1940s

Synopsis of the decade

Key dates

July 1945: The United States conducts the world’s first atomic bomb test, called 'Trinity' at Alamogordo, New Mexico.

August 1945: The United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

August 1949: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb.

1950s

Synopsis of the decade

This decade sees the first British testing of an atomic bomb and the formation of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Key dates

1949: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) formed.

March 1950: The World Peace Council releases the Stockholm Appeal calling for an absolute ban on nuclear weapons. 

October 1952: First British atomic bomb test off the coast of Australia.

January 1954: The world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched.

March 1954: First US hydrogen bomb test.

March 1954: A Japanese fishing boat, the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, is exposed to radioactive fallout from an American hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific; one crew member later dies as a result of exposure to radiation.

May 1955: Warsaw Treaty Organisation (Warsaw Pact) formed.

July 1955: The Russell-Einstein statement on banning nuclear weapons is released.

April 1956: Soviet hydrogen bomb announced.

May 1957: First British hydrogen bomb test in Australia.

September 1957:The United States conducts its first underground nuclear test.

October 1957: Major fire at Windscale (now Sellafield) resulting in radioactive discharges.

October 1957: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the world’s first satellite, into space.

February 1958: CND formed. Founders include Bertrand Russell, JB Priestley, AJP Taylor, Michael Foot, Pat Arrowsmith, Sheila Jones and Canon John Collins.

February 1958: US supplies Thor atomic missiles to the UK.

Easter 1958: First Aldermaston march.

June 1959: The United States launches the first nuclear-powered submarine equipped with the Polaris missile.

1960s

Synopsis of the decade

France and China become nuclear powers. The Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink of a nuclear war. In 1968 we see the rise of political protest demonstrations across the world. In 1968 the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (in which the nuclear powers promise to bring about complete nuclear disarmament) is signed.

Key dates

February 1960: France conducts its first nuclear device test in Algeria.

February 1961: First major civil disobedience action by Committee of 100 at the Ministry of Defence.

March 1961: First US nuclear submarine (Polaris) arrives at Holy Loch Scotland.

September 1961: 15,000 take part in banned Committee of 100 protest at Trafalgar Square.

Easter 1962: 100,000 at rally at the end of the Aldermaston march.

July 1962: Committee of 100 members demonstrate in Moscow.

October 1962: Cuban missile crisis.

December 1962: Government announces purchase of Polaris missile from the US.

July 1963: Partial test ban treaty signed.

October 1964: China conducts its first atomic bomb test.

January 1967: The Outer Space Treaty is signed to prohibit placement of nuclear weapons in orbit around Earth or on celestial bodies.

February 1967: Treaty of Tlatelolco signed prohibiting nuclear weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean.

July 1968: The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is signed.

1970s

Synopsis of the decade

The SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) and Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaties opened this decade on a positive note. The decade was brought to a close with the tragic incident at Three Mile Island nuclear energy plant in Pennsylvania where the plant approached meltdown in a near catastrophic accident.

Key dates 

March 1970: Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) enters into force.

May 1972: The United States and the Soviet Union conclude the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I).

September 1972: Labour Party conference votes for unilateral nuclear disarmament.

June 1973: The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War.

May 1974: India conducts its first nuclear tests underground.

October 1977: Liberal Party Conference votes against nuclear power.

May 1978: The United Nations General Assembly holds its first special session on disarmament.

March 1979: A severe accident occurs at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania in the United States.

June 1979: The United States and the Soviet Union sign SALT II .

December 1979: NATO announces that 572 US cruise and Pershing missiles will be based in Europe (including Britain).

1980s

Synopsis of the decade 

The Cold War is at its height. Reagan's Administration engineers a massive build-up of nuclear arms. In 1985 it is revealed that Israel may have up to 200 nuclear weapons stockpiled. In the UK there are anti-nuclear demonstrations with many peace camps being formed, including the famous women’s peace camp at Greenham Common. At the end of the decade, the Cold War ends.

Key dates

June 1980: Government announces Greenham Common (Berkshire) and Molesworth (North Hamptonshire) as bases for cruise missiles and also announces its intention to buy Trident.

November 1980: Manchester is the first local authority to declare itself a nuclear-free zone.

1981: TUC votes for unilateral nuclear disarmament.

September 1981: Women's Peace Camp set up at Greenham Common. Huge anti-nuclear protests in Europe.

June 1981: Israel conducts an air attack on an Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdad.

June 1982: 250,000 protest in London. Home Office cancels civil defence exercise 'Hard Rock' as local authorities refuse to take part. Re-named 'Hard-Luck'. 30,000 women surround Greenham Common. Faslane Peace Camp formed.

March 1983: U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) programme.

April 1983: CND organised 14 mile human chain linking Greenham Common, Aldermaston and Burghfield.

October 1983: 250,000 at protest in London.

December 1983: First flight of cruise missiles arrives at Greenham Common.

August 1985: The Treaty of Rarotonga is signed, declaring the South Pacific nuclear-free.

April 1986: A disastrous accident occurs at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

1989: Berlin Wall down. End of the Cold War.

