Since the waning years of World War II, the various nations of the world have put a lot of time, energy, and resources in to developing nuclear arsenals for preventive reasons. But is that really always why they acquire them? I would say yes, but not to prevent the same things. There are a few different reasons why nuclear weapons have been developed in the past by various existing nuclear powers, and this has varied from preventing invasions to preventing loss of life in their own invasions, among other reasons. The United States was the first to develop nuclear weapons at a time when it could defend itself from its rivals if need be, but it could be argued that the weapons that were developed allowed the United States to end the war with
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India is the first of the states I will discuss who are not recognized by the non-proliferation treaty, but who are known to possess nuclear capabilities. India has a historic rivalry with China, as two of the largest nations in the world by land area, and the two largest by far by population. The BBC reports their shared border as being 2,520 miles long, which creates a lot of opportunities for border disputes between the two Asian behemoths. India and China faced off in a border war in 1962, in which India was embarrassed. In addition to this, India and China are both nations who sought to remain relevant to the powers of the world after the decolonization period post-World War II, and more recently striving to become superpowers in their own right. As we saw in Europe over the last few centuries, when some of the most prominent nations in the world are neighbors, wars tend to pop up very frequently. Because of the Sino-Indian rivalry, tensions were very high in India following China’s development of a nuclear weapon in 1964. Wexing Hu, in his article “India Going Nuclear: A Bomb Against China?” discusses the fluctuation in the relationship between India and China since that border war. The Sino-Indian border war was a major contributing factor to India’s initial foray into the nuclear picture, but other factors, such as the relationship between India and Pakistan, are also heavy
India is the first of the states I will discuss who are not recognized by the non-proliferation treaty, but who are known to possess nuclear capabilities. India has a historic rivalry with China, as two of the largest nations in the world by land area, and the two largest by far by population. The BBC reports their shared border as being 2,520 miles long, which creates a lot of opportunities for border disputes between the two Asian behemoths. India and China faced off in a border war in 1962, in which India was embarrassed. In addition to this, India and China are both nations who sought to remain relevant to the powers of the world after the decolonization period post-World War II, and more recently striving to become superpowers in their own right. As we saw in Europe over the last few centuries, when some of the most prominent nations in the world are neighbors, wars tend to pop up very frequently. Because of the Sino-Indian rivalry, tensions were very high in India following China’s development of a nuclear weapon in 1964. Wexing Hu, in his article “India Going Nuclear: A Bomb Against China?” discusses the fluctuation in the relationship between India and China since that border war. The Sino-Indian border war was a major contributing factor to India’s initial foray into the nuclear picture, but other factors, such as the relationship between India and Pakistan, are also heavy