Impact of Oppenheimer's invention on diplomacy: A short summary

The process of nuclear energy. Credits: IAEA website

Introduction: 

From the last 2 weeks, there is one topic that has been discussed across the world which is the movie of Oppenheimer which has broken many box office records in USA as well as in across the world. This article would like to analyse of how the invention of an American scientist named Julius Robert Oppenheimer's invention of an atomic bomb changed the geopolitical narrative of the world altogether and may be forever as well. The scienctific logic of the same was given by the great Albert Einstein with the famous, E=MC^2 formula which went on to become the most important scientific intervention in the global history of geopolitics & diplomacy in addition to warfare.

Diplomacy is the presence of structured communication between nations, with the development of nuclear energy over the years has led to significant changes in the entire system of diplomacy. Nuclear warheads is an important component in millitary nuclear tests, the number 1 country in this segment in Russia with about 6257 nuclear warheads, followed by USA with more than 5000 nuclear warheads. India has about 156 nuclear warheads, as per the website World Population Review report of 2023. 

Nuclear energy process requires inputs of either Uranium, Thorium & Plutonium which is more enriched in nature. The country producing most of Uranium is Kazakshtan, India & Britain respectively for Thorium & Plutonium. The scientific process is complex which can be understood from here & here along with the flow chart attached in the beggining. 

For processing of enriched uranium there is also a requirement of nuclear reactors for which the leader is USA with highest capacity in today's time. With evolution of nuclear energy as an alternative source of green energy to the quickly  depleting oil & gas reserves has led to further usage of the same.

World War 2 & Start of Cold war:

The atom bomb was formulated in 1940s with the then USA president Harry Truman executing it on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima-Nagasaki in 2 separate operations which were named Little Boy & FatMan in the first week of August 1945. Whether the use was required in front of a surrendering Japanese army or whether it was moral/immoral to use nukes in a World War is a question that has many opinions of different people, and as the great John Stuart Mill said that No opinion is false, hence even in this case, there are different opinions on this issue which deserved to be heard in the courts of people or in the courts of history. 

However, after the usage of Nuclear bomb in Japan by USA led to a series of events which perhaps no one estimated for. The usage of nuclear weapons along with the victory posed by the Red Army on Nazi Germany in the Battle of Berlin, opened the floodgates for a cold war which went on to change the fate of 100s of nations cutting across continents for the next 44 years. But if their was one factor that stopped the replica of Hiroshima-Nagasaki nuclear incidents was the presence of nuclear weapons with both the warring factions.

If there is one event that increased the cold war intensity was USSR developing its own nuclear bomb was in the year of 1949, when with the help of apparantly a theoretical physicist working as a Soviet spy in USA due to which USSR was able to make its own nuclear bomb. USSR tested its nuclear bomb on 29 August, 1949. 

This development fructified later during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis where both USA & USSR were dangerously close to a nuclear war due to the adventures of both JFK & Nikita Khuruschev, however, this development gave the world a practically applicable theory of Logic of Detterence meaning which that no country would like to use nuclear weapons on each other as it can have a reply as well for which no dispensation in the world would ever agree to. 

India & Nuclear energy:

However, contrary to belief that after this event the nuclear race would stop it saw several other countries developing its own nuclear weapons including our motherland, India which developed it first in 1974 for peaceful purposes in an operation named Smiling Buddha on which a webseries named as "Rocket Boys" has been launched as well & in 1998 for millitary purposes which invited economic sanctions from USA & a bunch of other countries, however, the sanctions didnt have any impact on India back then, as India witnessed a high growth rate during that phase.

India developed the nuclear weapon because of the reasons such as the 3 on 1 war against India in 1971 war which made the security establishment to develop its own nukes, however, this was also met with its own controversies when back in 1960s Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, Indias leading nuclear physicist passed away in a plane crash with many attributing his death to an external hand. 

