FINGER ON THE BUTTON
What is the nuclear button?
THREAT of nuclear attack has been mentioned in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun stockpiling nuclear warheads in response to Nato countries supporting Ukraine.
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What is the nuclear button?
This is a figurative term given to describe the ability to launch nuclear weapons.
There is no real button as such but "pushing the nuclear button" would mean actually using nuclear force.
In reality using nuclear weapons is much more complex than pushing one singular button.
It is a symbol of nuclear power rather than an actual military process.
The threat of pressing the nuclear button developed during the Cold War as the United States and Soviet Union (now Russia) began an arms race.
Each was stockpiling more and more nuclear weapons with the threat of mutually assured destruction weighing over the war.
Nuclear buttons are more often used as a deterrent than in actual warfare.
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Which countries have a nuclear briefcase?
A nuclear briefcase is a special briefcase that is kept near the leader of a nuclear state at all times.
It allows for the authorisation of nuclear warfare.
Not every country with nuclear capability also has a briefcase, there are eight sovereign states with nuclear weapons.
Five of these are Nuclear Weapon States - Russia, the US, France, China and the UK.
Russia and the US famously have nuclear briefcases known as the Cheget and Nuclear football, respectively.
Both of these are said to contain nuclear codes.
France does not officially have a briefcase but a mobile base, that is a black briefcase, follows the president on trips.
Pakistan has a nuclear briefcase which was seen on BBC footage in 2019.
North Korea is also known to have nuclear capability, having withdrawn from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 2003.
India has also declared that they have nuclear weapons.
Have nuclear weapons ever been used?
Due to how devastating a nuclear strike can be, these weapons have rarely been used.
In history nuclear weapons have only been used in one combat.
The US bombed Japan twice in August 1945 and killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people.
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The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed as part of the Allied forces push to win World War II.
Most of the casualties were civilians and Japan surrendered six days after the bombing of Nagasaki.
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