Could a sufficiently aggressive state that develops nuclear weapons first conquer the world?

If a regime like the Soviet Union or Japan hypothetically created hundreds of nuclear weapons before anyone else had any, they had sufficient uranium to create more, and they threatened the world, is it possible for them to push the rest of the world into submission?

Then, if anyone rebels, they just glass the region to set an example.


Could this happen? Could we get someone to conquer the world, perhaps even establishing centralized rule?
 
It's possible but in the process of taking power and purging intellectuals, said regime would probably weaken their own science and technology output. So it's unlikely.
 
Someone on the other side of the oceans will have their own nukes sooner or later, and in the meantime they're building up a big navy and army and establishing a solid alliance to counter you.

Possibly a hyper-aggressive US which ruled the whole New World (easier to conquer and gives you that nice ocean barrier, so a New World state is easiest) might be able make a shot at it assuming Europe is pretty divided and China/Japan a mess, but it would be one hell of a fight, and like OTL, someone on the other side will have their own nukes to respond soon. But until the other side has ICBMs, a fleet of SSBNs, and hundreds of nukes to throw around, the side with more nukes still has a good chance at winning assuming they don't mind losing a few cities and taking enormous losses in the initial campaign.
 
Possibly a hyper-aggressive US which ruled the whole New World (easier to conquer and gives you that nice ocean barrier, so a New World state is easiest) might be able make a shot at it assuming Europe is pretty divided and China/Japan a mess, but it would be one hell of a fight, and like OTL, someone on the other side will have their own nukes to respond soon.
It took the Soviets four years with a pretty hefty effort, so "soon" may very well not be soon enough, depending on the context. If they're developed in the context of a total war by a conquering power, they might be deployed with enough abandon that by the time anyone else could develop them they'd already been conquered or nuked or both.
 
Top