Lawfare Daily: Serhii Plokhii on the History of the Nuclear Arms Race
Lawfare Daily: Serhii Plokhii on the History of the Nuclear Arms Race  
Podcast: The Lawfare Podcast: Patreon Edition
Published On: Wed Oct 15 2025
Description: Lawfare Contributor Mykhailo Soldatenko sits down with Serhii Plokhii, Harvard History Professor and a leading authority on the history of the Cold War and Ukraine, to discuss his new book, "The Nuclear Age: An Epic Race for Arms, Power and Survival," that tells a history of nuclear proliferation and international efforts to tame it. They discuss the role of fear and prestige in a country's decision to acquire nukes, nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, preventive wars against nuclear aspirants, Ukraine's decision to give up nuclear weapons it inherited from the Soviet Union, and more.  You may also want to look at the following Lawfare pieces about this topic:"Filling the Security Void of the Budapest Memorandum," by Mykhailo Soldatenko "Ukraine's Nuclear Moment," by Eric Ciaramella Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.