This year will see the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the first nuclear bombs. The Department of History at Reading University have arranged an evening symposium in February to commemorate this terrible event - and to discuss the lessons and consequences.
"In 2011, the University of Reading received a remarkable and
moving gift from the University of Hiroshima in Japan: a roof tile collected
from the riverbed near the hypocentre of the atomic bomb attack of 6 August
2015. The gift was made in recognition of the fact that the University of
Reading had sent books in response to an appeal by their Japanese counterparts
in 1951, as part of a project to establish an international peace library. The
University of Hiroshima also donated the original ten volumes Japanese manga
series, now part of the University of Reading Special Collections. The tile and
the volumes will be on display on the day of the event.
The atomic weapons that demolished Hiroshima not only had
devastating effects on its population at the time of the bombings and
throughout the lives of those who survived, but also began an arms race between
the US and the Soviet Union that shaped the entire history of the Cold War. Was
there a degree of rationality and reason behind the colossal build up? Did
nuclear weapons cause the Cold War? Did they contribute to its escalation? Did
they help to keep the Cold War cold? Was the nuclear arms race a product of
Cold War tension rather than its cause?
At a time of global economic and political uncertainty and
the emergent threat of international terrorism and nuclear proliferation, these
are important questions that still need further investigation. The purpose of
this symposium therefore is to explore new academic research on the history of
nuclear weapons during the Cold War."
Further information is available at http://www.reading.ac.uk/history/research/Hiroshima-at-70.aspx
