War III. Everyone killed everyone else. Nuclear missiles were sent from ever country that had one. No need for the United Nations, not any more. No need for government, not after nuclear holocaust. All these years of Cold war, of trying to better the opponent with fear, now resulting in complete annihilation of modern civilization. It was NATO versus the Warsaw Pact, and who won? Will we ever know? Everyone launched as many as they could before being destroyed themselves, and now, nothing but pain and death. I see a child; he must be five or so, holding a charred stuffed animal, obscure to its identity because of its charred existence. He was standing beside a pile of ruble that must have once been his home. I wonder if this is how it was at Hiroshima or Nagasaki? This dread all brought on by the splitting of the atom, or the fusion of hydrogen to helium. Man's ambition to develop the ultimate weapon was the end to any power we might have had.
I go over to the child and ask if he knew where his parents were. He simply pointed to the pile of ruble beside him, too dismayed to cry, and to young to understand. I kneeled beside him and broke out in tears. How could something so horrid ever happen to anyone? How could it happen to us?! I look around at my fellow survivors, blackened, bruised, and in complete shock. There are people on the side of the road, completely hopeless and dying. Radiation sickness making their hair fall out. The ones who were closest to the blast, those who were within 200 miles of the epicenter, have their clothes burned into their skin. I had heard horror stories from Japan of these actions happening, but we had been so far from where the blast actually was. The bombs that destroyed our country were hundreds of times stronger than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined! Death, destruction, and dismay are the dominant feelings now, and we are left here to attempt to survive. World destruction, human destruction was achieved by the most intelligent being on the planet. With intelligence comes the danger of invention. The invention of the Atomic bomb has brought fear, hatred, and now death to all inhabitants of this doomed world.
The Cold War
Just described is a possible result of nuclear fall-out. If World War III ever did occur there wouldn't be much of a humanity left, there wouldn't be much of a world left. The possibility of World War III ever happening has become less likely since the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union. For nearly fifty years there has been a war going on, a war without actual war between the United States and the Soviet Union. There have been many conflicts between the two, or at least indirectly. Money was the weapon of choice in fighting the Cold War. The main bulk of the Cold War was about who could spend the
most on developing the biggest and best weapons that if ever challenged to war who's weapons would cause the most destruction. The Cold War lasted through nine different presidents and six different leaders of the Soviet Union. Billions of dollars were spent, thousands of lives lost all to a war between capitalism and communism.
Gerald Ford said "...the weapons we hold today, and those we plan for the future, give America a mighty power. But with such power comes a mighty responsibility. We must never forget the purpose for which our arsenal is intended. That purpose is not to terrify the weak, to provoke armed confrontation, nor lay claim to that which is not ours..." The true purpose of possessing a nuclear arsenal was to intimidate any possible threat from achieving any advance of interest. The United States had the policy of massive retaliation-a doctrine whereby the United States might respond with nuclear weapons to any Soviet challenge any place in the world. This "more bang for the buck" was supposed to scare the Soviets out of any war-like actions. The doctrine didn't prevent the Soviets from suppressing The Hungarian, Freedom Fighters in the 1956 uprising, nor did it help liberate other captive countries of Eastern Europe. This fear didn't stop the Soviets from helping other countries to fight against the United States, so were we just picking and choosing the battles we felt were right to fight against the Soviets? In fact that was the next strategic plan of the United States, and after that was just mutual assured destruction.
Since the introduction of the nuclear bomb as a weapon of war the leaders of the world have had to make the decision of either advancing the production of the nuclear weapon or advancing the destruction of the nuclear weapon. There has been a moral struggle, a personal struggle with every leader of a nuclear power country. There have been massive build-ups during one administration, while in the next there was a massive build-down. This is one of the most costly factors of the Cold War, and the development of new more powerful weapons was the other costly factor. Starting with President Truman, the Cold War truly started with a nuclear race. A race to see who could develop the hydrogen bomb first and after that, who could develop the most devastating nuclear weapon.
With the addition of tactical nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles by either side was to put an edge on each other. "...The power to end its history," was the power that came with advancing nuclear weapons. The fear that came with advancing weapons is what made the other side advance their weapons. The fear of a possible war between the two sides is what prevented that war from ever happening. Mutual assured destruction was the defense against a nuclear attack. Treaties to stop nuclear testing were signed to prevent the other side from making further advancements, but they rarely worked. Weapons were being developed at an amazing rate, and it was all to either match or better the opposing side. President Carter attempted to cut nuclear development, but Reagan after him did the opposite to gain a "margin of safety".
