Nuclear war through the eyes of modern Russian science fiction writers
One of the important problems that worried society after the Second World War was the danger of nuclear war. The image of the end of the world as a result of a man-made catastrophe, the cause of which was the struggle of states for geopolitical dominance, was repeatedly reproduced in science fiction literature of the late XNUMXth - first half of the XNUMXst century.
Modern apocalypticism is a transgenre that is developing in parallel primarily in fiction and cinema. Post-apocalypse has become an equally popular genre today. His appearance was absolutely natural.
Firstly, it is dictated by the natural desire of writers to comprehend not only the causes, but also the possible consequences of a global catastrophe.
Secondly, post-apocalyptic literature becomes a kind of completion of the traditions of dystopias, since it shows a society that has reached the “point of no return” [1].
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction describes events that occur during a planetary catastrophe (meteor impact, nuclear war, epidemic, etc.) or shortly after it. The death of humanity from epidemics was first described in M. Shelley’s novel “The Last Man” and J. London’s story “The Scarlet Plague.” The threat of nuclear war in the mid-twentieth century stimulated the creation of many literary works and popular films about humanity forced to survive in extremely difficult conditions [4].
According to the latest scientific assessments, any large-scale military conflict involving nuclear weapons could lead to nuclear winter, and global climate change could lead to the death of most living beings. Extreme cold, high levels of radiation and widespread destruction of infrastructure will cause mass deaths from radiation exposure, starvation and disease. It is also believed that nitrogen oxides produced by the explosions will destroy the ozone layer.
In modern Russian science fiction there is no shortage of works that would describe a nuclear conflict. However, the quality of some works on this topic is quite low, for this reason books like “Metro 2033” by Glukhovsky, where outright nonsense occurs, will not be considered. The author focused on two science fiction novels, where nuclear war is described in more or less detail, and its consequences are also described in detail (and with a certain degree of reliability).
These are “To Each His Own” by Sergei Tarmashev (former GRU officer) and “Black Day” by Alexei Doronin. Both works are part of cycles, but we will not touch on subsequent books in the cycle.
Issues related, firstly, to the causes of the conflict (as the authors see it), and secondly, to what a nuclear war would actually look like and what its consequences would be, will be considered. Thirdly, the behavior of people in extreme situations.
“To each his own” by Tarmashev – nuclear war over the last oil field
The actions of Sergei Tarmashev’s novel “To Each His Own” take place in 2111, at the same time as his first book “Ancient. Catastrophe". By this time, oil and gas reserves on the planet were practically depleted. There was only one deep-sea shelf left where there was still oil, and it was the source of constant political disputes.
The author, through the mouth of one of the main characters, Anton Ovechkin (a rather vile person), explains that, despite the fact that almost all cars by that time were already running on electric motors rather than gasoline, “black gold” was still in demand. Because oil is not only gasoline and fuel, but also plastics, rubbers, tar, polyethylene, detergents, varnishes, solvents, dyes, fertilizers, plastic bottles and even medicines - for example, aspirin is made from oil, for this reason that acetylsalicylic acid is produced from phenol, and phenol is isolated from crude oil refining products. In addition, protein is made from petroleum products, which is used in food production; it replaces protein of animal origin.
Thus, humanity cannot do without oil.
Cause of nuclear war there is a struggle for scarce resources. In August 2111, the world's last oil field, located on the Pacific shelf and jointly exploited by UN member countries, was captured by terrorists. The presence of nuclear warheads in the hands of terrorists horrified the international community. While the UN Security Council was deciding how to reach a compromise, the United States single-handedly, without informing anyone, launched an assault on the shelf [2].
During the assault, the terrorists managed to detonate one of the two nuclear charges and destroy eight of the nine mining platforms. However, the reservoir of the field was not directly damaged. The states seized the shelf, announced the UN’s inability to secure the world’s only deposit, on which the economy of the entire civilization depends, and announced that they were now taking this burden upon themselves [2].
The US decision caused a storm of indignation throughout the world, and China even accused the Americans of staging a terrorist seizure with the aim of usurping the shelf. In China, they generally announced mobilization, announced that they did not recognize the usurpation of the shelf by the States, and declared that they were sending two of their planes to fly over in accordance with the norms of the UN Security Council, established even before the terrorist attack. The Americans immediately shot them down and notified that if anyone violated the twelve-mile shelf zone, the States would deprive them of the right to develop the field [2].
