By 1963, various nuclear powers had conducted multiple tests of nuclear bombs in the atmosphere, on the ground and under water. The United States was conducting powerful thermonuclear devices during the 1950s and the Soviet Union exploded its first thermonuclear bomb in 1961. International concern over the effects of radioactive fallout out from these tests had been growing during the 1950s.
In 1953, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a speech titled “Atoms for Peace” to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. In the speech, Eisenhower mentioned nuclear warfare but mainly focused on the potential for peaceful used of nuclear energy. He announced new U.S. program to supply equipment and information to institutions and nations worldwide to assist in nuclear research. Eisenhower reassured the world that the U.S.
Iran is an ancient country known for most of its history as Persia. It has existed in one form or another for thousands of years. The original Zoroastrian religion was replaced by Islam when Iran was conquered in 651 AD. The Iranians are predominantly members of the Shiite branch of Islam.
Israel was founded as a Jewish state in 1948 when the British partitioned lands that it controlled in the Middle East following World War II. There had been tension between the Jews and the Muslims in that area for centuries. Following the creation of a Jewish state, open war broke out between Israel and its Muslim neighbors. The first Israeli Prime Minister was obsessed with nuclear weapons.
Following the Korean War, the treaty ending the war on July 27, 1953 contained a clause that said that neither North Korea or South Korean would introduce new types of weapons to the peninsula. This was generally understood to mean nuclear weapons. In 1956, the U.S. military decided to deploy nuclear missiles in South Korea and announced that it would no longer be bound by that provision of the treaty that ended the war.
Pakistan came into existence as an independent country in 1947 when the British Indian Empire was partitioned between Hindus and Muslims. The United States brought its “U.S. Atoms for Peace initiatives to Pakistan in 1953 and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister said that Pakistan did not have a policy about atomic bombs. Part of the U.S. initiative was a nuclear reactor for Pakistan. Pakistan established the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 1956.
Pakistan came into existence as an independent country in 1947 when the British Indian Empire was partitioned between Hindus and Muslims. The United States brought its “U.S. Atoms for Peace initiatives to Pakistan in 1953 and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister said that Pakistan did not have a policy about atomic bombs. Part of the U.S. initiative was a nuclear reactor for Pakistan. Pakistan established the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 1956.
Pakistan came into existence as an independent country in 1947 when the British Indian Empire was partitioned between Hindus and Muslims. The United States brought its “U.S. Atoms for Peace initiatives to Pakistan in 1953 and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister said that Pakistan did not have a policy about atomic bombs. Part of the U.S. initiative was a nuclear reactor for Pakistan. Pakistan established the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 1956.
In 1947, shortly after World War II, the British partitioned their colony of India into the new Hindu nation of India and the new Muslim nation of Pakistan. The largest migration in human history followed as Muslims moved west into Pakistan and Hindus moved east into India. Kashmir was controlled by India although the majority of their citizens were Muslim. Since the partition, India and Pakistan have argued over Kashmir and occasionally fought wars.
The Curie family carried out some of the original research on radioactive materials in the first decades of the Twentieth Century. By the time of World War II, French research into nuclear energy was well advanced. French scientists kept General de Gaulle informed of American nuclear research and the possibility of nuclear weapons. Following the atomic bombing of Japan and the end of the War, de Gaulle started the French Atomic Energy Commissariat.
