nuclear weapons

I was just rereading For All Time again, in which nuclear weapons, even strategic ones, have no taboo and are used copiously. It’s an extremely dystopian alternate history, and it left me wondering what a more moderate version might look like: Tactical nukes are considered acceptable, but the...

How could you rid the world of nuclear weapons by present day? Rather then the common “what if nukes never existed question” This is meant to be more of a question of how could you get rid of nuclear weapons after they have already been proliferated at least to an extent. So I would say focus on...

With a PoD after WW2, how could there be a nuclear exchange set off between the United Kingdom and France? The only condition of this scenario is that the first nuke that goes off has to be either French or British and directed at their rival across the Channel (or at one of their colonial...

As we all know, the US was the country which created the first nuclear weapons and the only country to use them in war, bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons to finally end the Pacific War. After that, the US kept the largest nuclear arsenal as many more countries developed nuclear...

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Libya (under the presidency of Muammar Qaddafi) sought to normalise relations with the US and the West. A big part of this project was disarmament. In the 1990s, during the early Clinton administration, Libya dismantled its nuclear weapons programme. In...

Yugoslavia started a nuclear weapons program in the early 1950s, believed to be in response to growing tensions with the Soviet Union. The program was terminated as relations with Moscow began to thaw, but was revived in the mid-1970s due to India detonating its first nuke. However, Tito's...

This thread is not about discussing the notion of whether or not war is a social and technological catalyst. I personally believe WW II, apart from advancements in specific fields, was a net loss given that 50-60 million people died and the famines, genocides, political instability, civil wars...

More than America's Youngest Ambassador: The Story of Samantha Smith Hello! This is my first timeline, so feel free to provide constructive criticism, make suggestions, and to ask questions! I will always be happy to answer them. A few things, this timeline will be relatively small, 10-15...

What is the earliest a nuclear weapon or reactor could have been developed? (POD No later than the industrial revolution)

In June 1994 the United States nearly went to war with North Korea to stop their nuclear weapons program, and the crisis was only averted due to the intercession of former President Carter. How could the war start and how would it unfold? Would a rump North Korea be likely post war?

WI around 2002, Saddam announced that Iraq had nuclear weapons and would not hesitate to use them defensively? Defectors/agents would probably inform the US that they don't actually, but would the US trust these reports and and invade anyway? Maybe a preemptive nuclear strike? Or could this top...

Here are some myths I believed about nuclear war I used to believe in. Anyone can share their previous myths: 1. That fallout would be long-lasting and severe after a nuclear exchange. I once believed legit that fallout after a nuclear war would really be so intense and would last long, but...

So, in OTL the highest combined stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world was a bit over 60,000 in 1986, of which maybe a bit over 20,000 at most would fly. While there are threads about how many nations could develop nuclear weapons, not much at all has been said about how large the arsenals...

October 16, 1962: You are the President of the United States, and American intelligence reports that the Soviet Union is planting missile silos in Cuba, only ninety miles from US shores. Your response will determine the fate of the world. Any single miscalculation could increase global tensions...

Here's the first chapter of my new TL that I've been working on for a while. Clinton’s Korean War Chapter I: The North Korean Nuclear Crisis, 1985-1994. By the end of the administration of President George H.W. Bush there were mounting concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program. Starting...

This youtube video suggests that if Operation Downfall went ahead then Japan would start increasing it's use of bioweopons to such a level that a plague would spread across the world and lead to the downfall of the superpowers such as the Soviet Union, America, and Britain. Would this be the...

As the tin says. What PODs in research, development, or even political changes can set back the development of nukes as late as possible?

With a POD no earlier than 1900, when's the earliest that you could, A), possibly, and B), plausibly, have a nation develop and detonate the world's first nuclear warhead? Would it be both possible and plausible for any nation to develop the world's first nuclear weapon quicker and earlier than...

With a POD after 1945, come up with a scenario where a rogue state akin to North Korea in it's mixture of batshit insanity, oppressive government, and willingness to threathen it's neighbors with war is around in Latin America. Bonus points if said Latin American dictatorship has it's own...

As the title would indicate, your challenge is to create a world where biological weapons are regarded as being just as bad, or even worse, than nuclear ones. The most obvious ways I see to do this would be to have worse, or more, bioweapons used in warfare and/or not having nukes actually used...