July 1946 was a momentous month in history. The American development of nuclear weapons took several strides with Operation Crossroads. This was the fourth and fifth detonations of atomic bombs in the Pacific Ocean, 520 feet above Bikini Atoll. The bomb was named Gilda after Rita Heyworth’s character in a Hollywood Film. Four days later, a French model posed in the first two-piece swimsuit in Paris, where the designer named the garment a Bikini in a tribute to the nuclear test site. The second atomic bomb, named Helen, was detonated below the surface of the sea at the same test site. This was the first underwater test and the contamination was so bad that a third test planned for the following month was postponed until the 1950s.
There was so much else that was going on that month, which was overshadowed by these tests, but they are worth remembering now because of how they impacted on the Cold War and how they are the stem cells for today’s wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The first was the refusal of the Soviet Union to accept the UN plan to regulate the use of atomic energy. Believing this would preserve an American monopoly, Andrei Gromyko effectively began the nuclear arms race on 22 July 1946.
The second was Operation Keelhaul, the forced repatriation of Russians, Ukrainians and Cossacks who had helped Germany during World War II and were hiding in Northern Italy. People believe that after the end of hostilities peace broke out everywhere, but in reality there was still much violence and blood letting in Europe, such as the Kielce massacre on 4 July 1946 in Poland.
The third other event, which took the headlines that month, was the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Ninety-one people of various nationalities were killed in a terrorist attack that led to: the end of the British mandate in Palestine; the creation of the state of Israel; and the start of the Middle East wars that continue to this day.
There are lessons for potential peacemakers in all of these historical events, not least the modelling of the first Bikini in Paris!
Rupert Wieloch 