17 42 WW2 with Nuclear Weapons Ever since the nuclear revolution the effect of nuclear weapons on the causes and events of war has provoked debate Today political scientists have come to a consensus that nuclear weapons when in the hands of rational leaders can have a deterrent effect on war In that case could the presence of nuclear weapons in Europe and the United States have kept World War II from breaking out Due to both Hitler s great ambitions and France and Britain s policies of appeasement the presence of nuclear weapons would not have a profound effect on the causes of the war However the course near the end of the war would have been either drastically more intense or a close call with an early conclusion depending on the German s ability to control Hitler s madness In order to predict the effects of nuclear weapons on WWII we need to first understand their effects on the causes of war When asked whether nuclear weapons are good or bad most people would probably say bad This is most likely due to the immense destructive power of nuclear weapons However it is this very destructive power that can also have a positive effect on the causes of war This is because of the concept of MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction For most rational leaders wagering the total destruction their respective states presents too many risks Therefore in a conflict between two nuclear powers with rational leaders the mere presence of nuclear weapons encourages both sides to be especially careful and to find a reasonable diplomatic solution A nuclear war is to be avoided at all costs In this manner as counterintuitive as it may be nuclear weapons may actually have a deterrent effect on war However this deterrent effect of nuclear weapons is reserved for conflicts between two states with rational leaders When nuclear weapons get in the hands of irrational people they become extremely dangerous and unpredictable Whether it is a ruthless leader who does not value the lives of his citizens or a suicidal terroristic organization the fact that they cannot be deterred by reason creates an exceedingly grim situation The reason why we fear nuclear weapons getting into the wrong hands is because once irrational people acquire them it becomes almost impossible to stop them With this understanding of the effects nuclear weapons have on war we can begin to predict the outcome of the following hypothetical situation Imagine that nuclear weapons were invented around 1920 after World War I By the time the events that actually induced World War II begin around 1933 Germany Britain France the Soviet Union and the United States possess large nuclear second strike countervalue capabilities Second strike countervalue capabilities are the abilities of a state to absorb an all out attack by another and still retain the capacity to inflict unacceptable damage on the adversary s society in retaliation This removes any first strike advantage in this scenario Aside from the addition of nuclear arsenals nothing else is different in this hypothetical world In this scenario my first assertion is that the events leading up to the war would not have differed very much if even at all This is because the build up to the war had two main causes both of which are unaffected by the addition of nuclear weapons The first reason was Hitler s great ambition Before Adolf Hitler s rise Germany was already in a position where the people genuinely felt that they were not responsible for the outbreak of World War I and that they had been severely wronged by the Treaty of Versailles The depression also stirred up the universal German loathing for the Treaty of Versailles Many Germans explained the ruin of Germany by the postwar treatment it had received from the Allies 1 Although both claims were untrue the 1 Palmer R R and Joel Colton History of the Modern World 7th ed NY Knopf 1991 p 825 German government had successfully propagated these myths to the extent that even France and Britain were beginning to believe them Thus when Hitler rose to power it was easy to rally his people behind his cause of undoing Versailles Thus although a normal person may have second thoughts about violating such a treaty against other nuclear possessing countries Hitler s ambition gave him an extra incentive in addition to the German victim narrative since undoing the treaty was the first step of his plans for domination Also Hitler s initial violations of the treaty were not as risky as they may seem even if against nuclear powers This was due to the fact that the British and French were beginning to believe that Versailles was indeed unfair to the Germans Not to mention that from Hitler s perspective the British and French were both too spineless to enforce the treaty In this sense he was really just testing the waters and seeing what he could get away with He inspired in them alternating tremors of apprehension and sighs of relief He would rage and rant arouse the fear of war take just a little declare that it was all he wanted let the former Allies naively hope that he was now satisfied and that peace was secure then rage again take a little more and proceed through the same cycle 2 With the addition of nuclear weapons to this equation the German public may have had objections initially but they would soon be convinced by Hitler s success at reversing the treaty and would have given their whole hearted approval Thus the addition of nuclear weapons would not have changed this cause of the war Of course Hitler s ambition was not the only factor driving pre war events The second reason for the events leading up to World War II was the policy of appeasement practiced by Britain and France After suffering large losses3 in WW I and being content with the conditions of Versailles both Britain and France were tired of war and wished to avoid conflict if at all 2 Palmer 837 3 Palmer 835 About 1 4 million Frenchmen died possible Plus they were beginning to accept that Versailles had indeed been too harsh on the Germans They had made a treaty in 1919 which a dozen years later they were unwilling to enforce They stood idly by as long as they could while the dissatisfied powers tore to pieces the states recognized the frontiers drawn and the terms agreed to at the Peace of Paris 4 Therefor when Hitler began to demand changes to parts of Versailles instead of taking a strong stance and enforcing the treaty they tried to solve matters by satisfying Hitler s demands They