This is the first in a series of posts about nuclear deterrence.

Although there are records of witch burning in Europe since very early, there was a peak in the 17th century. Manuals on witch hunting including the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of the Witches) were printed, witch hunters appointed and many people (mainly women) were hanged and burnt.

Witches must have been seen as a real threat and witch hunts seen as necessary to preserve our civilisation.

Now we see other causes of bad weather, crop failures and disease.

Could it be that many people today hold the idea that nuclear weapons are necessary to ‘keep the peace’ in the same way that many people in the 17th century believed in the necessity of witch burning. That the volumes of papers written on the theory of nuclear deterrence are equivalent to the Malleus Maleficarum.

Here are the first four posts:

• Nuclear Weapons: Keeping the peace for 60 years?
• Nuclear Weapons: Ending The War With Japan
• Nuclear Deterrence: Cuban Missile Crisis
• Deterrence: Terrorists