1990s

Synopsis of the decade

The promise of nuclear disarmament after the Cold War gets a boost when Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus choose to return their nuclear arsenals, inherited from the former Soviet Union, to Russia. Other nuclear weapons states do not follow suit. By the end of the decade two other countries, India and Pakistan, have tested nuclear weapons. In the UK, Trident submarines containing nuclear weapons replace the previous Polaris system. The US revives its nuclear weapons programme.

Key dates

January 1991: Gulf War. Depleted uranium shells are used against Iraqi troops in the desert.

March 1991: The last cruise missiles leave Britain.

July 1991: The United States and the Soviet Union sign the START I treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.

February 1992: A declaration by the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) to make the Korean Peninsula nuclear-weapons-free takes effect.

March 1992: The first Trident submarine, HMS Vanguard, is rolled out.

March 1992: South African president F.W. de Klerk reveals that his country has dismantled its nuclear weapons.

January 1993: START II signed.

September 1993: The Labour Party conference votes to cancel Trident and to stop nuclear testing.

September 1993: The second Trident submarine, HMS Victorious is rolled out.

January 1994: Ukraine signs an agreement with the United States and Russia to give up all the nuclear weapons deployed in the republic by the former Soviet Union.

December 1994: START I enters into force.

1995: France resumes nuclear testing in the South Pacific.

May 1995: NPT Review and Extension Conference decides to indefinitely extend the 1968 treaty.

October 1995: The third Trident submarine, HMS Vigilant, is rolled out at Barrow.

December 1995: The Treaty of Bangkok, making Southeast Asia a nuclear-weapon-free-zone, is signed.

April 1996: The Treaty of Pelindaba, making Africa nuclear-weapon-free, is signed.

July 1996: The International Court of Justice issues an advisory opinion that "the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law." It also confirmed that the Nuclear Weapons States had a duty to work towards nuclear disarmament under Article 6 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

September 1996: The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

May 1997: Labour Party elected to government.

May 1998: India resumes testing and Pakistan begins testing, both carry out underground nuclear tests.

September 1998: The fourth and final Trident submarine, HMS Vengeance, is rolled out in Barrow.

March 1999: First expansion of NATO brings the risk of nuclear weapons being stationed in previously non-nuclear states.

April 12-23, 1999: The Third Preparatory Conference for the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference is held at the UN in New York and concludes without progress.

October 18 1999: The United States Senate rejects the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), drawing widespread international condemnation.

2000 and Beyond

Nuclear Facts: The Timeline - 2000 and Beyond

Key dates

February 10 2000: At the Geneva Conference on Disarmament (CD) China's envoy, Hu Xiaodi, formally proposes that the CD set up a committee and begin negotiations to conclude a global treaty that would ban the testing, deployment and use of weapons in outer space. Russia's Ambassador on Disarmament Vasily Sidorov backs the proposal.

March 29 2000: The Ukrainian government announces that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant will close.

April 21 2000: The Duma, Russia's parliament, ratifies the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

April 24 2000: Delegates from the 187 signatories to the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) meet at UN headquarters in New York for a month-long review of the treaty.

May 20 2000: After last-minute negotiations at the NPT Review Conference, the world's five main nuclear powers pledge to make "an unequivocal undertaking ... to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals".

June 6 2000: U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin reach an Early Warning Agreement during the Moscow Summit.

August 12 2000: The Kursk, a Russian nuclear-powered submarine, sinks in Barents Sea. The Kursk was powered by a nuclear reactor and also may have carried nuclear warheads.

2001: Increased tension between India and Pakistan.

May 17 2001: US President George W. Bush reveals a new energy plan for the country. Among other controversial recommendations, the plan contains proposals to boost nuclear energy supplies.

September 11 2001: Terrorist attacks on the US.

October 2001: Bombing of Afghanistan.

December 2001: US submits Nuclear Posture Review to Congress.

2002: US submits Nuclear Posture Review to Congress.

March 2002: Geoff Hoon tells the House Of Commons Select Committee on Defence that Britain could use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states.

June 13 2002: US withdraws from the ABM Treaty.

September 2002: Iran announces plans to extend its nuclear power programme.

December 2002: The UK Ministry of Defence received from Donald Rumsfeld (the United States Secretary of Defense) a formal request to upgrade the Early Warning Radar at RAF Fylingdales for missile defence purposes. He later agreed after minimal consultation.

January 2003: North Korea withdraws from the NPT Treaty.

January 2003: CIA reports that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.

February 2003: Demonstrations across the world against a war in Iraq. The largest ever demonstration in British history (organised by CND, Stop the War Coalition and Muslim Association of Britain) is held in London with two million protesters.

March 2003: US-UK war on Iraq launched.

April 2003: US administration declares in the aftermath of the Iraq conflict that Iran and North Korea will be on top of their list of priorities for attack.

June 2003: US-EU summit calls on Iran to “sign and implement an Additional Protocol, without delay or conditions” as a first step towards reassuring the international community of its intentions.

August 2003: US government scientists and Pentagon officials meet at a Nebraska air force base to discuss the development of a modernised arsenal of small, specialised nuclear weapons which could mark the beginning of a new era in proliferation.