War museum and nuclear weapons
March 13, 2007 at 11:06 pm ceasefireinsider 3 comments
Great for the museum to stick to its history when it gets it right as it did on strategic bombing of Germany, but when should it correct the story when it gets it wrong? In Nov 2005 I stopped by the museum and took the this photo of a display that tried to “explain” the nuclear arms race as some big misunderstanding.
Here is what the display said, as it appears in the attached photo:
“Did you know? The Cold War arms race produced ‘overkill,’ enough nuclear weapons to kill every person on earth several times over. This was in part the result of decades of military and scientific miscalculation about the effects of nuclear explosions, including the deadly firestorms they would have caused.”
I wonder what our Pugwash friends have to say about this interpretation of history?
Best,
Steve
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1. War Museum and Nuclear Weapons - No Excuse for This Much Ignorance « Ceasefire Insider Blog | March 17, 2007 at 1:44 am
[...] 17th, 2007 Steve Staples notes below that a sign in the War Museum explains that the massive nuclear [...]
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verbena19 | March 18, 2007 at 1:57 am
Thanks for posting about this, Steve. I agree with you that the Museum should correct this gross misrepresentation of the truth. I guess the old adage about ‘history’ is true: it is written by the victors, from their perspective. Hence it is not objective. I doubt that it ever is, although it should be.
best,
your friend from Brampton, Annamarie
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Walter Dorn | April 4, 2007 at 3:41 am
I think the War Museum display is referring to the “Nuclear Winter” modeling that was done in the 1980s, showing that the soot from nuclear explosions would cause a global winter by partly blocking the sun’s rays, even if only one side used its weapons (e.g., in a decapitating first strike). The drafters of the display should have been more specific or at least footnote their sources at the bottom. Though I hope that no one would think that a “global winter” is a solution to global warming!