Rwinkle

On 16th July, 1945 at 5:29 AM in Jornada del Muerto desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first successful test for nuclear weapons took place. Robert Oppenheimer and his team was working on this as a part of the Manhattan Project for the last three years. What happened that day forever changed the course of World history.

The successful test allowed United States military to drop nuclear bomb over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 that completely destroyed the two cities killing hundreds of thousands of people in the process. The move effectively ended the World War 2. Today I am to going to tell you how Oppenheimer and his team made the world’s first atomic bomb.

Discovery of nuclear fission and earlier scientific development

The invention of nuclear bomb was not an instant development as you may think. The project got help from the decades of research and development undertaken by physicists all around the world.

It all started with the discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel, Marie Curie, and Ernest Rutherford in the late 19th century. Their work laid the foundation for studying atomic nuclei and the radiation.

In 1905, young Albert Einstein introduced the theory of special relativity while working as a Clerk in Switzerland. His theory of mass and energy equivalence, proved that a small amount of mass can produce huge amount of energy in specific conditions.

In 1911, Ernest Rutherford performed his groundbreaking experiment that provided the conclusion, that most of the atom’s mass is concentrated in a tiny,positively charged nucleus at the center of the atom and it is surrounded by electrons.

In 1913, Danish physicist Niels Bohr introduced the Bohr’s model. His theory helped in understanding the structure of atoms, stability and various energy levels of electrons.

At first no one thought that atoms can produce massive amount of energy. Because at that time, it was almost impossible to break them. Rutherford said that “Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine”.

Even Einstein said “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable – it would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.”

In early 1930s, various scientists started experimenting on nuclear reactions. In 1932, British physicists Ernest Walton and John Cockroft broke the lithium nuclei with the help of proton through particle acceleration. Their work demonstrated the conversion of matter into energy and it will later help in the discovery of nuclear fission.

But the energy produced through their particle accelerator was very low because the positively charged protons were repelled by the positive charges of the nuclei. That same year, another British physicists James Chadwick discovered the existence of a neutron in his Cambridge laboratory.

Neutron is neutral (uncharged), so it will not have the problem proton was having during the bombardment. In 1933, Hungarian physicists Leo Szilard introduced the idea of nuclear chain reaction. He realized that if a neutron could cause the fission of an atomic nucleus, it could release additional neutrons, which, in turn, could cause the fission of more nuclei, creating a sustaining chain reaction.

In 1938, German physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann used Szilard’s idea to conduct an experiment that will change the world forever. They saw that when Uranium is bombarded with neutrons, it got split into smaller elements.

After the incident, Hann sent the findings to his former colleague Lise Meitner, a physicist who fled Nazi Germany and was working in Stockholm, Sweden. Meitner with the help of her nephew Otto Frisch, provided the theoretical explanation for the discovery and coined the term ‘Nuclear Fission‘. They published their discovery in January 1939.

On 29th January 1939, Luis Alvarez, an experimental physicist and a colleague of Robert Oppenheimer, encountered the findings while reading The San Francisco Chronicle during his haircut. He quickly got up in the middle of his haircut and ran towards Oppenheimer’s office to show him.

After reading the article, Oppenheimer refused to believe it and through a calculation he tried to prove that nuclear fission is never possible. Alvarez, an experimental physicist himself, repeated the experiment and found out the that the article is actually true.

Alvarez showed his experiment to Oppenheimer and after some time, he not only agreed, he also figured out that the initial bombardment will cause a nuclear chain reaction that will emit a massive amount of energy. That energy can be used to create an atomic bomb.

Later that year, physicist Niels Bohr and his colleague John Archibald Wheeler published the theoretical basis of the nuclear chain reaction.

World War 2 Begins

On 1st September,1939, Nazi Germany under the leadership of Chancellor Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland despite warnings from Britain and France. Soviet Union, at that time an ally of Germany, also invaded Poland from the east. Within weeks they occupied the whole country and then divided between them.

Right after the invasion, Britain and France issued an ultimatum asking for complete withdrawal of troops from Poland. Hitler refused and on September 3rd,1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War 2.

After declaring war on Germany, there was a phone war for some time. The Allies literally did nothing for quite a while. But in April 1940, Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway. In may, Hitler started a full invasion of France and quickly occupied the whole country defeating both French and British army.

That same year, Hitler also attempted to invade Britain but failed. Next year, in an unexpected turn of events, Hitler betrayed Stalin and invaded the Soviet Union, an ideological enemy of fascism, in June 1941.

But the biggest turning point of the war was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On December 7th, 1941, Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack on United States Naval base in Pearl Harbor. The well co-ordinated attack destroyed several American battle ships and other naval assets.

The attack also killed almost 2400 American soldiers and injured more than a thousand people. The incident changed American public view about the war and filled them with rage. The next day on December 8th, 1941, US formally declared war on Japan, thus entering the World War 2.

Uranium Committee and early nuclear research

On 2nd August, 1939, around a month before Hitler invaded Poland, Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi Germany and Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard wrote a letter to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, requesting him to launch a research project on nuclear physics and warned that if Germany builds a nuclear bomb first, it will be a catastrophic for the free world.

In response to the letter, President Roosevelt formed the Advisory Committee on Uranium in October 1939. Roosevelt appointed engineer Lyman Briggs to lead the committee. Lyman conducted the first committee meeting on 21st October, 1939. Prominent scientists like Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, Ernest Orlando Lawrence was part of that committee.

The committee evaluated the potential military applications of nuclear energy. The committee recognized the significance of uranium sources, especially for the isotope U-235 and they also found out that they can use the newly discovered Plutonium in University of California (1940) for creating a nuclear chain reaction and thus a bomb.

In mid 1940, Roosevelt upgraded the committee to National Research Defence Committee (NRDC). US also started collaborating with its ally Britain to conduct and share research. Britain established the MAUD committee to do research in response to the memorandum of scientist Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls in 1940.

Frisch and Peierls recently figured out the critical mass of Uranium, which is essential to start the nuclear chain reaction. In mid 1941, President Roosevelt created the Office of Scientific Research and Development and the previously formed NRDC became the S-1 Unit of the organisation.

On October 9th,1941, President Roosevelt approved the atomic programme and scientists around the country started conducting research on separating Uranium 235 (needed for nuclear chain reaction) from the more abundant Uranium 238 (which doesn’t undergo chain reaction). Natural uranium contains about 0.7% of U-235 and 99.3% of U-238.

At that time, various scientists were working on 5 different seperation technique – electromagnetic separation, gaseous diffusion, thermal diffusion, gas centrifuges and heavy water process. On 23 May 1942, the committee decided to pursue all of the techniques to figure out the separation.

Ultimately they used both gas diffusion and electromagnetic seperation for Uranium enrichment. Prominent scientists like Eger Murphree, Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Philip Abelson, Jesse Wakefield Beams, Harold Urey and Arthur Compton played a huge part in separation process.

The committee secured around $54 million from US government with the approval of President Roosevelt to conduct research and development on Uranium sources and seperation.

They also found out that Plutonium will be an excellent choice for making a bomb because it can also be created from Uranium-238 and it needs less critical mass (10KG) compared to that of Uranium-235 (52KG) for a sustained nuclear chain reaction.

In mid 1942, Oppenheimer, who was working in University of California, got involved in the research of neutron diffusion and hydrodynamics. His research was instrumental in calculations of required critical mass for explosion.

Oppenheimer and his colleague Enrico Fermi completed their research and came up with the theoretical basis for a fission bomb. In June and July of 1942, scientists from University of California and University of Chicago reviewed the calculations and agreed that fission bomb is now possible. There was also a possibility that the nuclear chain reaction will not stop and ultimately ignite the atmosphere and destroy the entire world. But later it was found that the possibility is next to zero.

The Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project officially began on 13th August,1942, with the appointment of Major General Leslie R. Groves of US Army Corps of Engineers, who recently led the development of the Pentagon.

The code name for this secret operation was given ‘The Manhattan Project’, becoz of the project’s headquarter in Manhattan Engineer District. Later in December, President Roosevelt approved funding of around $500 million to get things going.

On December 2nd,1942, the first breakthrough of the Manhattan Project happened. That day, a group of scientists under the command of Enrico Fermi, successfully produced a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction through the help of reactor Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1), which was made of graphite blocks and uranium fuel.

The experiment secretly took place under the Stagg football field of University of Chicago. This experiment confirmed that they can actually make a nuclear bomb that will explode and it also laid the groundwork of today’s nuclear power plant and related research.

Research and Engineering Sites

To conduct research and development for the atomic bomb, there were several sites chosen and each of the site played their individual part in making the bomb. Oakland, Tennessee, was chosen for Uranium and Plutonium enrichment.

On 29 September 1942, US government authorized the Corps of Engineers to acquire 56,000 acres of land selected by Groves for $3.5 million. The purchase affected more than 1000 families, they were forced to leave the place by government order.

The Oakland site became the area where several factories were manufactured for Uranium enrichment. Plants like S-50, K-25 and Y-12 played essential part and employed thousands of people. Graphite X-10 reactor was also based there.

The most important site of the project was the research laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the directory of Oppenheimer. Groves wanted a secure and private place for the research and Oppenheimer suggested the remote hilly area where he had happy moments while growing up.

Almost $500,000 spent on acquiring the land and initially Groves thought $300,000 will be enough for construction project but within a year the entire cost of the Project Y surpassed over $7 million. The cost included the building of laboratories and even building an entire town to house the scientists and their family.

In Hanford, Washington, Groves spent $5 million to acquire 430,000 acres of land in an isolated area nearby Columbia river. This area became the site of Hanford Engineer Works, where in collaboration with Dupont, the B reactor was created for Plutonium production.

In Chicago, there were plans to build large factories for Plutonium production but later it was transferred to Oak Ridge. Instead it became the site of various related to nuclear reactors including the Chicago Pile-1, the first artificial nuclear reactor. Research also continued in Harvard University and MIT.

In Canada, the project established Heavy Water reactors in British Columbia and Ontario. Dupont also worked on heavy water sites in West Virginia and Alabama. Members of Air Force, who will drop the bomb, trained at Wendover Airfield in Utah.

Bomb Designs

After various research, the scientists decided to work on two designs – the gun type bomb named ‘Little Boy‘ and implosion type bomb ‘Fat Man‘. Uranium-235 was used in Little Boy and Plutonium-239 was used in Fat Man.

The Gun type design included a sub-critical mass or little bit less than the critical mass of Uranium-235 and a gun barrel or the breech. Some part of U-235 will be attached to the barrel and another part will be on the other end of the structure.

If we use a explosion to fire the barrel, the U-235 attached to it will hit the other in the opposite end, resulting in a mass that will be higher than the critical mass. This situation will start a chain reaction and create a massive explosion.

But the gun type bomb was not suitable for Plutonium. The team already had less Uranium-235 and the gun type design was not very effective. Plutonium was a more practical choice because it’s critical mass is 10kg so we need less of it.

If Plutonium is used in a gun type bomb, plutonium-239 would absorb a neutron and become plutonium-240. It will result in a early chain reaction and thus pre-detonation before reaching the critical mass. Because of it, the yield of bomb will be drastically reduced.

So Oppenheimer decided to go with another type of design that was proposed, an Implosion type bomb. It included an ellipsoid-shaped core of plutonium-239 in the middle and it was surrounded by conventional explosive materials.

The idea was, when we create an explosion surrounding the Plutonium core, it will compress it and increase the density, resulting in reaching the critical mass and thus starting a chain reaction that will create a huge nuclear explosion.

Oppenheimer also decided to put a neutron reflector in the middle of the core and surrounding explosives. It will help in containing and redirecting the escaping neutrons back into the core, increasing the efficiency of the chain reaction.

They also increased the success rate of the bomb by putting a neutron source/initiator named ‘Urchin’ in the middle of the Plutonium core to begin the nuclear chain reaction.

It was made of beryllium and polonium, seperated by a layer of nickel and gold. When the explosion happens and compression occurs, the alpha particles of polonium will force beryllium to release neutrons thus starting the chain reaction.

The Trinity Test

There were some doubts about the success of Implosion type Plutonium bomb, so many recommended to perform a fizzle test to check the yield is enough. Oppenheimer later suggested to do a complete nuclear bomb test.

Planing for the test began in March 1944. The site that was selected for the Trinity test was at the Jornada del Muerto desert of Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, which is now part of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Oppenheimer and his team established a base camp codenamed ‘Camp Y‘ for the project. For the test, they made an implosion type Plutonium bomb named the ‘Gadget’. To detonate the bomb, it was kept hanging from a 30 metre steel tower because it will be helpful to identify what will happen when it is dropped from a plane.

At 5:29 AM on 16th July, 1945, they remotely detonated the nuclear bomb. It generated an energy equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT and a mushroom cloud of almost 12 KM height. The shock of the bomb was felt from 160 KM away and the destruction was much powerful than Oppenheimer comprehended.

The test verified the theoretical calculations and the overall feasibility of the nuclear bomb. Test happened a day before the Potsdam conference, where new US President Harry S. Truman met UK’s Winston Churchill and Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin to discuss the future after the war.

It gave US a powerful position to not only end the war but also influence post war policy of countries around the World. Reducing Soviet Union’s aggression in the east was also a major motivating factor.

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Potsdam conference in Germany, issued the Potsdam declaration which essentially stated that if Japan doesn’t unconditionally surrender then they will suffer unimaginable consequences.

During the conference, Truman also informed Stalin about the new bomb but Stalin already knew about it from the spies. Japan didn’t comply with the declaration and kept on fighting. US decided to end the war quickly by using the bomb.

After successful Trinity test, a committee was established to identify appropriate target to drop the bomb and it was led by physicist Arthur Compton. Cities like Kyoto and Yokohama was considered but later Kyoto was removed because of its cultural significance.

On 6th August,1945, a modified Boeing B-29 jet nicknamed ‘Enola Gay’ piloted by Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr., dropped the Gun type Uranium-235 bomb ‘Little Boy’ over Hiroshima, a major port city and a military base of the Japanese Empire.

The bomb detonated at 530 metre altitude and released an energy equivalent to 13 kilotons of TNT. It instantly killed 70,000 people and vaporized more than 70% of the buildings. Within a month, another 70,000 will die because of radio activity related issues.

But Japan refused to surrender. US tried to end things diplomatically after the bombing but Japan didn’t negotiate and kept on fighting. In Japanese culture, surrender is unacceptable and instead they will give their life proudly defending their nation.

So 3 days later on 9th August, another modified B-29 jet nicknamed ‘Bockscar’ piloted by Charles W. Sweeney, dropped the implosion type Plutonium bomb ‘Fat Man’ over Nagasaki, also a major port and industrial city of the Japanese Empire. Initially, the target was Kokura but Sweeney couldn’t follow the visual instructions given because of clouds.

After the second bombing that killed almost 50,000 people, Japan started reducing its military activity and started negotiating with the US. They formally surrendered on 2nd September, 1945 aboard Navy ship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. It marked the official ending of the second World War.

