1984 - Planet eBook

that all three powers already possess, in the atomic bomb,a weapon far more powerful than any that their presentresearches are likely to discover. Although the Party, accordingto its habit, claims the invention for itself, atomicbombs first appeared as early as the nineteen-forties, andwere first used on a large scale about ten years later. At thattime some hundreds of bombs were dropped on industrialcentres, chiefly in European Russia, Western Europe,and North America. The effect was to convince the rulinggroups of all countries that a few more atomic bombs wouldmean the end of organized society, and hence of their ownpower. Thereafter, although no formal agreement was evermade or hinted at, no more bombs were dropped. All threepowers merely continue to produce atomic bombs and storethem up against the decisive opportunity which they allbelieve will come sooner or later. And meanwhile the artof war has remained almost stationary for thirty or fortyyears. Helicopters are more used than they were formerly,bombing planes have been largely superseded by self-propelledprojectiles, and the fragile movable battleship hasgiven way to the almost unsinkable Floating Fortress; butotherwise there has been little development. The tank, thesubmarine, the torpedo, the machine gun, even the rifle andthe hand grenade are still in use. And in spite of the endlessslaughters reported in the Press and on the telescreens,the desperate battles of earlier wars, in which hundreds ofthousands or even millions of men were often killed in afew weeks, have never been repeated.None of the three super-states ever attempts any ma-