But the interesting point to note that, since the development of India's nuclear weapons in 1998 for millitary usage, there was only one war with Pakistan which was won thumpingly by Indian Army with reference to Kargil war in the Dras region of todays Ladakh whereas before the development of nuclear weapon by India there were 5 wars fought between India & Pak(1947, 1965, 1971), India & China(1962, 1967) to name a few which saw a huge amount of collateral damage & loss of human lives  to all sides, its imperative to note that in despite not having a lot of external support in any  of these wars, Indian army defeated these adversaries in each of these wars which saw India giving millitary legends like Field Marshall Sam Bahadur Manekshaw, PVC Capt. Vikram Batra,Baba Harbhajan Singh to name a few of the heroes. Though the context & reasons for this wars were different,Indian Armed forces have always stood up to defend the pride,sovereignity of the world's oldest living(& going strong) civilization.

 Though, the nature of war has changed but definitely the possibility of a conventional warfare has reduced from millitary combats to more forms of hybrid warfare, proxy war to name a few.The development of nuclear bomb by India has also given it more diplomatic heft after 1998 as compared to the first 50 years of Indian independence. Just like how Armed forces are required to maintain national security in every country, in a similar manner for many countries nuclear weapons are a way of maintaining national security as has been the case with India. Its also a moment to recognize the efforts of Indian scientists who have worked hard painstakingly for maintaining India's territorial integrity.

World scenario today:

The rise of nuclear energy as an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels in many European countries like Germany, France & many other economies of the Eurozone has also led to an indirect battle between the countries in many African countries including Niger to name a few, for which some experts also recognize the role of natural resources as well.This also shows that with the rise in nuclear energy there are good chances that those countries which were not neccesarily a theatre of conflict between major powers are also leading to the same. 

Its interesting to note that since the Russia-Ukraine war, the conversations about geopolitics have been centered around energy which is a huge change that has occured in the world of diplomacy, let it be Dr. Jaishankar's replies to Russian oil imports or the OPEC policies, it has changed the narrative of geopolitics which was human rights centric to now economy centric.This is also a welcome move in many ways.

Any debate on nuclear weapons & geopolitics cannot be concluded by talking about NPT which was imposed by a set of a few nations which has turned on to become one of the largest arms control treaty of the world with more than 140 signatories(including 5 nuclear states, who can only keep nuclear weapons), however, how many countries are satisfied with this treaty can be investigated by the researchers using their intelligence & research skills. India has not signed the NPT as it considers it to be partial & unjust.

The IAEA set up in 1959 whose credit is given to Dwight Eissenhower which aims to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes which was also a cold war legacy which formed due to rise in intensity of the same between Eastern bloc led by Soviet Union & the NATO which also had a possibility of usage of nuclear weapons. The IAEA has its own share of controversies like the failure of  prevention of Chernobyl disaster which claimed the lives of lakhs or its inactiveness to prevent more nuclear weapons into the hands of countries which can be said in the hindsight, however, its regional cooperative agreements have been succesfull in the past as well which can present a door to the future. The rise of NSG(Nuclear Suppliers Group) & the related politics has also led to a significant change in the diplomatic discourse of the world with many countries often linking the NSG with its national security.

Conclusion:

Has the world become a peaceful place with more countries having nuclear weapons or not is a question that has to be expounded upon by various stakeholders across the globe. Who is developing nuclear weapons has also become a controversial topic among global leaders with various countries trying to stop the development of such weapons the standout example of which can be seen in the case of NATO operation against Iraq on the question of WMD, or Israel vs Iran or USA-Iran nuclear treaty standoff over this issue on various multilateral forums as well. Though these events deserve more discussion over a range of issues that can be covered under the same, however, the objective of article is to provide a bird's eye view.

Whether, having nuclear weapons or not is a judgement that will be given by history, but,we must note that, nuclear weapons had to be a reality in todays world if not Oppenheimer, some other scientist would have invented the nuclear bomb(many reports say even Nazi Germany was close to develop their nuclear bomb) it could have been developed by capricious beings first which could have a deterimental impact.

Who is amenable/immature depends upon considerations like national security, economic interests, kind of dispensations & the track record of the countries involved in making of such a bomb & for what purposes they are making it, whether for offensive or defensive purposes is a question that must be pondered upon. Nevertheless, this topic of nuclear weapons & WMD will remain a polarizing topic till eternity with different people interepreting it accordance to their values/interests, leading to multiple situations some of which may be good for humanity & some may be bad. 

Just judging on basis of existing evidence in diplomacy, the impact of atomic bomb on our world, it can be said with assurance that Oppenheimer's discovery changed the society forever.