Aftermath and Legacy

Although initially supported the use of atomic bomb, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the scale of destruction and death left Oppenheimer traumatized. Around a week after the last bombing, Oppenheimer went to Washington D.C with a letter asking for arms control.

Oppenheimer reportedly cried in a meeting with President Truman saying he has blood in his hand. He represents the voice of majority of scientists in the post world war era. Oppenheimer spent the rest of his life calling out military actions and promoting arms control.

Later in his life, in an interview, Oppenheimer recalls what he thought after the Trinity test, he said “We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent.”

He added “I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.” Oppenheimer died at the age of 62 due to throats cancer caused by his smoking habit.

Historians still debate the necessity of using the atomic bomb. Many argue that it was necessary to end the war quickly and save thousands of lives because a complete invasion of Japan will be very costly.

The bomb was also a presentation of strength infront of the aggresive Soviet Union. Critic says Japan was already in the brink of surrender and there were no excuse to use the atomic bomb. Nevertheless, it changed the course of history for ever.

After the war, Soviet Union figured out how to make an atomic bomb. On 29th August,1949, they successfully detonated a nuclear bomb making them the second country to have such kind of weapon. This incident led US to invest in making a hydrogen Bomb.

On 1st November,1952, US successfully detonated the ‘Ivy Mike‘ hydrogen bomb. It created an energy equivalent to 10.4 megatons of TNT, almost 400 times more powerful than the bomb used in the Trinity test. This was the beginning of an arms race between the two super powers that will continue for another 4 decades.

In October 1962, during the height of Cold War, US and Soviet Union were almost close to start a nuclear war but good diplomacy prevented the armageddon. Throughout the years, Soviet Union and US signed several treaties like Non Proliferation Treaty for arms control.

As of today, there are nine countries who possess nuclear weapons: US, Russia, China, India, UK, France, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan.

On October 14th 1962, US Air Force U-2 spy plane captured some images over Cuba that clearly showed Soviet Union is building nuclear missile sites for its medium and intermediate range nuclear ballistic missiles in the island nation.

The images confirmed what United States feared the most, Soviet nuclear missile just 140 Km from Florida. It will lead to a 13 days long political crisis between US and Soviet Union that almost started a nuclear War.

Cuban Communist Revolution

It all started with the Cuban Communist revolution (1953-1959) that resulted in the overthrow of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista and establishment of a Communist dictatorship under the new Prime Minister Fidel Castro on 1st January, 1959.

Castro implemented various economic and social reforms that transformed Cuba into a socialist state. Corporations, industries, lands were nationalized and power became fully concentrated under few people (mainly Castro).

Castro redistributed land from large estates and foreign-owned plantations to small farmers and agricultural cooperatives. This action angered powerful corporations in US that heavily relied on those lands and related cheap labour.

Castro also directly and indirectly funded and supported various anti-imperialist communist movements. He instituted free health care and Education in Cuba. To maintain sovereignty and save his position from its ideological enemy Unites States, he tightened Cuba’s relationship with Soviet Union.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

United States hated what was happening in Cuba and wanted to remove Castro from power. Under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, US started secretly training Cuban exiles in Guatemala through code name ‘Operation Pluto’.

When JF Kennedy became President, he continued the training operation and on April 17th 1961, around 1400 US trained and armed Cuban exiles decided to take over Cuba through an invasion. At first, the invasion was planned to take place in Trinidad but later shifted to Bay of Pigs.

But the Cuban government got Intel about the invasion and they started preparing and mobilising its military. The invading army believed that Cuban population will join them and another revolution will take place that will remove Castro from power.

But it didn’t materialize. The invading force were outnumbered and the invasion failed within days. Many of them got killed or wounded, some managed to escape by the sea. It was a humiliating failure for the United States and it further cemented anti American views in Cuba.

John F Kennedy and his administration desperately wanted to take revenge. Department of defence started another Operation called Mongoose which was executed by the CIA.

Under this operation, CIA bought several radio stations and other media network to run anti Castro and anti communist propaganda. CIA was also involved in sabotage and assassination attempts of Fidel Castro.

Castro survived all the assassination attempts and with his own propaganda, he further spread anti American views in his country. Operation Mongoose was also a failure for the US.

In 1962, Department of Defence prepared another plan to remove Castro from power. DOD asked for approval of a certain planned Operation called Northwoods from President John F Kennedy.

Joint Chiefs of Staff argued that the only remaining way to remove Castro from power and stop the spread of communism in Latin America is to launch a full scale military intervention and invade the entire country.

But starting a war first was not a good look for U.S, so under operation Northwoods, they planned to execute terrorist attacks on American soil (especially Guantanamo Bay).

The plan also included high jacking American civilian aircraft, blowing up an American military Warship and even fake arrests with possible casualties.

President Kennedy rejected the plan and it created a rift between the Kennedy administration and the high ranking military officials. Kennedy will continue to step up to the war hungry military officials during the Cuban missile crisis and helped prevent a possible nuclear war.

Soviet missiles in Cuba

After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, Fidel Castro strengthened his relationship with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and signed several mutually beneficial treaties between Cuba and Soviet Union.

Khrushchev took the opportunity to balance power between them and the United States. The thing is, United States stationed several nuclear ballistic missiles in Turkey and Italy, which was a threat to Soviet Union. To set the record straight, Khrushchev decided to put their nuclear missiles in Cuba which is just 140 KM away from Florida.

Although initially hesitated, Castro later agreed to Khrushchev’s proposal. Soviet Union started transporting the missiles and thousands of troops under a secret operation named Operation Anadyr. Soviet’s were deploying their Medium range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) and Intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) in Cuba.

Missiles were loaded over cargo ships and the shipments were mostly labeled “agriculture equipments” or “construction equipments”.

The cargo ships didn’t take traditional shipping routes to Cuba to avoid U.S surveillance. Upon reaching Cuban ports, the shipments were mostly unloaded at night under supervision of Soviet engineers and military personnels.

Installation of missiles and preparation of launch sites were quickly undertaken after receiving the shipments. Soviet military personnel, including missile technicians and support staff, were deployed to Cuba to operate and maintain the missile sites.

Discovery of the missiles

On October 14th 1962, during its regular surveillance course, an American U-2 spy plane took pictures of the nuclear missile installation sites, various military equipments and vehicles similar to that of Soviet Army and most importantly of a medium range ballistic missile similar to the size and shape of Soviet missiles informed by CIA, over Cuba.

Both CIA and DIA examined the pictures carefully and confirmed the presence of medium and intermediate range Soviet nuclear ballistic missiles in Cuba. At the time of its discovery by U.S, the installation of the missiles were almost complete and they were almost ready to launch.

Two days after the discovery, on 16th October, President JF Kennedy and his administration were briefed about the situation. Shortly after that, President Kennedy created an executive committee called ExComm to discuss and advise him on the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The committee included several high ranking administrative and military officials like Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Maxwell D. Taylor, Director of Central Intelligence John McCone and many other.

Kennedy was presented with several options to counter the situation. One option was to launch an air strike over Cuba and then start a complete invasion of the island nation.

But the problem with invasion was that the Soviet missiles were completely installed and almost ready to launch by that time. Any invasion will lead to launch of nuclear strike by Cuba over U.S.

Another option was to do nothing. Committee member Robert McNamara argued that United States has a lot more nuclear missiles compared to Soviet Union and in case of a nuclear war, US will easily defeat the communist country.

But doing nothing will result in a international political humiliation. US will project a sign of weakness if they don’t take any drastic action against this Soviet escalation.

Joint Chiefs of Staff offered to execute an air strike in the installation sites and neutralize Cuba’s nuclear power without any full scale invasion. President Kennedy rejected this because at that time US only discovered the existence of 40 nuclear ballistic missiles and they had no idea if there were more.