Next, China and the Arab Coalition sent their fleets to the shelf and promised to open fire in case of new acts of aggression from the United States. At the same time, Russia reports that Moscow will be faithful to its allied duty and in case of aggression will provide assistance to its allies, but the warships of the Russian fleet will not cross the boundaries of the twelve-mile zone.
The confrontation over the last oil fields ended with the opposing fleets exchanging nuclear strikes. Moreover, not all missiles were intended for ships - some flew towards Beijing and Tehran. This event became the “point of no return.” Soon after this, the Minister of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation addressed the Russians with a statement about the start of the evacuation - he called on people to report to the nearest civil defense facility and have a change of clothes, a set of bed linen and dry rations with them.
One of the main characters of the novel, A. Ovechkin, like most Muscovites who followed the news, immediately, having collected the essentials, went to the nearest metro station.
Description of nuclear war itself Tarmashev devoted quite a lot of lines. First, communications and the Internet are lost in the city. Then air defense begins to work in the sky above Moscow, and somewhere far away the first explosion occurs. After this, the crowd that had gathered in line at the metro rushes down to seek salvation. A brutal stampede ensues, hundreds of people are trampled to death even before an airborne thermonuclear munition explodes directly above the Foreign Ministry skyscraper.
This is how one of the eyewitnesses in the novel describes it:
“I stood in line in the subway. There were about ten meters to the entrance when flashes began to sparkle in the sky, far on the horizon. There were many of them, and everywhere at once. Someone shouted that it was the air defense that was shooting down the missiles, and a stampede began. The police gave electric shocks, and the crowd seemed to calm down, but then something flashed from the direction of the embankment. You couldn't see anything behind the houses. It must have happened far away, because the roar came about five seconds later. The impact was deafening, and everyone rushed into the subway, crushing each other. I was so squeezed that my legs were lifted off the ground, and the suitcase was torn out of my hands, only the handle remained in my fist. I couldn’t breathe, my vision was blurry. The crowd carried me into the subway!” [2]
The Smolenskaya station on the blue line, where the main characters of the novel are located - former special forces soldier Oleg Porfiryev and Anton Ovechkin with his family - is actually buried under rubble, since the shock wave crushed the entrance to the metro.
“Powerful explosions caused catastrophic displacements of the soil, and the adjacent underground tunnels collapsed like paper. Those that were a little further away partially collapsed and were partially buried. Their shelter was also damaged. The Smolenskaya station avoided collapse; the ceiling vaults suffered several large cracks, but generally survived. The Plyushchikha station collapsed, and hundreds of people were crushed by tons of collapsed rock" [2].
A nuclear war in Tarmashev’s work lasts for several days, as long as the warring parties have something to shoot, because everyone is trying to make sure that the enemy suffers maximum losses. In the first wave, everyone tried to send missiles from silos and other points that were the oldest, and therefore well known. Because then all that will remain from these mines are radioactive craters. The bunkers are attacked with special ammunition.
“Everyone tried to make the first wave the most massive; it was designed to maximally load the enemy’s air defense systems and thereby increase the effectiveness of the second wave. Stationary missile systems and strategic aviation. When only a few minutes remained before the arrival of the first wave, and air defense systems had already been distributed to targets, everyone who could played their most dangerous card: missile submarines. Submarines launched missiles directly off the enemy’s coast, the flight time was minimal, and it was impossible to intercept everything...
The missile defense systems failed. No one has. The whole world was bombarded with thermonuclear hail. And now the survivors of this hail, or rather, those still surviving, the mobile launchers that managed to be removed from their base areas just before the strike, were launching. For the civilian population, if there is any left anywhere, this blow will be especially terrible. Because there is nothing and no one to reflect it” [2],
The missile defense systems failed. No one has. The whole world was bombarded with thermonuclear hail. And now the survivors of this hail, or rather, those still surviving, the mobile launchers that managed to be removed from their base areas just before the strike, were launching. For the civilian population, if there is any left anywhere, this blow will be especially terrible. Because there is nothing and no one to reflect it” [2],
– this is how one of the main anti-heroes of the cycle, Colonel of the Strategic Missile Forces Dmitry Brilyov, describes a nuclear war.
When, a few days later, Porfiryev, Ovechkin and several other people make their way out from under the rubble of the Moscow metro and come to the surface to understand what is happening and find shelter (for life at the metro station is becoming unbearable), there is a continuous wall of dust, temperature, despite the summer, it drops to +4 °C, and Geiger counters reach 999 roentgens per hour (in fact, the background is even higher)*.
