Timeline of nuclear risk
From Timelines
This is a timeline of FIXME.
Contents
Sample questions
The following are some interesting questions that can be answered by reading this timeline:
Big picture
| Time period | Development summary | More details |
|---|
Full timeline
| Year | Month and date | Event type | Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | November 5 | False Alarms during the Suez Crisis. | ||
| 1960 | October 5 | A radar alert from Thule, Greenland is sent to NORAD, announcing the detection of dozens of Soviet missiles launched for the United States. | ||
| 1961 | January 24 | H-bombs Dropped on North Carolina. | ||
| 1961 | November 24 | "On this evening, communication links between Strategic Air Command headquarters (SAC HQ) and NORAD went dead. The result was that SAC HQ lost communication with three Ballistic Missile Early Warning Sites (BMEWS) around the world, all of which were supposed to run on independent telephone and telegraph lines." | ||
| 1962 | August 23 | "US Bomber in Soviet No-Fly Zone" | ||
| 1962 | October 24 | "Soviet Satellite Explodes During Cuban Missile Crisis" | ||
| 1962 | October 25 | "Bear Triggers Nuclear Alarm" | ||
| 1962 | October 26 | "US F102A Fighters vs Soviet MIG interceptors" | ||
| 1962 | October 27 | "U2 Spy Plane Shot Down Over Cuba" | ||
| 1962 | October 28 | "The newly operational Laredo warning site notified NORAD that they had identified two missiles over Georgia." | ||
| 1962 | October 28 | "At nearly 9:00 AM, NORAD received news from Moorestown, NJ that a nuclear strike was expected to hit Tampa, FL at 9:02." | ||
| 1965 | November 9 | "Power Failure Mistaken for Nuclear Blasts" | ||
| 1967 | May 23 | "Confusing Solar Flares and Nuclear Attacks" | ||
| 1968 | January 21 | "Hydrogen Bomb Shatters in Greenland" | ||
| 1973 | October 24 | "False Alarm During DEFCON 3" | ||
| 1974 | August 1 | “In his last weeks in office during the Watergate crisis, President Richard M. Nixon was clinically depressed, emotionally unstable, and drinking heavily. U.S. Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger instructed the Joint Chiefs of Staff to route “any emergency order coming from the president”—such as a nuclear launch order— through him first (Schlosser 2013, p. 360).” |
Meta information on the timeline
How the timeline was built
The initial version of the timeline was written by FIXME.
Funding information for this timeline is available.
Feedback and comments
Feedback for the timeline can be provided at the following places:
- FIXME
What the timeline is still missing
- Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
- Missile Technology Control Regime
- Multilateral export control regime
- Wassenaar Arrangement
- Nuclear Suppliers Group
- 13 steps
- Nuclear disarmament
- Anti-nuclear movement
- Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
- Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
- Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism
- New Agenda Coalition
- Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
- Zangger Committee
- Nuclear War Survival Skills
- Nuclear holocaust