In reality, Cuba had more than 180 Soviet nuclear missiles and another 4 war submarines containing nuclear weapons. President Kennedy was smart enough to reject this operation because it would have resulted in nuclear strikes in American soil by Cuba.

Naval Blockade

Instead President Kennedy decided to take the diplomatic route and slight aggregation to not look weak infront of its international allies and Soviet Union.

On October 22 1962, President Kennedy publicly announced the implementation of a quarantine line around Cuba. US Navy will intercept and investigate every Soviet ships to search for military weapons.

The naval blockade, referred to as a “quarantine” by the U.S. government to avoid the term “blockade” because it will look like an act of aggression and might lead to a potential military conflict.

Cuba’s dictator Fidel Castro announced that the blockade is a violation of Cuba’s sovereignty and requested help from Soviet Union in order to prepare for a war against United States.

Reacting to the blockade, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev sent a letter to the U.S saying the blockade is an act of aggression and warned that any further action will lead to a full scale nuclear War between the two superpowers.

President Kennedy wanted to buy some time for diplomatic negotiations with the Soviet Union through this blockade. U.S also warned that any missile launch from Cuba over America will be a declaration of War.

US also started to prepare for a possible war. Joint Chiefs of Staff upgraded the defence position to DEFCON 3 with approval from President Kennedy. FYI, there are 5 ranges of DEFCON (Defence Condition), 5 means peaceful time and 1 means the army is ready for a full scale war.

But the next day on October 23rd, commanders of Strategic Air command and Air defence command further upgraded the defence position to DEFCON 2 without any approval from President Kennedy. This move angered the President because it will look like US is ready to start war despite his intention for a diplomatic solution.

Reacting to the blockade, Soviet ships containing the weapons turned back and the ships containing foods and supply were given permission to enter Cuba by US Navy.

On October 25th, U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, showed the pictures containing multiple evidence of Soviet nuclear missile facilities in Cuba in United Nations meeting. The presentation caused an international crisis and condemnation.

The same day, CIA informed President Kennedy that the nuclear missiles in Cuba is fully operational. Then Kennedy introduced the National Security Action Memorandum 199, which essentially gave the order to keep the nuclear missiles of US and its NATO allies in a ready to launch mode.

Soviet Union was getting pressure from lot of other nations to figure out a diplomatic solutions. Although in public, there was a very confrontational attitude of both the super powers but in private, negotiations were happening between the leaders through back channels.

One of the most important back channel was Alexander Feklisov, a KGB officer who played his part as an intermediary between Soviet Union and US secret intelligence agency. Feklisov facilitated the communication between U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to address the crisis situation peacefully.

UN secretary general U Thant also played a part as an impartial back channel / intermediary between the Soviets and Americans. He advised both the countries to halt military action and continue diplomatic negotiations.

Kennedy and Khrushchev both agreed with U Thant’s suggestion. On 27th October, Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy praising his leadership and asking for negotiations to stop the crisis.

Feklisov with the help of ABC news correspondent John A Scali, passed on a message from Soviet leadership to the White House. The message said that the Soviet Union will remove all the nuclear missiles from Cuba under UN supervision if US promised to never invade Cuba and stop the current naval blockade. President Kennedy agreed to the demands of the Soviet Union.

27th October – The Black Saturday

Kennedy was waiting for the response from the Soviet about his acceptance of their demands. But next day on 27th October, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev announced on Radio Moscow that they have another demand. United States should remove all of its nuclear missiles from Turkey and Italy.

What was happening through back channels were completely unknown to the outside world and the situation was becoming worse. 27th October 1962, currently referred to as Black Saturday, was probably one of the most dangerous day in the history of the World.

Cuban military was ready for a war only if America started it first. That day on 12:00 PM, an American U-2 spy plane entered Cuban air space and was immediately shot down. The incident resulted in the death of pilot Rudolf Anderson.

Public pressure was growing over President Kennedy and his administration but diplomatic negotiations went on. That same day, an US Navy warship (part of the naval blockade) discovered the presence of a Soviet B-59 nuclear submarine in the quarantine area.

At that time, US had no idea that the Soviet submarines has nuclear weapons. After identification, the warship started attacking the submarine. The Soviet submarine already lost contact with Moscow and had no radio connection.

Individuals inside the submarines had no idea what was going on in the outside world and with the latest attack they assumed that the war has already begun. The submarine didn’t need a prior approval from Moscow to launch nuclear missiles because they were given full autonomy to assess situation and use them accordingly.

But the missile launch needed approval from the three chief officers present inside the submarine. Two of them already gave order to strike but one officer refused to approve. Officer Vasili Arkhipov argued that they clearly don’t know if the war has begun and any wrong move from their part will start a war that will be the end of the world.

Arkhipov successfully convinced his fellow officers to not launch the nuclear missiles. Arkhipov was arguably one of the most important unsung hero of the crisis, who prevented a nuclear armageddon.

Diplomatic Solution

That night, responding to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s announcement on Radio Moscow, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin started negotiating a deal between the two superpowers.

The negotiation ended with the secret removal of nuclear weapons from Turkey and Italy by United States and all the previous conditions.

The secret removal resulted in a public humiliation for Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev but he agreed to take it because it will bring peace.

On October 28 1962, U.S and Soviet Union signed the “Kennedy-Khrushchev Agreement” and it effectively ended the Crisis. Within months, Soviet Union and United States both removed its nuclear missiles from Cuba and Turkey respectively. Naval Blockade lasted for a month after the deal and US and its allies promised to never invade Cuba.

Aftermath and Legacy

Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev faced criticism from the communist party and the citizens for his way of handling the crisis. After that, he introduced several failed economic and agriculture reforms in his country. In 1964, he was removed from power through a coup led by his successor Leonid Brezhnev and the spent the rest of his life in relative obscurity.

John F Kennedy remained popular domestically and internationally. He was praised for his thoughtful leadership and handling of the crisis. He remained as the President of the United States until his tragic assassination on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, US. His brother and former U.S state attorney general Robert Kennedy was also assassinated 5 years later in 1968.

The Cuban Missile crisis further cemented Fidel Castro’s control over Cuba and his relationship with the Soviet Union. Castro ruled the island nation as a dictator for another 49 years. During his reign, he survived almost 600 assassination attempts.

The Cuban Missile Crisis is regarded as the most dangerous moment of the Cold War and it left a huge mark in the 20th century. It effectively forced U.S and Soviet Union to keep a friendly and collaborative diplomatic channel to negotiate in time of crisis like this.

It also highlighted the danger of confrontation between two nuclear super powers. Both nation realised it and it led to the Test Ban Treaty in 1963 and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968.

The negotiations also showed the world that the nuclear super powers were aware of the consequences of its weapons and they are able to fix crisis situation with diplomacy. We should be grateful for the incredible work of the leadership and administration of both the nations that successfully averted a potential nuclear war and perhaps the end of civilization we know today.

It’s 1905, Russian Empire is in Chaos, peasants are angry because of bad living and working conditions, low wages and most importantly hunger. Upper class wanted to take away more political power from the Tsar just like their European counterparts, where recent political changes brought Republican values and rights.

Tsar Nicolas II is not keen with the idea of giving up some of his power. But the last straw was Russia’s defeat against weaker Japan, people took to the streets for political reforms. People wanted Tsar to abdicate.

On January 22, 1905, under Father Georgy Gapon’s leadership, a group of peaceful protester approached the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to present a petition to the Tsar asking for political reforms.

The peaceful protest ended up in a bloody massacre that killed and injured nearly a thousand people. This event made people angry and forced them to take the violent approach. It was the beginning of the first Russian Revolution.

