Overview
For a period of 40 years New Zealand battled to establish a strong anti-nuclear position amongst the rest of the world. The first nuclear explosion codenamed "Trinity", on July 16 1945 in New Mexico, by the Americans would become the catalyst for further nuclear testing and development in the following 50 years. It was just short of three weeks after this first test that the dropping of the nuclear warhead “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6th 1945 rocked the world. With 135,000 casualties after impact and with thousands dying later due to radiation poisoning, it was made apparent the level of destruction and chaos that nuclear powered weapons could inflict. This would change modern warfare dramatically.
With the threat of communism beginning to grow in South East Asia, New Zealand and Australia looked for protection. This led to the signing of the ANZUS Alliance, six years after the misery of Japan, in 1951. The alliance was signed by Australia, New Zealand and the United States. For the United States, it formally extended their ties into the South Pacific region as it gave them the right to respond to any threat to their allies. With the signing of the treaty it was dubbed the ‘nuclear umbrella’ in which Australia and New Zealand would seek protection with the greater American power and would accept any nuclear retaliation by the United States. With the conclusion of World War II, the United States, the French and their British allies began to frequently test nuclear weapons in the pacific region, namely French Polynesia. In the 1950’s the New Zealand military observed British and American nuclear tests in Australia, the pacific and Nevada- vessels from the Royal New Zealand Navy were also weather ships for some nuclear tests that were demonstrated in the Indian Ocean. New Zealand’s involvement in supporting these nuclear tests sparked up heavy criticism and speculation within society. It was a difficult position to be in for the nation’s military- to oppose nuclear testing would mean to jeopardize American and British treaty and peace relations, however involvement in the nuclear sector would mean they face the disapproval of the New Zealand public. In 1984 the movement gained support and traction, which lead to the denial of a US Charles F. Adams-class destroyer's request to enter New Zealand waters. Between 1966 and 1974 France conducted 41 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the atolls in French Polynesia. It was these tests that became the focal point for New Zealand's anti-nuclear protest movement. New Zealand would later engage in heavy political disputes with the French government regarding nuclear testing, leading to the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior on the 10th July 1985. As a product of New Zealand's firm anti-nuclear stance, this was to be a devastating consequence. |
Code Name: "Trinity"A snapshot 16ms after the detonation of the first ever nuclear bomb. "Trinity" was the name given to the the first nuclear bomb that was detonated on July 16th 1945 in New Mexico by the United States.
Ironic Beginnings![]() Without the scientific experiments of one key New Zealander, the very existence of nuclear warheads and weapons would not be possible. Ernest Rutherford (pictured right) was responsible for splitting the atom in 1917, which led to the possibility of harvesting nuclear energy and ultimately using it on a weaponised level. This discovery would later be saturated in irony, as New Zealanders would be protesting against the fruits of Rutherford's work.
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