Along with the nuclear race there were many other races during the Cold War that can all fall under the Arms Race. During the sixties there was a massive race to control space. With the launch of Sputnik, fear of the Soviet Union having ICBM's was strong and the race to the moon began. The Soviet's had a lot of firsts during the Space Race, but the United States made it to the moon. The Outer Space Treaty was set to prevent nuclear testing in outer space. Space would end up being a powerful factor in the Cold War, with the use of spy satellites and missiles that could be launched from one side of the world with a target on the other side of the world.
Many conflicts resulted from the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. During all those conflicts there was a threat of nuclear weapons being used but in none of the conflicts was nuclear weapons ever used. The Korean Conflict and the Vietnam Conflict were two major ones during the Cold War. The fear factor prevented the U.S. from ever using the "bomb" on any enemy. This fear factor prevented either side to attempt to destroy the other. The Cold war was based on fear, and if someone became fearless, than they would be destroyed with catastrophic results. Based on fear and hatred, the United States has had many "eras" of complete chaos. "Witch hunts" for communists in the United States were comparable to the Salem witch-hunts of early America. Most houses in threatened areas built bomb shelters in the 1950's and 60's because the fear of the Soviets launching an attack was ever present.
The Cuba Missile Crisis set the United States into utter panic that the Soviet Union could put nuclear capable missiles so close to the United States. "Duck and Cover" was a famous TV warning that if the Soviets ever launched a nuclear arsenal, the best thing to do was to duck and cover like a turtle does to "avoid danger", but in reality doing this duck and cover action wouldn't help to save any lives. It was a false security, and schools across the country practiced another false security of ducking under desks to avoid the blast. Fear of communism and of the Soviets was so great, yet most people in the United States at the time didn't even know what the communist government was all about. All they knew was that the Soviets were the complete opposite of what the Americans believed in.
Long distance bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear capability on submarines, and cruise missiles were all powerful weapons, which had the nuclear power, but thankfully were never used with nuclear power. Both sides had a plan if they ever became under attack. Satellites would determine if a nuclear weapon was launched from the enemy and the other side would launch everything they had upon their enemy. This was the fear factor. If you attack us with nuclear weapons, we will attack you with nuclear weapons. It made perfect sense. There was no defense against a nuclear attack so why not, take out you advisory if you're going to get destroyed anyway. Nuclear bombers for the United States would joke about after dropping a bomb hiding out on an island somewhere. They knew that if they ever had to be sent on that dreadful mission, the world would not exist the way they knew it. They also knew that there was no way they could survive if they had to go on that mission.
With the improving technology that came from the development of bigger and better weapons, billions of dollars were spent on making the newest and best weapons. All to destroy their advisory if ever put to the test. With the most recent technology has come the stealth technology, and the Stealth bombers and fighters. The long distance bombers were replaced with ones that couldn't be detected on radar, maybe this was to gain an edge against the soviets, to launch an attack on the Soviets without them knowing it until it was too late. Was this development deterring the fear factor? That was probably the plan, but the Cold War was all about gaining an edge against the other.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, the Cold War has ended, and now all ideals of the United States during the Cold War have ended. The United States put trade embargoes on Cuba and the Soviet Union because they were communists, but now after the Cold War, the U.S. is trading with China and possibly other communist countries. Was all these ideals put in place because the hate against the Soviet Union was so great that everything they stood for was hated? Was this the reason for the Cold War? Lyndon Johnson said that he wanted to be the President who "helped to end hatred among his fellow men and who promoted love among the people of all races and all religions and all parties." He wanted to be "the President who helped to end war among the brothers of this earth." This hatred is what made the Cold War last so long.
The side with the deepest pockets won the Cold War. The fear factor made the spending immense. Had the United States looked at the capability and intention of the Soviet Union, they would have discovered that a threat of total world invasion was very little. Had the Soviet Union looked at the capability and intention of the United States they would have discovered that the United States was not a major threat either. False intentions and false beliefs encouraged the fear. The Cold War was all about bettering the opponent with fear and was fought with money rather than bullets. The Cold War was all about fear and hatred. With money as the major factor in winning, the United States is left with the "super-power" of nuclear weapons. They have the sole responsibility now, and relations with other countries have become very important. The Soviet Union has fallen, but the threat of total destruction hasn't.
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