The revolution didn’t successfully overthrow the Tsar but ended up creating a parliament, called State Duma. Little bit of social reform happened but the revolution ultimately failed to make a democratic Russia.

After that, during World War 1(1914-1918), Russia’s economy tanked, people were hungry and wanted their political representation. All the failures from the first revolution, resulted in a second revolution in February 1917.

It led to the removal of Tsar from the head of the state and creation of the provisional government. The newly formed government didn’t withdraw Russia from World War causing more economic and social Chaos.

Around the same time, Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from his exile in Switzerland with the help of Germany. Under his leadership, the Bolshevik Party overthrew the provisional government in October revolution 1917.

After seizing the government, the Bolsheviks pulled Russia out of World War and nationalised all lands, industries and corporations. The party was building a socialist state. But this sudden and rapid change made people of all classes outraged.

Wealthy people were angry because they lost all their properties and industries. Peasants were angry because they thought they were not fairly compensated for their lands. This unhappiness will lead to the beginning of the Russian Civil War.

The civil war was mainly between the Red Army (Bolsheviks) and White Army. Red Army wanted to make Russia a communist utopia with a one party state and the White Army wanted to stop the spread of Communism and build a capitalistic state.

The White Army received considerable support from foreign countries like Britain and U.S. But ultimately they lost the war in 1922 and thus began the reign of the communist Empire. On December 30 1922, the Soviet Union was officially formed.

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was the founder and first head of the state of Soviet Union. Born in an upper middle class family, he became familiar with the socialist and Marxist ideology very early in his life. His brother, also a supporter of socialism, was executed for his actions against Russia’s Tsarist government in 1887.

His brother’s execution left a huge mark in his life. Later Lenin was expelled from his college for protesting against Russia’s Tsarist government. In 1897, he was exiled in Siberia due to his Marxist activism.

After his exile, Lenin moved to Switzerland and stayed there for most part of first and second revolution and World War 1. During this time, he was very involved with various socialist and communist groups. Although he was happy about Tsar’s abdication after February revolution, he hated what the provisional government was doing in Russia

So in late 1917, with the help of Germany, he went back to Russia and orchestrated the October revolution. The revolution successfully ousted the provisional government and made the Bolshevik’s in charge of Russia.

At first, he supported democratic reforms and promoted elections but when things took turn against his way he abandoned those values. His dream of building a communist utopia by nationalising industries and lands resulted in a countrywide civil war that lasted for 4 years from 1918 to 1922 and took the lives of millions.

His policies also caused a nation wide famine that killed millions. He was a brutal dictator and under his leadership, Russia conquered previously lost Eastern European territories. But his reign didn’t last long, he died on 21st January,1924 due to his deteriorating health from strokes.

Joseph Stalin

Stalin was not technically Russian as he was born in Georgia in 1878. Like Lenin, he was also motivated by the socialist ideology pretty early in his life. At first he was involved with various socialist organisation and later joined the Bolshevik party. He played a crucial role in the formation of Soviet Union along with Lenin.

But Lenin hated Stalin for his power hungry ambition and tried everything he could to stop Stalin. But Stalin made a lot of powerful friends and connections while serving in the Soviet government.

After Lenin’s death, he seized power through the help of his connections and served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death on March 5, 1953. By late 1920s, he carefully eliminated all his threats to power.

Under his reign, Russia was dramatically industrialized and agriculture flourished under full government control. This control will result in wide spread famine that killed millions of people (especially in Ukraine)

Stalin successfully built a cult of personality and ruled with iron fist. Even his family was not safe from his paranoia. He also led Soviet Union in World War 2 against Hitler’s Nazi Germany and played a crucial role in Allied Powers victory.

After World War 2, Stalin made Soviet Union into a global superpower with the addition of nuclear weapons and hydrogen bombs. Under his reign, millions of people died, some from direct order from him, some from famine and War. His brutal reign came to an end on March 5th, 1953. His Moustache still remains the second most famous historical moustache.

Georgy Malenkov

Born in Orenburg,Russia in 1902, Malenkov joined the communist party at the age of 18 and stayed in various role within the Soviet union for many years. Under Stalin’s reign, he made a close relationship with the supreme leader and got promoted to various position including Politburo.

Under Stalin, Malenkov played various key roles in the Soviet government and emerged as a powerful contender for succeeding Stalin. After Stalin’s death, Malenkov became the Premier of Soviet Union but he lasted there for only two years.

He got involved in a power struggle with another influential politician of his time named Nikita Khrushchev. Most of the members of Communist Party saw Malenkov as a moderate politician compared to Khrushchev and very much ineffective.

Eventually Malenkov lost all of his support and removed from office in 1955 and gradually lost all his political influence. He lived the rest of his in relative obscurity and died in 1988.

Nikita Khrushchev

Born into a peasant family in the Kalinovka village of Ukraine in 1894, he joined the communist party at the age of 24 and performed various role in the Soviet government. Like Malenkov, he also worked hard and rose through the ranks of the party, eventually getting a place in Politburo.

After Stalin’s death, he and Malenkov got involved in a power struggle in which Khrushchev emerged victorious and became the First secretary of the Communist Party in 1953 and then the Premier of the Soviet Union in 1958.

Under Khrushchev’s reign, Russia went through a de-Stalinization in which a lot of Stalin’s policies were abandoned,his statues were torn down and his cult of personality started to fade. He also passed various agricultural and economic reforms in hopes of making the Union more productive. (Which failed by the way)

He led the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and successfully convinced United States to pull out nuclear weapons from Turkey. His policies around economy and agriculture drastically failed and eventually his party removed him from power in a coup in 1964. Like Malenkov, he lived the rest of his life in relative obscurity and died in 1971.

Leonid Brezhnev

Born in Kamenskoye,Ukraine in 1906, he joined the communist party at the age of 25 in 1931. He played several roles in Soviet government under Stalin’s reign and rose through the ranks. He became a member of Politburo in 1952.

In 1964, he led a coup that outsted Nikita Khrushchev out of power and he became the General secretary of the Soviet Union. Under his reign, Russia went through a period of stagnation both economically and politically.

He failed to implement any significant reforms and ruled primarily through force. He led his country in SALT negotiations with United States that aimed to reduce use of nuclear weapons.

Under his watch, Soviet Union sent troops to Afghanistan to stop Mujahideen from wiping out the communist movement from the South Asian nation, the conflict lasted for over 10 years. His brutal authoritarian reign came to end in November 10, 1982 and his death marked the beginning of power struggle that lasted for half of a decade.

Yuri Andropov

Born in Nagutskaya, he got involved in communism very early on his life with his association with the Communist Youth League. He later joined the communist party and as usual, rose through the ranks and later served as the Chairman of KGB from 1967 to 1982.

After Brezhnev’s death, he emerged as the successor and became the General secretary of the Soviet Union. But his reign lasted for just 2 years from 1982 to 1984 due to his deteriorating health. His leadership was largely focused on reversing the policies of Brezhnev that made Russia’s economy stagnant.

He kept Brezhnev’s foreign policy of reducing the tensions with the West and cracked down corruption domestically. He also implemented various economic reforms but most of them didn’t come to fruition due to his early death.

Although he tried to fix Soviet Union’s various problems in the late 20th century but his small tenure didn’t help him. He died because of kidney failure on February 9th, 1984.

Konstantin Chernenko

Born in Yeniseysk in 1911, Konstantin joined the communist party in 1929 and performed various tasks in the Soviet government under leaders like Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev. He worked hard and rose through the party ranks.

