For more than forty years, the threat of nuclear armageddon loomed over the world and only faded from consciousness after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the implosion of the Soviet Union. Although the threat of nuclear war no longer occupies public attention, other threats have emerged to replace it. The Cold War left a legacy for the United States, the Soviet Union and the entire world. Although some may argue that the negative effects of the Cold War outweigh the positive effects, it had both positive and negative aspects. Living in fear is not something anyone wants to experience. Especially when that fear is as drastic as nuclear war. Not only death, but the possibility of the annihilation of the entire human race was within reach throughout the Cold War. The legacy of nuclear war left by the Cold War will never disappear. On November 16, 1952, the United States dropped the first hydrogen bomb on a point slightly north of Runit Island. The bomb was dropped by a B-36H bomber and was thousands of times more powerful than most atomic bombs. The following year, the Soviet Union conducted its first test, and by the early 1970s, seven other countries had passed their own tests. There are four stages after the explosion of a nuclear bomb. The first is called Flash and Fireball, which is the effect of flashing as bright as the sun and immediately burning objects nearly nine miles away. About three kilometers away, deadly X-ray pulses are sent. People about 50 miles from the bomb will be blinded if they watch the unfolding fireball, and those about 6.2 miles away will be extremely burned. The next stage of the nuclear bomb is nicknamed the explosion. It occurs at the same time as Flash and Fir...... middle of paper ......014.Takakura, Akiko, Taeko Teramae, Hiroko Fukada, Mamoru Yukihiro, Akira Onogi, Akihiro Takahashi, Isao Kita, and Hiroshi Sawachika. “This is what it feels like to be the victim of a nuclear attack.” Interview. Gizmodo. Gizmodo, August 6, 2010. Web. May 17, 2014. .Other sources: “Stages of explosion of a nuclear bomb”. Fox News. FOX News Network, March 8, 2001. Web. April 27, 2014. “US Tests First Hydrogen Bomb.” » History.com. A&E Television Networks, and Web. April 26, 2014. “When We Tested Nuclear Bombs.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, May 6, 2011. Web. April 27, 2014. "November 1, 1952 | First Hydrogen Bomb Test." The Learning Network November 1, 1952 Comments on the first hydrogen bomb test. New York Times, November 1, 2011. Web. May 27, 2014. “Types of Nuclear Bombs.” PBS. PBS, May 2, 2005. web. May 26 2014.