"Comrade Stalin, I think that the ideas of Comrade Freolov are worth considering. "As a time-traveler from the 21st century, Manturov understands the importance www.biquge.info of nuclear weapons, which are not only a weapon of mass destruction, but also a strategic deterrent tool, which can exchange more strategic benefits for the country and greater bargaining chips at the negotiating table.

A nuclear bomb can destroy a city and cause hundreds of thousands of casualties. Possession of a nuclear bomb means the ability to destroy cities and kill hundreds of thousands of people at once.

Most countries on the planet cannot afford such an attack. A nuclear bomb in Egypt would mean the destruction of a city and the loss of hundreds of thousands of people. If there were a few, or even a few dozens, nuclear bombs, more than one city would be destroyed, and the loss of people would reach the level of millions, if not tens of millions.

Fortunately, in the history of mankind, apart from the two atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Japan, no country has been attacked by nuclear weapons for the time being.

The reason why the Cold War was a Cold War and why the United States and the Soviet Union did not dare to use force against each other was, to a large extent, because both countries possessed nuclear weapons, and neither country wanted to be attacked by each other's nuclear weapons, so they have been playing games through space races, arms races, proxy wars, and other means.

Since the advent of nuclear weapons, almost no country has dared to declare war on nuclear powers such as the Soviet Union and the United States, and it can be said that nuclear weapons have guaranteed these countries from military invasion and achieved lasting peace.

Countries that possess nuclear weapons are often able to use "peaceful" methods and "peaceful" means such as nuclear deterrence to put pressure on some countries that do not have nuclear weapons and force these countries to make concessions on some interests.

After World War II, the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Northeast China and Iran because, to a certain extent, they were afraid of the United States' nuclear forces and did not want relations with the United States to deteriorate to the point of nuclear war, so they were forced to withdraw their troops.

Otherwise, they could have established a subordinate regime in northern Iran, or even included the northern regions of Iran in the Soviet Union. As for the Northeast, because of the content restrictions of this site, I won't talk about it because it doesn't involve my country's politics.

"You look at the letter and tell me what you think." Stalin handed Vlerov's letter to Manturov, then picked up his pipe, ready to listen to him.

Manturov quickly read the letter, and was surprised that Frolev, an air lieutenant, was able to accurately guess the progress of the American "Manhattan Project" (that is, the development of the atomic bomb) and the German "uranium project" (nuclear weapons research and development project).

However, it is not surprising that after the theory of nuclear fission was coined in 1938, scientists around the world became interested in this chemical reaction that can produce enormous amounts of energy.

Just a few months after the theory of nuclear fission was proposed, the Germans had already estimated that this nuclear reaction, capable of producing enormous energy, could be used militarily. In 1939, they launched a nuclear weapons research program, and some progress was made in the research process, but due to the lack of resources and the transfer of some research and development personnel, the project progressed slowly and was ultimately unsuccessful.

Around the same time, the Americans launched the Manhattan Project (officially launched in 1942) and began to research nuclear weapons.

In terms of scientific research resources, the Americans have a unique advantage. They have a large number of scientific talents (many of them Jewish scientists who fled to the United States from Europe, including Albert Einstein), a well-developed industrial system, and good processing technology to support research and development.

The most important thing is that the United States has enough manpower, enough money to support this research and development.

The Manhattan Project employs 130,000 people and spends $2 billion (equivalent to $26 billion in 2014, more than 90 percent of the cost of building factories and raw materials for nuclear fission, and less than 10 percent for manufacturing and developing weapons).

And what about the USSR?

Historically, after Fryorov wrote a letter to Stalin, the Soviet Union began to send spies into the United States to confirm whether the United States had embarked on a nuclear weapons research and development program.

Although the Manhattan Project was well kept secret, Soviet intelligence officers were able to pick up some clues, and in September 1942 they confirmed that the United States had begun nuclear weapons research and development.

Subsequently, the Soviet Union recalled all nuclear scientists from the battlefield and established Laboratory No. 2 (later the Kurchatov Institute) in 1943 as a scientific research institute for the development of nuclear weapons.

However, due to the lack of attention paid by the Soviet government to the development of nuclear weapons, Laboratory 2 has not been provided with sufficient resources for research and development. The Soviet government also failed to build facilities for the production of raw materials such as nuclear reactors, uranium enrichment facilities, and heavy water production, which prevented the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons research and development program from making any progress due to a lack of raw materials.

It was not until the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan that the Soviet government began to increase investment in nuclear weapons research and development, and then began to build reactors, uranium enrichment facilities, and excavate uranium resources, and finally in 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested the first nuclear bomb.

"Comrade Stalin, I think it is highly likely that the United States and Germany have already begun work on such a uranium bomb (that is, an atomic bomb)." "As far as I know, in 1938, German scientists had discovered the phenomenon of nuclear fission, a physical reaction capable of producing enormous energy that would cause an extremely massive explosion and cause mass destruction," Manturov said calmly.

In fact, China's theories in related areas are not lagging behind. In 1939, Comrade Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov, a scientist at the Azerbaijan Jofe Institute of Physics and Technology, discovered the phenomenon of a chain reaction of uranium, which provided a theoretical basis for the development of uranium bombs. ”

"Nuclear chain reaction?" Stalin also did not expect that this Manturov would be so concerned about the development of physics in the Soviet Union, and still have a certain understanding of these complex scientific phenomena, "Can you briefly describe the chain reaction of this uranium?" ”

"To put it simply, a nuclear chain reaction is when a uranium atom undergoes a nuclear fission reaction, which triggers the same reaction of the surrounding uranium atoms.

It's like when we ignite a bag of explosives in a huge explosives depot, as soon as we ignite a bag of explosives, the explosion of this explosive package will cause the explosion of other explosives, and this explosion will spread out in a short time, causing more explosives to explode until all the explosives are exhausted.

And the energy produced by the nuclear fission reaction of a uranium atom is enormous, and the number of uranium atoms in a bomb is very large, even much more than the total number of sand on the earth.

When so many uranium atoms react in a short period of time, a huge amount of energy is released, causing a huge explosion. As for why the explosion was triggered, why such a reaction occurred, I don't know too well, I think Comrade Kurchatov can give you a more detailed explanation. ”

Manturov's simple explanation made Stalin understand some of the basic principles of nuclear explosions and made him realize the great power produced by nuclear explosions.

The last sentence, "I don't know too well", also dispelled Stalin's doubts about Manturov, and made Stalin believe that Manturov only knew the principle of nuclear explosion from scientists, and did not let him think in the direction of the traverser or even the German spy.

"It seems that we really need to make this uranium bomb. I have just heard you say so much, and I feel that you have a considerable understanding of science in this area, so you will be responsible for the research and development of this weapon. ”