After Yuri Andropov’s death, Konstantin emerged as the successor and became the General secretary of the Soviet Union in 1984. But his reign lasted only a year because of his deteriorating health. Andropov kept a lot of policies of his predecessor but he failed to make any drastic change due to his short tenure. Konstantin died due to heart failure on March 10, 1985.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Born in Privolnoye, Russia in 1932, Gorbachev joined the communist party in 1952. Like others, he rose through the party ranks and became one of the favourites of Soviet leader Yuri Andropov and later Konstantin.

After Konstantin’s death, Gorbachev emerged as the successor and became the General secretary of the Soviet Union in 1986. His reign will mark the beginning of major political, societal and economic reforms that not only changed the Soviet Union but the entire world.

Two of his most significant initiatives were perestroika and glasnost. Perestroika aimed at bringing new economic reforms like more free market and more autonomy for state enterprises.

Glasnost was focused on political and societal reforms like more political openness, reducing corruption and introduction of various democratic ideals like conducting small scale elections and providing rights like freedom of speech.

Under his reign, the relationship between the Soviet Union and the West dramatically improved. On December 8 1987, Soviet Union and United States signed the INF treaty that aimed to reduce ground-launched ballistic and cruise nuclear missiles.

But Gorbachev’s own policies that transformed the Russian society came back to bite him. His new reforms marked the beginning of rise in nationalism in the Soviet Union and people wanted more political control. Various countries falling under Soviet Union also wanted more autonomy and even some of them were campaigning for Independence.

Nationalists movements and some of his failed economic policies will start a chain reaction that eventually brought down the Soviet Union. On November 9, 1989 due to some miscommunication, people destroyed the Berlin Wall and Gorbachev refused to intervene. Thus ending the decade long Cold War and the marked the removal of the iron curtain.

Dissatisfied with Gorbachev’s economic and political reforms, a group of hardline communists staged a coup against him in August 1991. The coup failed because of large public resistance, who very recently got the taste of freedom.

But the coup made a huge damage to Gorbachev’s reputation, he started to look like a weak leader. Eastern European countries under the Union smelled the weakness and took the opportunity to declare independence one by one.

Gorbachev tried to preserve the Union through diplomacy but he ultimately failed. On December 26 1991, Soviet Union was officially gone and Gorbachev resigned as the General Secretary of the Communist Party. The dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in the creation of 15 independent countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Gorbachev died recently on August 30th, 2022 at the age of 91.

World War 1 was one of the deadliest conflict in human history. It took the lives of almost 14 million people (including soldiers and civilians). At the height of the conflict, more than 100 countries got involved in it.

There were several reasons behind the war. For decades, political tensions between European Powers were rising. Nationalism were also in the rise amid the hunger of more territory and resources.

The turning point of the tensions was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of Austro-Hungarian Empire, by a Serbian nationalist organisation. The assassination will start a chain of events that will eventually start the war.

Before we discuss about the countries in World War 1, we have to remember that the war was between two major global powers, Central and Allied Powers.

Central Powers

Central Power mainly consisted of Austro-Hungarian Empire and the German Empire. In 1908, Austria-Hungry expanded their empire by annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina from Ottoman Empire. Serbia viewed it as a violation of its sovereignty.

The serbs that lived in the empire wanted independence and in 1914, a member of a Serbian nationalist group assassinated the heir of the empire during their visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After the assassination, Austria gave an ultimatum to Serbia asking them to take action against those organized groups but they refused to agree to it within the 48 hour deadline. Austria refused to extend the deadline despite Serbian ally Russia’s request.

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia at 11:00AM of 28th July. After that its ally Germany also declared war on Russia, France and Serbia. With Germany declaring war, its colonies also got involved into the war including Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Namibia, Cameroon, Togo and Ghana.

Ottoman Empire surprisingly attacked Russia on 29th October 1914, thus officially joined the Central Powers in World War 1. Around the same time, Kingdom of Bulgaria was looking for revenge as it lost territories because of its defeat in 1913 Balkan War against Serbia.

Despite being an ally of Allied Power, it joined the Central Power by declaring war on Serbia in September, 1915.

Allied Powers

The Allied Powers at the beginning of the war mainly consisted of British Empire, French Empire and Russian Empire. Russia being an ally of Serbia quickly got involved into the War. At first, Britain decided to remain neutral but got involved when Germany invaded neutral Belgium to reach the border of France.

France declared war on Germany after its invasion of Belgium. As the empires joined the war, so naturally its colonies around the world also got involved in it. Britain’s colonies like India, South Africa and Egypt sent troops to help the Allied Powers.

Same from French colonies especially in Africa. In 1915, Italy switched sides from Central to Allied powers. Central Powers promised Italy to give territories but failed to fulfill that promise.

Greece was neutral at the beginning but joined the war with Allied Powers in 1917. Japan was eager to build an empire for themselves and that’s why they happily took German colony islands in the Pacific when they saw opportunity. Serbian ally Montenegro joined the war at the beginning.

Portugal joined the war on Allied side in 1916 after Germany’s submarine warfare. Romania also joined the war the same year. During the war, Germany started sinking civilians ships which they thought were hiding weapons.

One of the ship was Lusitania, which was carrying 128 American citizens. In January 1917, Germany sent a secret telegram to Mexico, promising them extra territories if they attack United States.

The letter was intercepted by the U.S ally British and in retaliation United States joined the war by declaring war on Germany on April 6,1917. When U.S joined the war, it was game over for Germany. U.S deployed 4 million soldiers in Europe and then the war was over within 16 months.

The deadly war killed millions of people. After the war, everyone blamed Germany for the war and forced them to sign the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was forced to lose territories, reduce its military forces and pay reparations to allied powers. Because of the harsh punishment, the world will again draw into a large scale global conflict 21 years later.

World War 1 was the first large scale war in human history that included multiple nations, technologically improved weapons and new methods of warfare. It killed almost 9 million soldiers and 5 million civilians.

Although tensions between various European countries were rising and there were lot of long term factors that led to The Great War, but the most of immediate factor that triggered it, was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.

During his state visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he and his wife was assassinated by Serbian nationalist group that triggered the deadliest war of its time.

The Political Situation

Before the assassination, tensions between European superpowers were rising amid rise in nationalism and arms race. At the time, Britain, France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungry were the major superpowers.

Britain, Russia and France were allies forming the ‘Triple Entente‘. Germany & Austria- Hungry formed the ‘Central Powers‘ in retaliation. They were all competing for more influence and resources for decades. During that time, military weapons improved dramatically because of rapid innovations.

In 1908, Austria-Hungry expanded their empire by annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina from Ottoman Empire. Serbia had the ambition to be the regional power in the Balkans and the annexed region contained a significant number of serbs.

Serbia thought the annexation was a violation of Serbia’s sovereignty. The presence of huge number of slavic population led to ethnic and political tensions. They wanted independence from Austria-Hungry. So when the empire’s heir decided to visit the capital, Serbian Nationalist group plotted to assassinate him.

The Assassination

In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand visited Sarajevo, the capital of the annexed region, to inspect the military. A group of six Bosnian with a dream of independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the leadership of Danilo Ilić, prepare a plan to assassinate the Archduke.

Serbian secret nationalist group called ‘Black Hand‘ helped them to get the pistols and ammunition. Serbian military and intelligence agency also helped them with information and connections.

On 28th June 1914, the six assassins took their position according to the preannounced motorcade route of the imperial visit. The motorcade included 6 vehicles and the Archduke and his wife were on the third vehicle.

At 10:10 AM, after inspecting the military, the motorcade was on the way to the Town Hall. The first and second assassins failed to make any attempt but the third member named Nedeljko Čabrinović successfully threw his bomb over the Archduke’s vehicle.

