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Nuclear Weapons Timeline

1945 Aug 6 United States Drops Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
"My God, what have we done?" —Robert Lewis, Commander of the 'Enola Gay'
1945 Aug 9 United States Drops Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the executive order of U.S. Preside...
1949 Aug 29 The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's second nuclear power.
The RDS-1 (Russian: РДС-1), was the Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon test. It is also known as Joe-1, in reference to Joseph Stalin. It was test-exploded on 29 August 1949, at Semipala...
1952 Oct 3
8:00AM
 United Kindgom tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's third nuclear power, code named Operation Hurricane
Operation Hurricane was the test of the first British atomic device on 3 October 1952. A plutonium implosion device was detonated in the lagoon between the Montebello Islands, Western Aus...
1960 Feb 13 France tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's fourth nuclear power, code named Gerboise Bleue
Gerboise Bleue ("blue jerboa") was the name of the first French nuclear test. It was an atomic bomb detonated in the middle of the Algerian Sahara desert on 13 February 1960, during the A...
1961 Nov 30 President Kennedy Authorizes Operation Mongoose
The Cuban Project (also known as Operation Mongoose or the Special Group or the Special Group Augmented) was a program of CIA covert operations developed during the early years of US Pres...
1962 Oct 14 United States U-2 Reconnaissance Mission Discovers SS-4 Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) Sites in Varying Stages of Readiness
The first consignment of SS-3 MRBMs (medium range ballistic missiles) arrived on the night of September 8, followed by a second on September 16. The Soviets were building nine sites — six...
1962 Oct 16 President Kennedy Assembles EXCOMM Upon Viewing Photographs of Soviet Missiles in Cuba
Kennedy saw the photographs on October 16; he assembled the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM), fourteen key officials and his brother Robert, at 9.00 a.m. The ...
1962 Oct 18 Kennedy Meets with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko
On October 18th the President ordered a build up of arms along the southern border of the United States, just in case war breaks out. No one suspected anything because training exercises ...
1962 Oct 21 John F. Kennedy Decides to "Quarantine" Cuba in Response to Nuclear Threat
On October 21st, ExComm, and President Kennedy decided that a quarantine was the best course of action. The administration called it a quarantine, because the term "blockade" would symbol...
1962 Oct 22 President Kennedy Delivers First Speech on the Nuclear Buildup in Cuba
"It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack on the United States, requiring a full ret..." —John F. Kennedy
1962 Oct 26 Fidel Castro Writes Letter to Khruschev in which he Urges the Soviet Union to Attack the US if it Invades Cuba
"I would like to briefly express my own personal opinion. If [an invasion of Cuba] takes place and the imperialists invade Cuba with the aim of occupying it, the dangers of their aggres..." —Fidel Castro
1962 Oct 26 John A. Scali of ABC Surreptitiously Meets with KGB Station Chief, Aleksandr Fomin
At 1:00 p.m., John A. Scali of ABC News had lunch with Aleksandr Fomin at Fomin's request. Fomin noted that "war seems about to break out" and asked Scali to use his contacts to talk to h...
1962 Oct 27 Rudolf Anderson, Jr., USAF Pilot, is Shot Down Over Banes, Cuba
While the meeting progressed, at 11:03 a.m. a new message began to arrive from Khrushchev. The message stated, in part, "You are disturbed over Cuba. You say that this disturbs you becaus...
1962 Oct 28
9:00AM
 Khruschev Announces Soviet Union will Remove Missiles from Cuba in Radio Moscow Address
After much deliberation between the Soviet Union and Kennedy's cabinet, Kennedy secretly agreed to remove all missiles set in Turkey on the border of the Soviet Union in exchange for Khru...
1963 Oct 7 President Kennedy Ratifies the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
The Treaty banning Nuclear Weapon Tests In The Atmosphere, In Outer Space And Under Water, often abbreviated as the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT), or Nucl...
1964 Oct 16 China tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's fifth nuclear power, code named 596
596 is the codename of the People's Republic of China's first nuclear weapons test, detonated on October 16, 1964 at the Lop Nur test site. It was a uranium-235 implosion fission device a...
1970 Mar 5 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Ratified
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT or NNPT) is a treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, opened for signature on Jul...
1974 May 18
8:05AM
 India tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's sixth nuclear power, code named Smiling Buddha
While touring the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) on 7 September 1972 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave verbal authorization to the scientists there to manufacture the nuclear device...
1998 May 28
3:16PM
 Pakistan tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's seventh nuclear power, code named Chagai-I
Chagai-I refers to the nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan in 1998. It was named Chagai-I as the tests were conducted in the Chagai District (Baluchistan province). Plans to conduct a nuc...
2006 Oct 9 North Korea tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's eighth nuclear power
North Korea’s Nuclear Test: Motivations, Implications, and U.S. Options On October 9, 2006, North Korea announced it conducted a nuclear test. After several days of evaluation, U.S. au...
2009 May 25
10:00AM
 North Korea tests nuclear bomb in underground bunker
"North Korea will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons. We will work with our friends and allies to stand up to this behaviour and we will redouble our efforts..." —Barack Obama
2009 Jun 22 North Korea declares itself "proud nuclear power," warns U.S.
"I don't want to speculate on hypotheticals. But I do want to give assurances to the American people that the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted." —U.S. President Barack Obama
2009 Jun 24 North Korea Threatens to "Wipe Out" US
North Korea threatened on Wednesday to "wipe out" the United States in the event of a new war on the Korean Peninsula, as international observers watched for signs the regime would perfor...
2009 Sep 24 United Nations Passes Resolution Aimed at Reducing Spread of Nuclear Weapons
The resolution, ratified without dissent by the heads of state of the 15-member council, is the most tangible success of President Barack Obama's first U.N. General Assembly week. Mr. Oba...
2009 Oct 5 North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il Tells Chinese Premier He is Willing to Return to Nuclear Disarmament Talks
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told the visiting Chinese premier Monday that his country was willing to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations provided progress is made in...
2009 Oct 13 Russia Rejects New Sanctions Against Iran to Deter Nuclear Program
Threatening Iran with harsh new sanctions to advance negotiations over its nuclear program would be “counterproductive,” Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday, throwing cold water on the...
2009 Oct 21 Western Powers Back Iran Uranium Proposal at Vienna Talks
The United States has tentatively endorsed a U.N. proposal for France and Russia to refine a large portion of Iran's low-enriched uranium for use at a Tehran medical research reactor, eli...
2009 Oct 24 UN Inspectors Arrive in Iran to Visit Previously Secret Nuclear Facility
A team of UN inspectors has arrived in Iran to visit a controversial uranium enrichment plant near the town of Qom. The four scientists were due to inspect the facility on Sunday, as W...
2009 Dec 16 President Obama Sends Letter to Kim Jong-il in Effort to Restart Nucear Disarmament Talks
Barack Obama has sent a letter to North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il to persuade him to return to nuclear disarmament talks. The US president's special envoy, Stephen Bosworth, delivered...
2010 Mar 18 South Korean Defense Minster States that North Korea is Believed to be Continuing Uranium Enrichment and has Over 1,000 Missiles Stockpiled
In a sign that it will not give up its atomic ambitions, North Korea is believed to have some 1,000 missiles, including intermediate-range and Scud missiles, and is continuing to produce ...
2010 Aug 17 US Ambassador John Bolton Warns Israel of Fleeting Chance to Strike Iranian Nuclear Reactor
Israel has only mere days to launch an attack on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor if Russia makes good on its plan to deliver fuel there this weekend, former US ambassador to the UN John Bo...