*Such figures may seem fantastic, but an interesting fact should be cited - the Atomic Energy Commission published a book in 1962, The effects of nuclear weapons, which included on p. 451–453 provides unique information about radioactive contamination in the Marshall Islands as a result of the Bravo test explosion carried out on March 1, 1954. The total power of the explosion was 15 megatons. The explosion resulted in severe contamination of an area along the wind direction with a length of more than 530 km and a width of about 100 km. On a strip 260 km long and 50 km wide along the wind direction, the dose measured over 96 hours exceeded 700 roentgens. And in another explosion, an unexpectedly high dose was recorded on Rongelap Atoll. 160 km from the epicenter of the explosion, the total dose for 96 hours after the start of the fallout of radioactive products was 3 roentgens.
The heroes survive not so much thanks to the emergency suits of the Ministry of Emergency Situations that ended up at the station, but also thanks to the antirad drug, which for some time increases the body's resistance to radiation, but has many side effects.
The author, through the mouth of Porfiryev, explains such an incredibly high radiation background and wall of dust by the fact that more than a hundred nuclear strikes were carried out on Moscow, so the air is clogged with dust right up to the stratosphere, and therefore it cannot settle quickly. As a result, the heroes decide that they will not survive in the metro for long and, together with a group of volunteers, try to leave Moscow and get to the Podzemstroy-1 bunker, built by a Russian oligarch in the Novgorod region at great depths and used mainly for entertaining tourists.
Behavior of people in extreme situations in the work it is quite unsightly, and therefore believable - the strong are trying to steal or take by force supplies from the weaker. For example, the author describes how dark-skinned bearded men who have weapons attack one of the main characters, Porfiryev, and try to take away his backpack, which contains food.
A typical case is when a crowd storms a buffet where the local administration, together with the police, distributed food to those who carried out work on repairing ventilation and a well (which in 2111 is at the station).
“Someone said that the administration was secretly distributing food from the pantry. The crowd rushed there. The administration announced that food would be distributed primarily to the poor who did not have the opportunity to take dry rations with them from home. Of course, absolutely everyone turned out to be poor and unfortunate orphans, including those who were not immediately able to get out of the piles of their suitcases. At first the crowd formed something like a queue, then a rumor spread that there was not enough food and there would not be enough for everyone. And everyone rushed to win a piece for themselves. The police were swept away in a second, now there is a stampede and anarchy” [2].
Afterwards, the same crowd demands that the police go to the surface to get food for them, which runs out. There are only a few people who are ready to help others; most people think only about themselves and, at best, about their families.
Another characteristic detail is that, apparently, in 2111 the overwhelming majority of the population of Moscow are dark-skinned Muslims.
This is where we should complete the review of the novel “To Each His Own” and move on to the consideration of the next work – “Black Day” by A. Doronin.
Doronin’s “Black Day” – the United States launches nuclear strikes on Russia as part of a “humanitarian intervention”
Unlike Tarmashev's work, the action of Doronin's novel begins not in the relatively near future, but in modern times - in 2019 (the novel itself was written in 2008) in Novosibirsk.
Causes of nuclear war the author does not pay much attention - it begins due to the conflict in Ukraine and without a declaration of war as such. Initially, the conflict did not imply either a gradual drawing of forces to the borders, or long bombing of cities, or a debilitating naval blockade.
“The missiles that had performed so well in previous conflicts were given the role of the second echelon. It was not they, nor even their combat companions, who were destined to be the all-crushing fist of democracy. Still, the target was not Somalia or even Serbia.
After much staff research, the Pentagon decided not to reinvent the wheel, but to entrust this honorable mission to medium-range ballistic missiles, thoroughly modified good old Pershing-2, codenamed “Nemesis” and noticeably improved tactical and technical characteristics. Their main advantage was their short flight time - less than five minutes. Computer models showed that their mass launch guaranteed the impossibility of a retaliatory strike with a probability close to one hundred percent.
The Fourth World War - if we count the confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Pact as the third - began in full accordance with the spirit of the times. That is, without declaring war. Why this outdated formality in the 3st century, when enlightened humanity has agreed that the depths belong not to those whose ancestors spread their huts over them, but to those who can pump more out of them?” [XNUMX],
After much staff research, the Pentagon decided not to reinvent the wheel, but to entrust this honorable mission to medium-range ballistic missiles, thoroughly modified good old Pershing-2, codenamed “Nemesis” and noticeably improved tactical and technical characteristics. Their main advantage was their short flight time - less than five minutes. Computer models showed that their mass launch guaranteed the impossibility of a retaliatory strike with a probability close to one hundred percent.