But the bomb bounced off the car and detonated under the fourth vehicle injuring almost 20 people. Čabrinović took his cyanide pill and jumped over the Miljacka river but his suicide attempt failed.

The rest of the assassins positioned along the route also failed to make any attempt because the motorcade was moving very fast after the bombing of the fourth vehicle.

After reaching the town hall, anxious Archduke addressed the crowd saying “I came here on a visit and I am greeted with bombs. It is outrageous” and then he went on to give his speech.

After the speech, Archduke and his wife cancelled their other plans and decided to visit the wounded in the hospital. To increase security, officials decided to take the motorcade through different uncrowded route to the Sarajevo Hospital.

But the officials failed to communicate this change of plans with the drivers and the drivers ended up taking a right turn at the Latin Bridge. When the motorcade stopped to change the route (because they took the wrong route), one of the six assassin was in the perfect position to take action.

Standing at a nearby food shop, 19 years old Gavrilo Princip went ahead and shot Archduke and his wife at point blank position and then tried to shoot himself but failed. The wounded Archduke and his wife were taken to Governor’s facility for treatment but both unfortunately died.

July Crisis

After the assassination, Austria-Hungary wanted to attack Serbia but feared that Serbia’s ally Russia will get involved in it. So they decided to get assurance from Germany about their complete support incase of any war with Russia. Germany gave them a blank cheque.

But before attacking Serbia, Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to them on 23rd July asking them to take action against the nationalist groups and avoid a retaliation. Serbia didn’t refuse the terms but requested them for some negotiations.

The negotiations were taking time and the deadline to accept the terms was just 48 hours. Serbia and Russia both requested Austria-Hungary to extend the deadline but they refused.

Britain tried to mediate the conflict with diplomacy but their efforts didn’t do anything. Germany was most eager to go to war being the most powerful industrial and military power in the continent and they were constantly supporting Austria-Hungary’s war efforts.

After all failed negotiations, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia at 11:00AM of 28th July. After the declaration, Russia mobilized their army. Germany subsequently declared war on Russia, France and Belgium.

Britain initially decided to remain neutral but after Germany invaded neutral Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany at 7:00 PM of 4th August. France subsequently declared war on Germany after the invasion.

Austria-Hungary and Russia both declared on each other on 6th August. That began the second deadliest war in human history that lasted for over 4 years and took the lives of 14 million people. (Including civilians and soldiers)

Germany broke all the initial agreements of the war and when the war ended everyone blamed Germany for starting the war. Germany was forced to lose territories, reduce its military forces and pay reparations to allied powers according to the Treaty of Versailles. Because of the harsh punishment, the world will again draw into a large scale global conflict 21 years later, that will again take the lives of millions.

World War 2 (1st Sept. 1939 – 2nd Sept. 1945) was the most destructive war known to humanity and the man who is responsible for all of that was Adolf Hitler.

Two days after Hiter invaded Poland (1st Sept. 1939), Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany and thus began the war that took the lives of millions of people. Although there were various motivations but mainly two reasons compelled Hitler the most.

Lebensraum

Lebensraum (living space) means territorial expansion which a nation believes is needed for its natural development and it was the ideological principle of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.

Hitler believed Aryan race is most purest race and he wanted to create a living space for the growth of this race. At first, he wanted to take out France and Britain, then expand his empire east ward.

Hitler wanted more resources for his Aryan utopia and he believed that his Third Reich will survive for over a thousand years.

Hitler didn’t wanted any other race to live in his territories and thus began the mass deportation and extermination of Polish, Ukranian and Russian. Not to mention the Holocaust that killed almost 6 million jews.

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty signed between Germany and the Allied Powers to end the World War 1 on 28th June, 1919. The treaty essentially blamed Germany for starting the destructive war through Article 231 (The War Guilt Clause).

Most of the Germans felt humiliated and believed the Allied Powers were also equally responsible for the war.

The treaty required Germany to reduce its army to less than 100,000 men and surrender a huge amount of territories. Germany also had to pay reparations to Allied Powers of about 132 billion German marks (around $442 billion today).

The treaty gave Hitler an excuse of taking revenge on behalf of the German people. Hitler said the treaty was in order to bring twenty million Germans to their deaths, and to ruin the German nation.

With full support of German people, Hitler quickly built up the military and invaded the Rhineland in 1936 and then two layers later, invaded Austria.

Britain and France didn’t want to risk another World war and so they decided to sue for peace with 1938 Munich Agreement, which gave Germany the permission to annex ethnic German majority Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia on a condition of no territorial expansion.

But Hitler being Hitler, broke the agreement by completely annexing the rest of Czechoslovakia one year later and few months after that, he invaded Poland, starting the bloodiest war in history.

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Roman Empire was perhaps the greatest empire in human history and we can still feel its influence through languages, arts, architecture and laws. At its height, the empire controlled nearly 5 million square kilometres and ruled over a quarter of the World’s population.

And its Emperors remains some of the most influential and celebrated leaders in World history. It is complicated to rank them and the ranking will be different for different people. But today I will share my list of best roman emperors and I will rank them based on their overall impact and achievements. Again it is my opinion,so no hard feelings. Let’s go.

(10) VESPASIAN (69-79AD)

Vespasian was the emperor who ended the crisis of succession during the Year of the Four Emperors and led the empire from 69 to 79 AD. After infamous emperor Nero committed suicide, three governors, Galba, Otho and Vitellius subsequently claimed the throne.

At that time, Vespasian was in Judea fighting the Jewish rebellion but being a popular military general, his legions claimed him the new Roman emperor and with their help he defeated Vitellius. During his decade long reign, Vespasian reformed Rome’s financial system and ended the civil war in Judea.

He increased the empire’s territory especially in Britain and started an ambitious building program including the Flavian Amphitheatre aka The Colosseum, which still remains a wonder for us all. His reign marked the beginning of the Flavian dynasty that ruled the empire for 27 years.

(9) SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS (193-211AD)

Severus ended the crisis of the Year of Five Emperors and ruled over the empire from 193 to 211 AD. After killing emperor Didius Julianus, Severus defeated rival Pescennius Niger in 194 AD and Clodius Albinus in 197 AD making him the sole ruler of Rome.

During his reign, Rome’s territory steadily increased to one of its largest extent but at the same time Senate’s power steadily decreased which will ultimately transform the empire into a military dictatorship where any general with big legions claim themself as the emperor and start a civil war.

Severus spent his time and resources on improving the justice system, donations to the poor people and huge building program.

(8) Antoninus Pius (138-161AD)

Antoninus became the emperor after previous emperor Hadrian adopted him as his successor right before his death. Hadrian wanted Marcus Aurelius to be his successor but at that time the philosopher emperor was young and so he decided to make Antoninus his successor with a condition that Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus will succeed Antoninus.

His 23 year long reign was a time of peace and prosperity for the Roman empire. There were very few rebellion from various provinces and not that significant military expansion except in Britain, where he extended the empire by 100 miles north of Hadrian’s wall to create the Antonine wall.

He managed the empire’s economy properly and left behind a big treasury. Culture flourished during his reign and he is regarded as one of the five good emperors from Nerva-Antonine dynasty.

(7) HADRIAN (117-138AD)

Hadrian was a cousin of previous emperor Trajan and he became the emperor after it was revealed that Trajan appointed Hadrain as his successor right before his death. He ruled the empire for almost 21 years from 117 to 138 AD.

During his reign, he abandoned the conquered territory of Mesopotamia because the empire simply didn’t have enough resources to support and protect those extra territories. He also abandoned the expansionist policy of Trajan that aristocrats very much supported.

