Nuclear Weapons
" ... the big atomic bomb ... was a black sphere two feet in diameter.... The bomb flashed blinding scarlet in mid-air and fell, a descending column of blaze eddying spirally in the midst of a whirlwind.... it was like looking down upon the crater of a small volcano.... a shuddering star of evil splendour spurted and poured up smoke and flame towards them like an accusation.... these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men who used them. ... first one and then a score of lengthening fiery serpents plunged hungrily down upon the Dutchmen's dykes and struck between land and sea and flared up again in enormous columns of glare and crimsoned smoke and steam.... In the map of nearly every country of the world three or four more red circles, a score of miles in diameter, mark the position of the ... atomic bombs and the death areas that men have been forced to abandon around them. Within these areas perished museums, cathedrals, palaces, libraries, galleries of masterpieces, and a vast accumulation of human achievement, whose charred remains lie buried, a legacy of curious material that only future generations may hope to examine. . ... The atomic bomb had dwarfed the international issues to complete insignificance. When our minds wandered from the preoccupations of our immediate needs, we speculated upon the possibility of stopping the use of these frightful explosives before the world was utterly destroyed. For to us it seemed quite plain that these bombs and the still greater power of destruction of which they were the precursors might quite easily shatter every relationship and institution of mankind... war must end and that the only way to end war was to have but one government for mankind. ..."The World Set Free: A Story of Mankind
By Herbert George Wells
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