Fatal Fiction: A Weapon to end all Wars

Franklin, H. Bruce

doi:10.1080/00963402.1989.11459745

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

1989

DOI: 10.1080/00963402.1989.11459745

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Fatal Fiction: A Weapon to end all Wars

H. Bruce Franklin

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Cited by 4 publications

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“…For Truman on the United Nations as a kind of global republic, seeTruman (1945). For more on future war fictions, seeFranklin (1989).…”

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confidence: 99%

The 19th-century origins of nuclear deterrence

Fraser¹

2020

JBA

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This article suggests that understanding the unspoken assumptions of nuclear weapons policy depends on understanding late-19th-century literary accounts of superweapons, which prefigured the atom bomb. Such accounts were utopian. They envisioned world peace brought about through a technological breakthrough, one that would allow a single nation to achieve absolute hegemony. This article demonstrates the links between 'future war' stories written by authors such as Jack London, Frank Stockton, and Roy Norton, on the one hand, and the nuclear deterrence reasoning of US leaders such as Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, and Donald Trump, on the other. The nuclear device realises the dream of a technology suited to coercive diplomacy and little else, and as a result it traps 21st-century nation-states in a set of relations devised by thinkers in the 19th century. This article suggests, ultimately, that the danger of reverting to the logic of 19th-century coercive diplomacy will remain as long as nuclear weapons do.

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“…For Truman on the United Nations as a kind of global republic, seeTruman (1945). For more on future war fictions, seeFranklin (1989).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The 19th-century origins of nuclear deterrence

Fraser¹

2020

JBA

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First Strike Hypersonic Weapons: The End of the “MAD” Doctrine and Peace for Our Time?

Wong¹

2021

Pacific Focus

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Since the conclusion of the Second World War, the world's great powers (i.e., the United States, Russia, and China) have been locked in an escalating race to develop the next game‐changing weapon. The pivotal weapon examined in this paper is hypersonics. The desire to master hypersonic weaponry is particularly strong amongst the “lesser powers” or “Davids” (e.g., Iran and North Korea), as they hold the belief that hypersonics are the “Assassin's Mace” that will grant them the critical first strike advantage against the militarily superior great powers. This study examines the intensifying “hypersonics arms race” between these nations and more importantly, the potential of this increasingly contentious rivalry to destabilize the tenuous world peace purportedly effected by the “Mutual Assured Destruction” (“MAD”) doctrine. Even if this “hypersonics arms race” does not lead to another global conflict, it does serve to flame regional tensions in the Middle East and Northeast Asia, ultimately setting the scene for proxy wars, as the great powers could ply their respective allies with hypersonics technology, with the aim of furthering their own strategic agendas.

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Death Dust: The Little-Known Story of U.S. and Soviet Pursuit of Radiological Weapons

Meyer

Bidgood

Potter

2020

International Security

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Since September 11, 2001, most expert commentary on radiological weapons has focused on nonstate actors, to the neglect of state-level programs. In fact, numerous countries in the past have expressed interest in radiological weapons; a number have actively pursued them; and three tested them on multiple occasions before ultimately deciding not to deploy the weapons. Why is so little known about these false starts, especially outside the United States? Are such weapons more difficult to manufacture than depicted by science-fiction authors and military pundits? Are radiological weapons a thing of the past, or do they remain an attractive option for some countries? A comparative analysis of the previously underexplored cases of radiological weapons programs in the United States and the Soviet Union illuminates the drivers and limitations of weapons innovation in one specific nuclear sector. An examination of the rise and demise of radiological weapons programs in both countries also points to circumstances in the future that might prompt renewed interest on the part of some states in radiological weapons and proposes steps that might be undertaken to reduce the possibility of their production, deployment, and use.

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Fatal Fiction: A Weapon to end all Wars

Cited by 4 publications

References 1 publication

The 19th-century origins of nuclear deterrence

The 19th-century origins of nuclear deterrence

First Strike Hypersonic Weapons: The End of the “MAD” Doctrine and Peace for Our Time?

Death Dust: The Little-Known Story of U.S. and Soviet Pursuit of Radiological Weapons

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