The Call Of Cthulhu Or A Portent Of Nuclear Destruction

"Everyone is aware of the difficult and menacing situation in which human society - shrunk into one community with a common fate - finds itself, but only a few acts accordingly. Most people go on living their everyday life: half frightened, half indifferent, they behold the ghostly tragicomedy this is being performed on the international stage before the eyes and ears of the world. But on that stage, on which the actors under the floodlights play their ordained parts, our fate of tomorrow, life or death of the nations, is being decided. It would be different if the problem were not one of things made by man himself, such as the atomic bomb and other means of mass destruction equally

As the monster Gojira came lumbering over the buildings of Tokyo on the big screen in 1954, director Ishiro Honda saw his dream of seeing a film focused on the devastation of nuclear weapons play out. Although, his film could not clearly be about the devastation, his symbolism of the monster as the atomic bomb was clear to all Japanese, even if it was not clear to foreigners viewing the film. The film, Gojira, and its many reiterations over the years, is a result of the atomic attacks that took place almost a decade previous, the following occupation and continued use of nuclear weapons by the United States, the lingering anxieties had towards these nuclear weapons and the censorship that encased Japan after the United States occupation. As

In Yuri Herrera’s novel ‘’Signs Preceding the end of the world’’ present a girl, Makina, who go through a series of obstacles to find her brother and her own identity. In each chapter Makina went through these series of obstacle while exploring transformation in a journey across the border. As Makina go through these series of events, she encounters an abrupt event that wasn’t what she expected. Yuri Herrera does not just focus on the journey through the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the identity and change through people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there’s no going back. Makina’s story develops within a novel centered on an equally

Though people questioned why acts of war were committed, they found justification in rationalizing that it served the greater good. As time evolved, the world began to evolve in its thinking and view of the atomic bomb and war. In Hiroshima, John Hersey has a conversation with a survivor of the atomic bomb about the general nature of war. “She had firsthand knowledge of the cruelty of the atomic bomb, but she felt that more notice should be given to the causes than to the instruments of total war.” (Hersey, 122). In John Hersey’s book, many concepts are discussed. The most important concept for the reader to identify was how society viewed the use of the bomb. Many people, including survivors, have chosen to look past the bomb itself, into the deeper issues the bomb represents. The same should apply to us. Since WWII, we have set up many restrictions, protocols and preventions in the hope that we could spare our society from total nuclear war. The world has benefited in our perspective of the bomb because we learned, understand, and fear the use of atomic weapons.

Some rationales for religious or moral opposition for the bomb's is interpreted the development of the atomic bomb as being the end of the world. The destructive power of the weapon made possible the apocalypse prophesied in the bible. A Manhattan scientist wrote, "humanity stands on a tiny ledge above the abyss of annihilation.” In 1949 Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, conducting a revival in Los Angeles at the same time President Harry S. Turman revealed that the Soviet Union also possessed the atomic bomb, urged people to repent their sins immediately. Most religious interpreters viewed the development of the atomic bomb as an occasion for increased humility. Niebuhr stressed the paradox of the bombs development that the greatest technological achievement of humanity quite possibly could lead to extension. Richard M. Fagley, was a member of the Federal council of churches. He wrote “just a durable peace”, just two months after the bombs were dropped in Japan. The fate of the world, he said, depends upon the ability of the moral and religious forces. It led religious practionors in two totally different directions: toward moral judgement of self and regeneration and toward social activism to prevent any wars in the future. Those responses would be important in the future. Possibly becoming a permanent part of American culture as a whole. "As the power that first used the atomic bomb under these

And what about the other crazy things the dead man wrote? Like the three other bombs and the Norreach Program? Are those bombs real? Is this place really going to go nuclear? Or is it all just a dead man’s nightmare?

On July 16, 1945, the nuclear bomb was first tested in the United States in a desert in New Mexico. The test of the first nuclear bomb started the tensions that arose to the Cold War and it was capable of huge destruction that is detrimental to the human race. Since this day forward, there has been a common response and attitude from the public that has a theme of fear. The test of the nuclear bomb changed war and everyday life completely. Nuclear war has the power to end civilization completely.

“My clothes were burnt and so was my skin. I was in rags. I had braided my hair, but now it was like a lion’s mane. There were people, barely breathing, trying to push their intestines back in. People with their legs wrenched off. Without heads. Or with faces burned and swollen out of shape. The scene I saw was a living hell.” (Michiko 385). A civilian who was exposed to the atomic bomb, Yamamoka Michiko, reflects on the scene she so devastatingly was a part of the day the bomb was dropped. Her description of the cities ruins gives us an idea of just how brutal and horrific the nuclear weapon turned to be. Not only did the United States privately construct such a ruthless weapon, but also used the Atomic Bomb as an unfortunate way to instantaneously end WWII. The United States’ decision to bomb Japan was seen as directed against the Soviet Union because during this time, Stalin had moved troops to the far East in order to enter war with Japan to secure and strengthen a soviet strategic position for combat. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is seen as an unnecessary war crime because allied nations were making moves to prepare to defeat Japan. Though nations such as the Soviet Union worked vigorously to defeat Japan, the United States wanted to end the war quickly while letting other nations know the they were in charge due to their possession of the world’s first nuclear weapon.