The Fourth World War - if we count the confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Pact as the third - began in full accordance with the spirit of the times. That is, without declaring war. Why this outdated formality in the 3st century, when enlightened humanity has agreed that the depths belong not to those whose ancestors spread their huts over them, but to those who can pump more out of them?” [XNUMX],
– writes Doronin.
Description of nuclear war itself much more attention is paid. As mentioned above, it all starts with the US attempt to carry out a kind of “humanitarian intervention” using precision weapons. In a new type of war, everything is decided not by mobilization capabilities or even megatons of warheads, but by information, coordination, accuracy and speed. And Russia, as the author notes in his work, has problems with this.
First, a high-altitude explosion occurs in the sky above Novosibirsk, which disables all electronics and stalls cars. Then high-precision weapons strike strategically important targets - command centers, Strategic Missile Forces, air bases.
Here's how one of the novel's heroes describes it:
“Ten minutes ago... Presumably a high-altitude explosion. Electromagnetic pulse. There is no energy anywhere, even where there were autonomous generators. The metro is worth it. Nobody knows a damn thing. The administration is not responding, nor is the district headquarters. Perhaps there are already funnels in their place. Do you know the expression “smoking the sky”? Precision weapons...
On the radio, instead of civilian stations, there is gurgling and crackling. There is also almost silence on departmental and military frequencies. On short waves and VHF - not a sound. On long ones, sometimes snippets of negotiations make their way through, but it’s weak and you can’t understand anything.
First, they smashed command centers, air defense, Strategic Missile Forces and aviation to smithereens. And here it would hardly have happened without the “non-peaceful atom”. Then the second-stage military facilities” [3].
On the radio, instead of civilian stations, there is gurgling and crackling. There is also almost silence on departmental and military frequencies. On short waves and VHF - not a sound. On long ones, sometimes snippets of negotiations make their way through, but it’s weak and you can’t understand anything.
First, they smashed command centers, air defense, Strategic Missile Forces and aviation to smithereens. And here it would hardly have happened without the “non-peaceful atom”. Then the second-stage military facilities” [3].
However, the US operation is not going according to plan - several Russian officers at the Yamantau reserve command post managed, moments before they were covered by a cluster of tactical nuclear missiles of the Bunker-buste type, to press the coveted button and send a command to launch nuclear missiles. In addition, the launches were carried out by Russian missile submarines that were on combat duty.
The NORAD system could not cope with the abundance of false targets, and the largest American cities were destroyed. After which the Americans and their submarine fleet struck at bloodless Russia, no longer caring about the mass casualties among the population. The wreckage of Russia and the US unleashed everything they had in an attempt to completely destroy each other.
“And the taiga will burn, and the entire space from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean will turn into a giant bonfire, set on fire from several sides and fueled by new explosions. A patriot could be consoled by the fact that the same thing was happening on the North American continent" [3].
The main character of the novel, Sergei Demyanov, a former employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, on “Day X” was just at the facility number 28-B - in the largest civilian bomb shelter beyond the Urals. On this day, an inspection was supposed to come here. Just when the inspectors descend into the bunker, the first high-altitude explosion occurs and, realizing that war has begun, Demyanov tries to save the maximum number of people.
After a nuclear war, Novosibirsk is completely destroyed and contaminated with radiation, and anarchy reigns throughout the country. Nevertheless, outside the city the level of radiation is not lethal, as in Tarmashev’s work. For example, in the village of Kochenevo, Novosibirsk region, after the end of the nuclear war, refugees are accepted for some time, but soon anarchy begins there, because the remaining supplies are seized by a certain gang.
In “Black Day,” as in “To Each His Own,” nuclear winter also sets in, but in a much milder form. In addition, Doronin notes that the fallout is most likely radioactive (considering that, in addition to nuclear explosions, all nuclear power plants also exploded), but does not develop this topic.
Behavior of people in extreme situations in “Black Bottom” it is also described in sufficient detail. On the surface, the surviving people, who are far from the epicenters of the explosions, are engaged in looting (robbing shops and retail outlets), forming gangs and trying to take resources from others.
