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Zusammenfassung von The Doomsday Machine

Name: The Doomsday Machine
Rating: 4.5 (40 reviews)
Author: Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg

Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner

4.5 (40 Bewertungen)

20 Min.

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Der Kalte Krieg Geschichte der USA

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What’s in it for me? Learn the truth about nuclear bombing.

The world we live in is much more vulnerable to utter annihilation than you might imagine.

The widespread belief is that only the president of the United States is allowed to launch a nuclear attack, and that a satchel by his side at all times – called the nuclear football – is required to do that.

But as a former US military analyst, the author had first-hand, insider information on the US nuclear system and related military processes. And these blinks make clear how fraught the true structure of the nuclear system is and the potential impact these weapons can have on humanity.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

just how close we came to ending the world;
what the deterrence strategy is; and
why US politicians support nuclear warfare.

The first city bombings and mass murder of civilians took place in the 1930s.

How did the Cold War’s threat of nuclear war get to the point that it spelled the possible end of the entire human race? The answer lies with the warmongers of the 1930s.

Before strategic bombing - a specific attack on city centers with the aim of killing the most civilians possible as a means of dismantling the enemy’s economy and society – civilians were, for the most part, kept out of harm’s way during the European wars. This was outlined by the dogma of just war, which stipulated that innocent civilians should not be purposefully targeted in warfare.

The key aspect that led to the rise of strategic bombing was the rapid advancement of aircraft technology.

By the early 1930s, aircraft could transport heavier cargo and travel further distances than ever before. These planes were able to fly over land obstacles and launch attacks on civilians, who, despite being non-combatants, were vital components of war.

One example of strategic bombing is immortalized in Picasso’s 1937 painting Guernica. It depicts the Italian and German air bombings of the Spanish city Guernica, which was an anti-fascist stronghold during the Spanish Civil War. It’s estimated that around 1,000 civilians died during the raid.

Fast-forward to 1939 and the start of WWII. Although the US was not yet part of the war, President Roosevelt implored Germany, France and Great Britain not to attack city centers and kill innocent civilians. All three parties initially agreed to Roosevelt’s request; however, the pact was broken shortly thereafter.

Germany was the first to infringe upon the agreement, with the bombing of British cities in 1940. The event became known as the Blitz and marked the death of over 40,000 civilians.

In 1942, Britain launched their own raids of strategic bombing against civilians. Over the next three years, Great Britain’s air raids killed around 300,000 German civilians.

The most devastating non-nuclear strategic bombing by number of deaths was in fact carried out by the United States. One night, in March 1945, aerial bombings on Tokyo resulted in the deaths of approximately 100,000 Japanese civilians.

WWII and the beginning of the Cold War occurred while the author was still in school.

At the age of nine, Daniel Ellsberg watched the Nazi bombing of London on film. It was the first time he had ever seen civilian casualties in such numbers, and it would prove to be an image that would influence him later in life.

In 1944, when Ellsberg was in ninth grade, he had to write a paper on nuclear bombs capable of destroying entire cities. Though this kind of weapon did not yet exist, many articles in journals and sci-fi magazines at the time theorized its potential danger. With the help of these sources, Ellsberg and his classmates concluded that nuclear bombs were unstable, easily abused and disastrous for humanity.

The author started working at the RAND Corporation during a volatile time.

In 1957, at the age of 26, Ellsberg began working at the RAND Corporation – a non-profit organization founded in 1948 to conduct research for the US Air Force.

As nuclear strategy analysts at RAND, Ellsberg and his colleagues believed that the research they were conducting could save the world.

The author discovered flaws in the US nuclear strategy.

Ellsberg spent around 70 hours a week analyzing every piece of information he could obtain on the control and command structures of US nuclear facilities, and he was astounded by what he found.

Specifically, the author noticed issues with the US nuclear system’s command structure. It turned out that the command center was more concerned with responding to the “GO” signal than addressing a false alarm. The priority was to launch weapons quickly enough to attack the enemy before the enemy’s weapons could reach them.

Once he learned how easy it was to authorize nuclear war, Ellsberg sought to improve the system.

Worried by the weaknesses in the US nuclear command structure, Ellsberg wanted to test the claim that only the president could launch a nuclear attack.

In doing so, he looked into whether other individuals had been given the power to authorize such an attack.

The cost of a first-strike scenario is more devastating than we could possibly imagine.

Despite Ellsberg’s recommendations for an improved national strategy, the chance of nuclear war remained high. New aircraft and bombs were being invented, and countries were still considering the bombing of cities as part of their war tactics.

In the spring of 1961, Ellsberg witnessed the potential horror of a first-strike scenario, wherein the US would launch a preemptive strike on the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies.

The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was perilously close to turning into a doomsday scenario.

Amidst mounting tensions from the space and arms race between the US and the USSR came the ill-timed Cuban Missile Crisis: when the US found evidence that the USSR was storing medium-range nuclear weapons on Cuba, they rolled out a naval blockade to stop any further transportation of warheads.

This move led to the most dangerous stand-off in the entire Cold War period.

Greater public awareness will force nuclear states to disassemble their doomsday machines.

After the Cold War, the chances of a nuclear winter dropped dramatically. But no matter how low, the fact that the possibility remains is unacceptable. A false alarm or a nuclear strike by terrorists could be all that’s needed for the doomsday machines of the US and Russia to be rebooted and wipe out humanity.

Therefore it’s crucial that we dismantle these weapons. This doesn’t mean destroying all nuclear weapons that exist in the world – though that would be ideal – but the disassembling of the rapid-response, high-alert command of the US nuclear system aimed at Russia. That might not reduce the risk of a tit-for-tat nuclear war, but it would certainly prevent a nuclear winter brought about by a massive, rapid and potentially knee-jerk reaction.

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Worum geht es in The Doomsday Machine?

The Doomsday Machine (2017) follows famed whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg on his journey from learning about nuclear bombs in school to rewriting the national security policy for the United States of America. It explores the use of nuclear systems throughout history and how close we came to ending the human race.

Wer The Doomsday Machine lesen sollte

Modern history buffs with a particular interest in wars
International relations students
People interested in US nuclear strategy

Über den Autor

Daniel Ellsberg is an activist, whistleblower and former US military advisor. In 1971 he released the classified Pentagon Papers to the public, which detailed US efforts during the Vietnam War. He also wrote Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.

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