The Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) was the only structure left standing at the site where the first atomic bomb exploded on Aug. 6, 1945. It has been left in its state of ruin as a constant reminder of the losses experienced with nuclear warfare. The memorial was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. Credit: © Luciano Mortula, Shutterstock

April 11, 2016

This morning, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Japan. Kerry is the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the memorial, which honors the victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945. He called the visit a “gut-wrenching” reminder of the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Kerry is among the international foreign ministers in Hiroshima to begin the Group of Seven (G7) annual summit. In late May, U.S. President Barack Obama will attend further G7 meetings elsewhere in Japan, and he may visit Hiroshima as well. No sitting U.S. president has ever visited the city.

On Aug. 6, 1945, a U.S. Army plane, the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, on August 9, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. These were the first and last times that nuclear weapons were used in warfare. The United States dropped the bombs to convince Japan to surrender—and it worked. World War II (1939-1945) unofficially ended a few days later with Japan’s agreement to stop fighting on August 14. The official surrender came on September 2.

Other World Book article

• Japan (1945-a Back in time article)
• World War II (1945-a Back in time article) 

July 29, 2014

The European Union today adopted new economic sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. The latest sanctions are designed to target Russia’s all-important oil sector as well as limit Russian access to Western defense equipment and sensitive technologies. EU banks are also likely to restrict Russian access to European capital, that is, bar Russia’s biggest state-owned banks from selling stock or long-term debt on European markets.

This latest round of EU sanctions was made in response to the downing of flight Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, which resulted in the deaths of all 298 passengers and crew members. The United States and its European allies have declared that Russian-backed separatist rebels almost certainly shot the plane down with a Russian surface-to-air missile. Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to deny charges that Russia is supplying heavy weapons to the separatist rebels.

Heavy fighting between the Ukrainian army and separatist rebels near the city of Donetsk has prevented an international team from investigating the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

Intense fighting between the rebels and the Ukrainian military in eastern Ukraine has kept an international team of investigators from gaining access to the crash site. United States Secretary of State John Kerry said this morning that there has been “no shred of evidence” that Putin is willing to help end the deadly conflict between the Ukraine separatists and the Ukrainian government and warned that further U.S. sanctions are being contemplated in Washington, D.C.

For additional information on the Ukrainian crisis, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book articles:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)
• Ukraine 2013 (a Back in Time article)

June 23, 2014

United States Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Baghdad today to discuss the military crisis in Iraq. Sunni militants, including jihadist forces known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), have gained control of large areas of northern and western Iraq. In the past two days, militants captured four towns in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province—Anah, Qaim, Rawa, and Rutba. They also captured the airport in Tal Afar—situated between the town of Mosul (which was captured by militants two weeks ago) and the Syrian border. Other territory gained includes: a dam near Haditha that is important to Iraq’s electrical grid; Iraq’s enormous Baiji oil refinery, 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Baghdad; and border crossings between Iraq and both Syria and Jordan.

Experts report that approximately 70 percent of Iraq's Anbar province, bordering both Syria and Jordan, has been captured by Sunni militants in 2014 (World Book map).

Iraq is in grave danger of breaking apart. Sectarian tensions in Iraq between Sunni and Shi`ite Muslims have greatly escalated over the past months. During the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, who ruled from 1979 to 2003, Iraq’s Shi`ia majority was politically powerless. When a government was formed in 2006 with Nouri Maliki, a Shi’ite, as prime minister, experts on the Middle East strongly encouraged the new prime minister to make his government inclusive of both Sunnis and Shi’ites. Most experts agree that Maliki did not reach out to include Sunnis in the decision-making process in Iraq. The uprising of Sunnis in Anbar province began at the end of 2013. In January 2014, Sunni militants gained control of both Ramadi and Fallujah.

The disintegration of Iraq has repercussions far past the nation’s own borders. With Sunni militants now in control of border crossings into Syria, military experts fear that supply lines can easily be created between Syria and Iraq. In the civil war in Syria, ISIS has seized territory in Syria and fights against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.  Supply lines between Iraq and Syria would increase the ability of Sunni militants to aid anti-government forces in Syria. ISIS hopes to create a new nation in Sunni-dominated areas of Iraq and Syria.

