What would nuclear war look like?

[Ohmnomnom]

Trigger warning Not for anyone feeling anxious about impending doom.

Purely for hypothetical speculation.

Who would hit first and where? What are the major European targets? Could Russia reach the US with nuclear weapons?

Would a nuclear bomb in London be felt in Scotland? Would China get involved? I'm curious how it would all play out.

theres a map circling online with zones etc

Basically if a nuclear bomb was to land in the UK you would be best off packing your family into the car and driving towards the mushroom cloud so that you have a quick death rather than a long drawn out one featuring radiation sickness, burns, starvation, and other fun times.

Its sad, but i wouldnt want to live in a post apocalyptic world, its depressing enough now

It might start with smaller tactical bombs used directly in the theatre of combat.

Or it might not.

Point is nobody really knows what would happen. We have never experienced it and there is enough firepower to destroy most of Europe, the US and South-East Asia. Even if you live in a rural location, there may be some critical radio mast or SMS dome near you that would make you a target.

If the radiation, cholera etc does not kill you. The roaming tribal warlords may do.

Very bright for a bit, then nothing

My hope - if it came to it - is that it would be like this:

5 seconds of blinding light and a feeling of "oh shit, they've done it" followed by absolutely nothing at all.

@Hospedia

Basically if a nuclear bomb was to land in the UK you would be best off packing your family into the car and driving towards the mushroom cloud so that you have a quick death rather than a long drawn out one featuring radiation sickness, burns, starvation, and other fun times.

Exactly what I always say.

Nukes would be over within minutes.

The Fallout? Not so much. And not something I’d want to live in.

@Hyperion100

Very bright for a bit, then nothing

Had to laugh at this!

targets are whatever someone wants to target. That could be a military base or a city. But all this talk of nukes and not that long ago we had chemicals released in Salisbury. Why nuke someone when just the threat of a chemical release eg Novachock will paralyse a community

Read When the Wind Blows

We’re sitting ducks anyway, be it nuclear or chemical warfare ☹️
There’s bugger all the average Joe Bloggs can do in the event of either (I remember the Cold War, absolute helplessness)

Who would hit first and where? Depends, but the USA is to date the only nation to ever use nuclear bombs on enemy cities. I’d like to think no one would actually use them given the lessons learned by Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s destruction.

What are the major European targets? All capitals and major cities plus strategic military bases...ie the USA’s air bases in Europe.

Could Russia reach the US with nuclear weapons? Yes. They have had this capability since the 1950s. That is old tech.

Would a nuclear bomb in London be felt in Scotland? Yes

Would China get involved? They could but I think they are too smart to get involved unless they are attacked first. They tend to let the West sort itself out.

I'm curious how it would all play out. If you really want to know then there is much prize winning classic Japanese literature written by eye witnesses who survived the nuclear bombings of Nagasaki or Hiroshima and wrote about not just the minutes and hours after the bomb blast but the months and years following with radiation sickness, birth defects, ecological collapse, and the enormous human effort to recover people, animals, plants, water systems, the land...everything. One book I read that was really heartbreaking but grimly truthful account of the bombing of Hiroshima is Black Rain by Masuge Ibusi.

There’s a 1980s YA book called Children of the Dust, which is about the impact of a nuclear war on the UK. The first part follows a teenage girl and her family in the weeks after the attack, which is grim. It made me sure that I would not want to survive a nuclear attack - radiation poisoning, food running out, contaminated water . It traumatised me a bit as a teenager!

The next part jumps to a few decades in the future and the new society, which is slightly less bleak. Still wouldn’t want to live in it.

Chances are it won't come to using nuclear bombs because the people ordering them to be fired would be too worried about the cost of retaliation. And sadly, their biggest concern in that line of reasoning is their own land, real-estate, water supplies, energy resources, etc. Not the safety of ordinary people like us. But still, their priorities would protect many of us as a by product of their personal greed.

Oh shit. Can we have old covid back please?

@EllieQ

There’s a 1980s YA book called Children of the Dust, which is about the impact of a nuclear war on the UK. The first part follows a teenage girl and her family in the weeks after the attack, which is grim. It made me sure that I would not want to survive a nuclear attack - radiation poisoning, food running out, contaminated water . It traumatised me a bit as a teenager!

The next part jumps to a few decades in the future and the new society, which is slightly less bleak. Still wouldn’t want to live in it.

That was one of our set texts in English in year 9.

It terrified me. I’ve been trying to work out how big a greenhouse I can build today.

i remember they showed us 'Threads' at school in the 80's

I spent my pre teen and early teen years devouring books about nuclear war. Most pretty bleak. Not none as bleak as The Road. Think Walking Dead mined a lot of post - nuclear fiction for inspiration.

I don't believe in the concept of a tactical or limited strike. I believe there would be escalation and it would be an extinction level event.

I don't think threads like this are helpful at all, and I wonder what the motivation might be to post them on a day that Ukraine is facing such danger.

Really bad taste and form, to put it mildly.

i remember they showed us 'Threads' at school in the 80's

Up there with watership down insofar as stuff you don't show to kids.

@AuntieMarys

Read When the Wind Blows

‘Children of the dust’ and ‘z for Zachariah’ the maybe ‘brother in the land’ as well 😞

@Keepyourheadscrewedon

I don't think threads like this are helpful at all, and I wonder what the motivation might be to post them on a day that Ukraine is facing such danger.

Really bad taste and form, to put it mildly.

oh come on!! when covid first took the headlines it was ten times worse on here

some people seem to be struggling with reality today

@Keepyourheadscrewedon

I don't think threads like this are helpful at all, and I wonder what the motivation might be to post them on a day that Ukraine is facing such danger.

Really bad taste and form, to put it mildly.

Some of us need to ignore things and some of us need NOT to ignore things. Both kinds of people are perfectly valid. Both are different ways of managing fear. I'm getting fed up with the policing of thought. If people need to avoid topics they can avoid them, not shut the rest of us up.

This somewhat morbid website allows you to simulate the effects of a nuclear strike on any point on earth, depending on device detonated, ground strike or airburst, weather conditions etc it can plot the fireball, blast radius, fallout area as well as predicted deaths and causalities.

nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/