The secret history of nuclear weapons

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

Society & Culture, Government, News, Politics

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With Trump’s war to (he claims) end Iran’s nuclear programme pushing the world to the brink, the question of who has the Bomb and why feels more urgent than ever. But the untold story of how nuclear weaponry proliferated and shaped our world is even stranger than most of us know. Historian David Holloway, author of Nuclear Weapons: An International History, explores how the Bomb reshaped global politics with Dorian Lynskey. From the US-Soviet arms race to the rise of “Mutual Assured Destruction”, we came closer to destruction that we knew. How did we avoid it – and will we always be as lucky? • Buy David’s book Nuclear Weapons: An International History through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:07.2	Hello, welcome to The Bunker, your daily dose of news without the nonsense. I'm Doreen Linsky.
1:12.7	Last year was the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb and the only two times it has been used in wartime at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1:19.2	Nuclear weapons have been the subject to major movies like Oppenheimer and a house of dynamite,
1:23.0	and then one of many reasons the Trump administration has offered for bombing Iran.
1:27.3	The bomb continues to
1:28.5	fascinate and terrify us. An authoritative new book, Nuclear Weapons and International History,
1:33.7	tells the full story of the politics of nuclear weapons from 1945 to the end of the Cold War.
1:38.3	It's a tale of cunning plans and close shaves, of noble peace efforts and bitter rivalries.
1:43.0	Its author is David Holloway, the Raymond A. Spruance
1:45.7	Professor of International History Emeritus at Stanford University and an expert in the field.
1:51.3	He joins me today. Hello, David. Hello. Your previous book was Stalin and the bomb. This one
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