He said “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” (Oppenheimer, Robert). If I were the creator of the atomic bomb I would have felt the same way. I would have not forgiven myself for creating such a destructive weapon. I would have guilty for the rest of my life. Henry J.M. Nouwen said “ the thought that human beings are considering saving lives by killing millions of their fellow human beings is so preposterous that the words ‘saving life’ have lost all of their meaning. One of the most tragic facts of our century is that ‘NO’ to nuclear weapons has been spoken so seldom, so softly, and by so few” (Nouwen, Henri

After a successful test of atomic bomb, Oppenheimer quoted the Bhagavad Gita saying “Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds. In the story, By the Waters of Babylon by Stephen Vincent Benet, the main character John learns of the downfall of pervious society that ended due to nuclear warfare. Nuclear warfare began around the 1940s, which would be right around when this story was written; which, more likely than note, had an influence on this story. In By the Waters of Babylon the reader learns about the “Place of the Gods”.

Only a small circle of scientists and officials knew about the development of the atomic bomb. On July 16, 1945, at Trinity Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico, scientists of the Manhattan Project readied themselves to watch the detonation of the first atomic bomb. No one was ready for the result. A mushroom cloud reached 40,000 feet, blowing out windows of civilian homes up to 100 miles away. When the cloud returned to earth it created a crater half a mile wide. A cover-up story was released, explaining that a huge ammunition dump had just exploded in the desert. The Manhattan Project was a success, “a [success] beyond the most optimistic expectations of anyone”, and the United States now had the ultimate advantage. According to General L. R. Groves, “the successful development of the Atomic Fission Bomb [would] provide the United States with a weapon of tremendous power [that would] be a decisive factor in winning the present war more quickly with a saving in American lives and treasure.” The world had now entered the nuclear

Since its origin in 1948, North Korea has been isolated and heavily armed, with hostile relations with South Korea and Western countries. It has developed a capability to produce short- and medium-range missiles, chemical weapons, and possibly biological and nuclear weapons. In December 2002, Pyongyang lifted the freeze on its plutonium-based nuclear weapons program and expelled IAEA inspectors who had been monitoring the freeze under the Agreed Framework of October 1994. As the Bush administration was arguing its case at the United Nations for disarming Iraq, the world has been hit with alarming news of a more menacing threat: North Korea has an advanced nuclear weapons program that, U.S. officials believe, has already produced one or

“Now, I am become death the destroyer of worlds”(Oppenheimer, J. Robert, July 16, 1945). Robert Oppenheimer said this famous quote after the successful atomic bomb testing in New Mexico as part as the Manhattan project on July 16, 1945. That day marked a very important day in history that led to the end of the war with Japan. This was nearly an idea when Einstein came up with the theory of E=MC². Then, as the war progressed, the idea became more and more of a reality. As it did, the Germans pushed to make the bomb first and get the equation from Einstein. He thought it would not be in the right hands if it went to them, so he came to the Americans. The Americans started working on the bomb after speculation by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“I have to bring to your notice a terrifying reality: with the development of nuclear weapons Man has acquired, for the first time in history, the technical means to destroy the whole of civilization in a single act.”- Joseph Rotblat. After the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, forcing Japan to surrender on the 14, people finally got to see the pure and utter destruction that a nuclear bomb had the potential of. Seeing this power, the United States and the USSR fought for supremacy in nuclear warfare in a competition called the Arms Race. Nobody, however, really understood how much a nuclear detonation could affect a society not only physically, but socially, politically and medically as well.

Pelgrane continues to be innovative and the forefront of interesting Cthulhu’s End Times arrives. There have been a few stabs at it before but either as a monograph which merely located action to Mars and Earth being a paradise that was lost to humanity, which always struck me, as a brilliant SF setting (hence, my deep love for Cthulhu Rising) but not terribly well supported (alas, such is the nature of the monograph project) or TOME’s End of the World, which fed into 1970s theories of catastrophism (some GOO coming to wipe out humanity). And, yes, there have been supplements and adventures in between but Cthulhu has always taken the approach that investigators are the brave Hans Brinkers who stick their thumbs in the dike to save the day, usually at great pains to their health and sanity. However, what happens when the whole bleedin’ dike comes crashing down on top of you. That is the End Times. Pelgrane has ventured into this apocalyptic (and post-apocalyptic) milieu with this very product, but, perhaps, because they are British with its long tradition of cozy catastrophes, it is a milder and gentler form of calamity. This is a sourcebook that incorporates and edits the series of adventures that had previously been available only as PDFs and unites them into a