Trident: Does the Nuclear Deterrent Work?

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With the release of the nuclear submarine TV series, Vigil, Dr Nick Ritchie, Senior Lecturer at the University of York and the UK’s leading expert on Trident, joins James for this episode of our sibling podcast Warfare. Nick gives us a step-by-step history on the multilayered missile system, which is said to act as deterrence. Earlier this year, Boris Johnson’s government agreed to increase the amount of nuclear weapons in the UK by around 40%, and it’s still unknown where the warheads would be stored if Scotland secure a second referendum and vote to leave the union. Hear why the UK first got nuclear weapons, whether they actually work as a deterrence, and find out the many challenges which lie ahead.

Nick’s book, A Nuclear Weapons-Free World?: Britain, Trident and the Challenges Ahead, is available now.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone, welcome to Dan Snow's History Hit.
0:04.1	We have an episode on our sibling podcast.
0:06.1	We've got several podcasts in our network here.
0:08.3	We got a Tudary 1, could it go even Renaissance?
0:11.9	Anyway, Susie Lips comes one, then we got a medieval one.
0:14.6	We got the ancient, ancient history, and of course we got warfare about military history.
0:18.7	And this is an episode of warfare.
0:20.2	We're talking about Trident.
0:21.8	Does the nuclear deterrent work?
0:24.2	Feels like something we should know.
0:26.2	Feels like a podcast we should listen to.
0:29.0	If the final line of defence for your state is the Trident Nuclear Missile System with
0:35.8	its intercontinental ballistic capability acquired and sustained at gigantic cost, it feels
0:41.4	that it's a question we should know the answer to.
0:43.8	It's a question I always assumed it the answer to was yes.
0:48.2	But Dr Nick Richey from York University is here to us if that is indeed the case.
0:54.5	It's fascinating stuff.
0:55.5	So is what's going on at History Hit TV at the moment.
0:58.4	We've got a whole load of programs coming out.
1:00.4	People loving it over there at the moment.
1:01.4	It's crazy.
1:02.4	Lots of programs being watched.
	...

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