On October 30, 1961, a little more than 16 years after humanity entered the age of nuclear warfare, the Soviet Union demonstrated the frightening capabilities of their nuclear arsenal by detonating an almost inconceivably powerful hydrogen bomb.

The “Tsar Bomba,” “The King of Bombs,” or “Big Ivan” as the Soviets nicknamed it at the time, produced the most powerful artificial explosion in history and greatly enhanced the anxiety that accompanied the Cold War.

While “Little Boy,” the bomb dropped over Hiroshima and the first nuclear device ever detonated, had a yield equivalent to 15 kilotons of TNT and was capable of disintegrating an entire city, the Tsar Bomba had a yield of a whopping 50 megatons and was virtually capable of destroying an entire small country.

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