After meeting with Prime Minister Maliki for some 90 minutes, Secretary of State Kerry assured the government of Iraq of continued U.S. support, providing the Iraqis agreed to form a new and more inclusive government by July 1. Kerry stated,  “The future of Iraq depends on decisions made in the next few days and weeks.” About 300 U.S. military advisers are being sent to Iraq later this week.

Additional World Book articles:

• Iraq War
• Kurdistan
• Iraq 2012 (a Back in Time article)
• Iraq 2013 (a Back in Time article)
• Syria 2013 (a Back in Time article)

June 18, 2014

As much as 75 percent of Iraq’s enormous Baiji oil refinery, 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Baghdad, reportedly fell to Sunni militants this morning. Forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) had surrounded the refinery for the past week, battling with a battalion of the Iraqi army that that was backed by helicopter gunships. The Baiji refinery is the largest in Iraq. Its capture deprives the Iraq government of an important source of fuel and provides the insurgents with a potentially lucrative source of income. Besides the refinery, the Baiji complex includes a 600-megawatt power plant, which supplies electric power to much of northern Iraq.

On June 16, ISIS militants seized the small city of Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq. Responding to the situation, the United States Department of Defense ordered the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, accompanied by two warships, to the Persian Gulf.

U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry (U.S. Senate)

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran. (The Office of Hassan Rouhani)

In Washington, D.C., on Monday, Secretary of State John F. Kerry stated that the United States was open to working with Iran to help stop the insurgents’ advances in Iraq. In Tehran, the Iranian capital, President Hassan Rouhani declared that his government would not rule out working with the United States to try to stabilize Iraq: “We have said that all countries must unite in combating terrorism.” Iran, a close ally of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shi`ite-led government, has reportedly sent members of the Revolutionary Guards, an elite military force, into Iraq to help al-Maliki fight the Sunni militants.

Additional World Book articles:

• Iraq War
• Kurdistan
• Iraq 2012 (a Back in Time article)
• Iraq 2013 (a Back in Time article)
• Syria 2013 (a Back in Time article)

March 11, 2014

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry today rejected an offer to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the crisis in Ukraine. Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Russia’s military intervention in Crimea had made any negotiations extremely difficult.

Yesterday, the Putin government accused right-wing militants and Ukraine’s new pro-Western government of spreading “chaos” across the eastern part of the country. In a statement issued to the media, Russia said it was outraged “by the chaos which is currently ruling in eastern regions of Ukraine,” allegedly by masked gunmen attacking pro-Russian demonstrators. Crimea as well as eastern Ukraine is largely populated with Russian-speaking people with close cultural ties to Russia. Western Ukraine is largely populated with Ukrainian-speaking people who want Ukraine allied with the European Union (EU).

President Vladimir Putin  (AP/Wide World)

Secretary of State John Kerry (U.S. Senate)

International affairs experts voiced fears that Putin may use the accusation as a pretext for further Russian intervention in Ukraine, widening the current crisis. The statement was issued one day after the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Ukraine’s interim prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, will meet with the president in Washington tomorrow.

The unrest in Ukraine began on November 21 when then-President Viktor Yanukovych backed out of proposed political and free trade accords with the EU that would have effectively moved the country away from Russia. Russia has dominated Ukraine on and off  for more than 200 years. Because of its fertile soil, Ukraine was once described as Russia’s breadbasket.

Additional World Book articles:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)
• Ukraine 1994 (a Back in Time article)

March 5, 2014

United States Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of key European Union (EU) member nations meet in Paris with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to try to resolve the political crisis in Ukraine. Earlier, the EU offered Ukraine an €11-billion ($15-billion) aid package. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso stated that the package of grants and loans was “designed to assist a committed, inclusive, and reforms-oriented government” in Ukraine. The Ukrainian finance ministry has calculated that it needs €25.5 billion ($35 billion) to keep the economy from default. Officials from Russia and NATO were also scheduled to meet in Brussels.

Yesterday, Secretary Kerry visited Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and offered the Ukrainian government $1-billion in loan guarantees and pledges of technical assistance.  Also on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin held a press conference in Moscow which he defended his government’s military occupation of Crimea, the southernmost region of Ukraine. Putin characterized the collapse of the government Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych “as an unconstitutional coup.” He also expressed contempt toward the United States government, which he declared had interfered in Ukraine “from across the pond in America as if they were sitting in a laboratory and running experiments on rats, without any understanding of the consequences.”

