It depends on the nuclear war. An exchange of bombs between India and Pakistan probably wouldn’t end human life on the planet. However an all-out war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R in the 1980s most certainly could have. Fortunately that doesn’t seem to be a big risk right now. 30 years ago it was. I don’t feel confident in any predictions one way or the other about whether this might be a threat again 30 years from now.
Because all the evidence I’ve read or heard (most of it back in the 1980s) agreed on this. Specifically in a likely exchange between the U.S. and the USSR the northern, hemisphere would have been rendered completely uninhabitable within days. Humanity in the southern hemisphere would probably have lasted somewhat longer, but still would have been destroyed by nuclear winter and radiation. Details depend on the exact distribution of targets.
Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 2 relatively small fission weapons. By the 1980s the USSR and the US each had enough much bigger fusion bombs to individually destroy the planet. The only question was how many each would use in an exchange and where they target them.
It depends on the nuclear war. An exchange of bombs between India and Pakistan probably wouldn’t end human life on the planet. However an all-out war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R in the 1980s most certainly could have. Fortunately that doesn’t seem to be a big risk right now. 30 years ago it was. I don’t feel confident in any predictions one way or the other about whether this might be a threat again 30 years from now.
Why do you think this?
Because all the evidence I’ve read or heard (most of it back in the 1980s) agreed on this. Specifically in a likely exchange between the U.S. and the USSR the northern, hemisphere would have been rendered completely uninhabitable within days. Humanity in the southern hemisphere would probably have lasted somewhat longer, but still would have been destroyed by nuclear winter and radiation. Details depend on the exact distribution of targets.
Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 2 relatively small fission weapons. By the 1980s the USSR and the US each had enough much bigger fusion bombs to individually destroy the planet. The only question was how many each would use in an exchange and where they target them.
This is mostly out of line with what I’ve read. Do you have references?