Seventy-five years ago, the nuclear age began with the world’s first nuclear weapons test explosion in the New Mexico desert.

In this annotated “silent film”-style video essay from the Arms Control Association, we learn about the events that transpired three weeks later with the atomic attacks on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

A more detailed history of the geopolitical, environmental, and humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, the rise of a global disarmament movement, and the work of the hibakusha (survivors of the nuclear attacks) is available in a special free issue of Arms Control Today, available by clicking here.

~The Arms Control Association, founded in 1971, is a national nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies. To learn more, click here to visit their website.