John Kerry (U.S. Senate)

President Putin said that he saw no reason for Russian forces to intervene in eastern Ukraine at the moment but “reserves the right to use all means at our disposal to protect” Russian speakers in the country’s south and east if they are threatened. While in Kiev, Secretary Kerry disputed the idea that ethnic Russians in Ukraine are in danger. Surveying a series of improvised memorials where protesters opposed to what was then Ukraine’s pro-Russian government were gunned down,  he said, “Here in the streets today I didn’t see anybody who feels threatened except for the potential of an invasion by Russia.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)
• Ukraine 1994 (a Back in Time article)

March 3, 2014

Russia reportedly has demanded the surrender of Ukrainian forces in Crimea. There are reports that the Russian military has given Ukrainian forces in Crimea an ultimatum to surrender tonight by 10:00 pm EST or face a full military assault. With Russian troops surrounding Ukrainian bases and airports and manning roadblocks that have cut Ukrainian access to the peninsula, Russia is, in effect, already in control of Crimea, the southern most region of Ukraine.

After already having ordered thousands of troops into Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin on March 1 received  authorization from the Russian parliament to deploy armed forces “on Ukrainian territory.” Correspondents reported that the road from Sevastopol to Simferopol, the provincial capital, quickly filled with Russian army trucks.

Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, subsequently announced that he had put Ukraine’s armed forces on full readiness because of “potential aggression” from the estimated 15,000 Russian troops crossing into Crimea.

In a heated, 90-minute telephone conversation on March 1, President Putin informed U.S. President Barack Obama that Russia had the right to protect its interests and those of Russian speakers not only in Crimea but also in east Ukraine. After the conversation, President Obama expressed his deep concern over Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, which he characterized as  a “breach of international law.”

President Vladimir Putin sent thousands of Russian troops into neighboring Crimea, the southernmost region of Ukriane.(AP/Wide World)

In a video address on her website, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko declared on March 2 that by occupying Crimea, Russia has effectively “declared war” on the United Kingdom and the United States. According to Tymoshenko, British and U.S. representatives in 1994 signed the “Budapest Memorandum” guaranteeing Ukraine’s security. “Vladimir Putin is fully conscious that by declaring war, he is also declaring war on the guarantors of our security, the United States and Britain,” she noted.

European Union foreign ministers went into session today in Brussels to discuss possible punitive steps against Russia unless it pulls its troops back to its own bases in Crimea. British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Russia to pull back its forces in Crimea or face “significant costs,” echoing comments made by U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. “The world cannot just allow this to happen,” Hague told the BBC. “The world cannot say it’s O.K. in effect to violate the sovereignty of another nation in this way.” However, the governments of France and Germany have made it plain that the imposition of economic sanctions on Russia is not on the table, let alone a military intervention. International affairs experts note that much of the European Union is highly dependent on Russian oil and natural gas.  In 2007, EU countries imported from Russia 32.6 percent of their total oil imports and 38.7 percent of total natural gas imports.

The people of Ukraine are split over their attitudes toward East and West. Crimea as well as eastern Ukraine is largely populated with Russian-speaking people with close historic and cultural ties to Russia. Western Ukraine is largely populated with Ukrainian-speaking people who want Ukraine allied with the European Union and the West. Today, pro-Russian demonstrators marched in the streets of the big cities of eastern Ukraine, voicing their allegiance to Moscow. In the city of Donetsk, about 1,000 demonstrators, waving Russian flags and shouting, “Putin, come!” occupied the first floor of the regional government building that has already been flying the Russian flag for several days.

Additional World Book articles:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)
• Ukraine 1994 (a Back in Time article)

November 24, 2013

United States Secretary of State John Kerry has announced that Iran and the international community have reached a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, claiming it will make Israel and the Middle East a safer place. Secretary Kerry characterizes the pact as “a first step in making sure Iran could not have nuclear weapons.”

