Essay on A Nuclear War:
Science is the God of the twentieth century. The world is witnessing strange contradictions today. People build skyscrapers and grand buildings and then construct underground shelters where they may hide and have factories and towns so as to protect them from atomic bombs. They have dazzling lights which turn nights into day, and then have blackouts for days and nights together. They construct wonderful hospitals, children’s homes, schools and sanatoria and then destroy them without pity or remorse. Science is like an Alladin’s Lamp which produces all the comforts essential for human progress. But the destruction wrought by atom bombs at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, two beautiful cities of Japan is a sad reminder of what the Lamp may do when it is rubbed on the wrong side.
Atomic and hydrogen bombs are the scourge (whip) of God. They can kill or destroy the entire human race if recourse is taken to another nuclear war. Even Dante could not imagine the Inferno (hell) which the two Atomic Bombs created in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dust boiled, buildings melted and human beings evaporated into thin air. The Atom Bombs left few survivors. Those who still breathed were more dead than alive.
The release of nuclear energy also creates terrible food problems. The soil is scorched and nothing can grow on it. Even if some of the plants remain alive, they are too radio-active to be taken by human beings.
There is also invented an elder brother of the Atomic Bomb, the Hydrogen Bomb. There is a rumour that many other novel weapons of death and destruction have been invented by the devil in man. Hydrogen Bomb is thousand times more destructive than its younger brother Atomic Bomb.
We also hear of the invention of the cobalt, neutron and nitrogen bombs, atomic cloud, etc.
Today some of the big countries like India, the U.S.A., the U.S.S.R., Britain, China, etc., are fully equipped with nuclear weapons. They have invented guided missiles that can be controlled and directed to hit any fixed target. Some of these missiles, surface-to-air, air-to-air or air-to-surface have a long-range. The Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles have a range of about 5000 miles. They carry the nuclear weapons without any pilot and hit the targets very accurately.
The destructive possibilities of science are ever on the increase. Every new achievement of science has its dark side also. For instance, successful space flights would prove extensively disastrous if they are used for war purposes. Some countries are already using artificial satellites for reconnaissance (military examination or survey) of the enemy territories. So there is every fear that a future war may be fought in space and the destruction of humanity may be complete.
Modern science has also invented biological warfare. It has made bombs which contain the germs of diseases which destroy not only human beings but also the crops.
The horrors to a nuclear war are great. If such a war breaks out, many millions would be killed in no time. Those who survive shall meet a slow death through the ill-effects of the atomic radiation and fall out. It will be the naked dance of death. The last scene of the human drama will be enacted. This is why the Atomic Energy Commission seeks to keep nuclear and other deadly weapons under control and check. “Ban the Nuclear Tests” is, therefore, the sane (sensible) cry of the sane people.
Modern war is more extensive than the ancient one. Formerly it was limited to small areas and involved the enemy forces only. But now it at once spreads over vast areas, in fact, the entire globe and involves the peaceful citizens, too. Nobody can remain safe in a nuclear war. Every place and every citizen is exposed to its danger. Moreover, the art of modern warfare is revolutionized by science. The modern warfare is mechanical in character. It is fought with bombs and machines and not with bows and arrows as in the olden days. Again it is fought not only on the earth but also on sea and in air. Tanks and guns are used on land, atomic sub-marines, gun-boats and aircraft carriers go into action in water, while jet-propelled fighters and supersonic bombers play havoc in the air. They cause wholesale destruction.
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