He started ambitious construction program including Hadrian’s wall and he traveled most of the empire’s provinces due to his curiosity. His reign was peaceful and he is regarded as the one of the five good emperors from Nerva-Antonine dynasty.

(6) MARCUS AURELIUS (161-180AD)

Aurelius became emperor after the death of emperor Antoninus Pius and ruled over the empire from 161 to 180 AD. During the 19 years long reign, Aurelius successful guided the empire at the time of plague and famine.

He was a stoic philosopher who believed in ruling justly and his writings about meditations still remains influential. His beliefs also compelled him to transform the justice system and Civil Law, making it more equal and moral.

He improved the lives of slaves and the lower class people of Rome. He also undertook military expeditions to bring down rebellion, expand the empire and undertook construction projects to glorify his victory like the column of Aurelius. His reign was peaceful and prosperous but he failed to select a worthy successor thus ending the 200 year long PAX ROMANA. The throne ended up with his biological son Commodus and his cruel reign ultimately led the empire to the crisis of the Year of Five Emperors.

(5) DIOCLETIAN (284-305AD)

Diocletian became emperor after he defeated previous emperor Carus’s son Carinus in the battle of Margus. Diocletian’s impact is extremely huge due to his reforms that radically changed the Roman Empire and ended the crisis of the third century.

He introduced the Tetrarchy aka rule of four because the empire was too huge to be ruled by a single administration. He divided the empire into Eastern (which eventually became the Byzantine Empire century later) and Western Roman Empire and appointed Maximian, Galerius and Constantius as Caesars to help him rule the empire.

He secured the empire’s border by defeating various barbarian invasions and he tried to reform the state’s financial system through currency changes. He also introduced old values in the Roman society and left behind a newly revived Roman Empire.

(4) TRAJAN (98-117AD)

Trajan became emperor in 98 AD after his predecessor Nerva choose him as his successor before his death. Under his 19 years long reign, Rome saw a massive military expansion that ultimately helped the empire to attain its greatest extent in 117 AD by conquering Dacia and significant region of Mesopotamia.

Apart from military expansion, Trajan also under took various construction projects like Trajan’s column, Trajan’s Forum and enacted social welfare policies to help the lower class of the Roman Empire.

His reign was so great that the senate gave him the title “Optimus Princeps” aka The Best Emperor in 114 AD.

(3) CONSTANTINE THE GREAT (306-337AD)

Diocletian appointed Constantine’s father Constantius as Caesar in his Tetrarchy but with Diocletian’s abdication in 305 AD, the system became weakened. When Constantius died in 306 AD, the empire fell into a civil war in which Constantine the Great emerged victorious by defeating rival Maxentius and Licinius to become the sole emperor in 324 AD.

Under his reign, the empire restored back to its older form of rule by a single emperor after a century of military anarchy. He established the city of Constantinople and move the empire’s capital from Rome to there. The city he created will eventually become the capital of the surviving Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) that last for another 1200 years.

But perhaps Constantine’s greatest achievement was making Christianity legal in the Roman Empire by issuing the Edict of Milan in 313 AD and being baptized right before his death. His effort will help the religion to become the world’s largest as it is today.

(2) AURELIAN (270-275AD)

Aurelian became the emperor after he defeated former emperor Claudius’s son Quintillus in 270 AD. Although he reigned for just five years from 270 to 275 AD, he literally saved the Roman Empire from complete collapse during the crisis of the third century by reuniting it within very small amount of time.

Aurelian conquered the Palmyrene Empire in the East in 273 AD and then defeated the Gallic Empire in the West. He also defeated various barbarian invasions threatening the empire like the Goths and the Vandals.

He reunited the empire under the control of one emperor within 5 years and played a crucial role in ending the crisis of the third century and extending the empire’s life by over a century. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest military commander in history and because of his achievements he was given the title ‘Restitutor Orbis’ aka Restorer of the World.

(1) AUGUSTUS (27BC-14AD)

Caesar Augustus aka Octavian was undoubtedly the greatest Roman emperor. During the first century BCE, Roman Republic was constantly in civil war and political chaos was a normal thing. But little bit of stability was achieved with the formation of The First Triumvirate.

It was the alliance of three big guys of Roman politics, Julius Caesar, Pompey Magnus and Marcus Crassus. Although the alliance was in steady decline, all hell broke lose when Crassus died and the senate declared Julius Caesar as an enemy of the state when he refused to disband his army and return to Rome.

Rome fell into another civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey Magnus, where Caesar emerged victorious and became dictator for life. Senators envious of Caesar’s position, assassinated him in ides of March almost four years later.

Caesar named 19 year old Octavian his heir before his death and the nervous little boy took that opportunity. With the help of Mark Antony he avenged Caesar’s death by defeating Brutus and Cassius (the principle architect of Caesar’s murder) in the Battle of Philippi.

But relationship between Mark Antony and Octavian didn’t last long and then again Rome fell into a civil war. Octavian emerged victorious in the Battle of Actium and thus establishing himself the sole ruler of Rome. The Republic was gone and with this perhaps the greatest empire in history was born.

With the foundation of the empire, Octavian took the title of Augustus (The revered one) and went on to restore the former glory of Rome. He ruled for more than four decades and under his reign he transformed Rome from a city of bricks to a city of marble.

Augustus secured the empire’s border from barbarian invasion and ended the century long political chaos. Without any outer threat, Octavian reduced the military spending and focused empire’s resources on ambitious building program like Pantheon, Ara Pacis and social welfare programmes to improve the lives of citizens.

He also built a road network across the empire that will help to move the army faster and trade will flourish through it. His well thought planning and reforms will start a period of peace and prosperity in the empire (known as the PAX ROMANA) that went on to last for nearly 200 years. He remains one of the most influential and successful political leaders in human history.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Now obviously there were other emperors that made a huge impact during their time and they demands to be remembered.

So as a part of my honorable mentions, here are some really great emperors you should know about.

(A) CLAUDIUS (41-54AD)

Claudius became emperor after the assassination of mad emperor Caligula and ruled the empire from 41 to 54 AD. During his reign, Rome successfully conquered Britain, he also reformed the empire’s financial system and undertook major construction projects including new roads and aqueducts.

(B) TIBERIUS (14-37AD)

Tiberius was the step son of the first emperor Augustus and ruled the empire from 14 to 37 AD after succession. He was a reluctant and reclusive emperor who though he would never able to be like Augustus. But he was a great administrator and ruled the empire very successfully and left behind a huge imperial treasury.

(C) THEODOSIUS THE GREAT (379-395AD)

He was the last emperor to rule over a united Roman Empire. He defeated the Goths and led the empire during civil war. He also revived the classical arts in the empire but mainly he is known for making Christianity the official religion of Rome, an act that changed the course of the western world.

(D) GALLIENUS (253-268AD)

Although he failed but he was a crucial figure to end the crisis of third century. He won numerous military campaigns against the barbarian invasions and kept the empire united until the Gallic Empire came along. Without his military victories, future emperor Aurelian would have failed to reunite the empire.

(E) DOMITIAN (81-96AD)

He was the son of former emperor Vespasian and ruled the Roman Empire from 81 to 96 AD. Although he is remembered as a ruthless tyrant because of Senate’s propaganda, he was actually a effective administrator who made contribution in architecture, military and most importantly in the economy.

(F) MAJORIAN (457-461AD)

He was the last emperor to try to reunite the Roman Empire from 457 to 461 AD. He defeated the Visigothic Kingdom in Gaul, Vandals in Italy and Surbeic Kingdom in Hispania. But the last shine of the empire was cut short by betrayal of the senate and power hungry military general Ricimer.

So this was it. Thanks for reading the article and please share this with your history loving friends.