For example, one of the heroes of the novel, Alexander Danilov, falls into the hands of three deserters who are engaged in robberies on the roads, and they do not kill him only because he made it up. history about a non-existent cache where a lot of supplies are supposedly hidden.
In the shelter where Demyanov is located, conflicts often occur, including on ethnic grounds - between “indigenous” and “newcomers”. One of the mass fights begins in the queue for the next ration, where the “southerner” who received it in the face calls on his fellow tribesmen to beat the Russians.
The behavior of government officials is also interesting, for example the inspector general who accidentally ends up in the shelter on an ill-fated day. Formally, he is the head of the bunker, but all decisions are made by Demyanov, who has become his deputy, since the general does not want to take responsibility for unpopular decisions, for which he may have to answer according to the law (if the central government survives and the laws come into force again) .
Conclusion
This should conclude the analysis of books about nuclear war by modern Russian science fiction writers. From a scientific point of view, some of the authors’ theses may seem controversial, but we should not forget that debate about the consequences of nuclear war continues in scientific circles.
The fact that a nuclear war can lead to catastrophic consequences is stated, for example, in the scientific article by Professor Alexander Tarko and the head of the sector for modeling climatic and biosphere processes of the Computing Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Parkhomenko “Nuclear winter: history of the issue and forecasts.”
Referring to studies by independent scientists of the USSR and the USA in the 1980s, they note that in the event of a nuclear war, all of Europe, Russia, North America and the Far East region, including Japan and South Korea, would be hit. It is assumed that strikes will also be made against countries not directly involved in the war, with the aim of undermining their economic potential and reducing their importance in the post-war situation.
“Major cities are the primary targets approved by strategic planners in nuclear attacks on industrial facilities that constitute a critical part of the enemy’s defense and economic capabilities.
The fires that arise in cities ("primary" fires) cause extensive "secondary" fires. When many flames from these and other fires combine into one powerful source, a “fire tornado” is formed that can destroy an entire city (as happened after the American bombing of Dresden and Hamburg at the end of World War II).
The intense release of thermal energy in the center of such a gigantic fire lifts huge masses of air upward, at the same time creating hurricane-force winds at the surface of the earth, which supply ever new portions of oxygen to the fire. It is as a result of a “fire tornado” that smoke, dust and soot rising up to the stratosphere form a black cloud that almost completely blocks out the sunlight, and “nuclear night” sets in [5].
The fires that arise in cities ("primary" fires) cause extensive "secondary" fires. When many flames from these and other fires combine into one powerful source, a “fire tornado” is formed that can destroy an entire city (as happened after the American bombing of Dresden and Hamburg at the end of World War II).
The intense release of thermal energy in the center of such a gigantic fire lifts huge masses of air upward, at the same time creating hurricane-force winds at the surface of the earth, which supply ever new portions of oxygen to the fire. It is as a result of a “fire tornado” that smoke, dust and soot rising up to the stratosphere form a black cloud that almost completely blocks out the sunlight, and “nuclear night” sets in [5].
There will also be a significant decrease in atmospheric temperature in the Southern Hemisphere. Calculations showed that dust, smoke and darkness could spread to the tropics and much of the Southern Hemisphere.
Thus, even non-belligerent countries, including those located far from the conflict area, will experience its detrimental effects. The planet will experience a nuclear winter, which could last a year [5].
Thus, nuclear winter and nuclear night as the consequences of a nuclear war, described in the above science fiction works, are, in principle, not fantastic in themselves.
Использованная литература:
[1]. Berezovskaya L. S., Demchenkov. S. A. Post-apocalypticism as a genre of scientific/parascientific fiction // Bulletin of the Omsk State Pedagogical University. Humanities studies. – 2016. – No. 4 (13). – pp. 64–67.
[2]. Tarmashev S. S. To each his own: [fantasy novel] / Moscow: AST Publishing House, 2017.
[3]. Doronin A. Black day. – St. Petersburg: Krylov, 2009.
[4]. Kozhevnikov N. N., Danilova V. S. Philosophical view of science fiction and fantasy genres // Pedagogy. Psychology. Philosophy. 2017. No. 4 (08). URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/filosofskiy-vzglyad-na-nauchnuyufantastiku-i-fantaziynye-zhanry.
[5]. Tarko A. M., Parkhomenko V. P. Nuclear winter: history of the issue and forecasts. Biosphere, 2011, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 164–174.
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