Iran has agreed, for a limited period, to curb some of its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of some international economic sanctions. Iran has also agreed to stop enriching (concentrating) uranium to create material with more than 5-percent U-235 and to dilute (weaken) much of its existing stores of 20-percent U-235 to 5 percent. Natural uranium contains 0.7 percent of an isotope of uranium known as U-235. U-235 is the only natural isotope of uranium whose nucleus (core) can easily be made to undergo fission—that is, to split into two nearly equal parts. The fission process releases the nuclear energy used in power plants and weapons. Most nuclear reactors at power plants in the United States use fuel that contains about 2- to 4-percent U-235. Nuclear weapons and the reactors for nuclear-powered ships require uranium with concentrations of about 90-percent U-235.

The agreement bars Iran from adding new centrifuges and capping or, in some cases, eliminating, stockpiles of uranium. (Centrifuges are rapidly spinning tubes used to enrich uranium.) In addition, Iran promised to open its nuclear facilities to unprecedented “daily” inspections.

The deal was condemned by the government of Israel as a “historic mistake” that rewards Iran while getting nothing in return. (Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly vowed that Iran would “eliminate the Zionist regime,” referring to Israel.)

International affairs experts suggest that the agreement, in fact, presents President Barack Obama with the opportunity to steer a new American course in the Middle East for the first time since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. They point out that after 34 years of estrangement, the United States and Iran have signed a diplomatic accord that opens the door to further progress. “No matter what you think of it, this is a historic deal,” stated Vali R. Nasr–dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies–in an interview with The New York Times. “It is a major seismic shift in the region. It rearranges the entire chess board.”

October 11, 2013

The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “for its extensive efforts” to rid the world of such arsenals. “The conventions and the work of the OPCW have defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law,” declared Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland in the announcement. “Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons.”

The OPCW, based in The Hague, Netherlands, was established to enforce the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which has contributed to the destruction of nearly 80 percent of the world’s stockpile of chemical weapons. OPCW inspectors are currently overseeing the dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons–the first time OPCW inspectors have worked in an active war zone.

A United Nations inspector examines dismantled equipment used during the 1980's and 1990's in Iraq's chemical weapons program. (Reuters/Getty Images)

In late September, Syria began reporting details of its chemical weapons stockpile as part of a U.S.-Russia brokered deal. The deal–a framework for a plan to secure and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons by mid-2014–was brokered on September 14 by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. It specified that Syria was to submit a “comprehensive listing, including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents. . . .  .”  Among other provisions, Syria must also give United Nations inspectors, scheduled to be on the ground by November, “immediate and unfettered” access to all chemical weapons storage, production, research, and development sites.

The deal put on hold the threat of a U.S. military strike against Syria for allegedly using chemical agents in an attack on August 21. The attack left more than 1,400 Syrians dead, including hundreds of children. In a nationally televised address, President Barack Obama argued that the United States had a moral obligation to consider a military strike against Syria for the alleged chemical attack. “Our ideals and principles, as well as our national security, are at stake in Syria,” the president declared.

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab Spring
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria: The Roots of Rebellion (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Syria 2012 (a Back in Time article)

September 20, 2013

Syria has begun reporting details of its stockpile of chemical weapons as part of a U.S.-Russia brokered deal, confirms the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a watchdog group based in The Hague, Netherlands. OPCW officials add that while more details from Syria are expected in the coming days, Syria is obviously going to miss its September 21 deadline to provide a full list of its chemical arms.

The deal–a framework for a plan to secure and destroy Syria’s stock of chemical weapons by mid-2014–was brokered on September 14 by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. It specified that Syria had until September 21 to submit a “comprehensive listing, including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents . . .”  Among other provisions, Syria must also give United Nations inspectors, scheduled to be on the ground by November, “immediate and unfettered” access to all chemical weapons storage, production, research, and development sites.

A United Nations inspector examines dismantled equipment used during the 1980′s and 1990′s in Iraq’s chemical weapons program. (Reuters/Getty Images)

The deal put on hold the threat of a U.S. military strike against Syria for allegedly using chemical agents in an attack on Aug. 21, 2013. The attack left more than 1,400 Syrians dead, including hundreds of children. In a nationally televised address, President Barack Obama argued that the United States had a moral obligation to consider a military strike against Syria for the alleged chemical attack. “Our ideals and principles, as well as our national security, are at stake in Syria,” the president declared.

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab Spring
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria: The Roots of Rebellion (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Syria 2012 (a Back in Time article)