The only time that nuclear bombs have been utilized in something other than the testing of, was in August of 1945, in which, regrettably, the United States, used not just one but on two different occasions, dropped a nuclear bomb upon Japan. The devastating destruction of those bombs was catastrophic and led to the death of approximately 200,000 peoples, or possibly more, of which the vast majority of these deaths were not enemy combatants, but civilians. While it has been argued, especially by the Allied powers of that time, that the utilization of these atomic weapons upon Japan, shortened the war, and ultimately thereby saved lives, that position and reasoning, is both controversial and suspect.
At the time that the United States dropped two of its atomic bombs upon Japan, the United States was the only nation in the world to have this awesome and devastating killing power, and to its credit, the United States did not afterwards use these bombs upon any other country, or has it used such in any other war or conflict, and that is clearly to the credit of the United States. Since 1945, however, another eight nations are known to have developed nuclear armament capabilities, of which, two of those countries, Russia and North Korea, don't especially have good relations with western nations. Yet, despite the fact that there are now nine nations with nuclear armament capabilities, nuclear war has not occurred. Additionally, in 1990, Russia stopped all of its nuclear testing, and the United States followed suit by stopping all of its nuclear testing, in 1992, of which these two nations, have by far, the most nuclear warheads in existence.
All of the above, points to the salient fact, that though the awesome power of nuclear armaments, permits mankind, if it so desired, to end this world as we know it, that this has not occurred and does not appear to be on the table of occurring. This would seem to indicate that though nations apparently enjoy to a degree, that is not really all that safe, an awful lot of saber-rattling, that when it comes right down to it, a world war, involving a significant use of nuclear weapons, is not something that is considered to be a viable option; for those in the know, know that such a war, would at best, provide the winner of such, a pyrrhic victory.
So then, despite all the conflicts and wars that are going on, seemingly non-stop in this world; we have come to the point that to a certain degree, the tale has already been told, so that, it has become inevitable, that warfare as we know it, is going to come to an end, because warfare does not resolve much of anything, and is not an appropriate way to deal with disagreements and disputes. Rather, mankind has been to the brink, and having seen that vast and foreboding abyss, has calmly and consciously walked away from it. This, thus means, that ever so slowly, but inexorably, mankind is in the process of becoming more civilized, more empathetic, and having more of an understanding, that each of us truly does have unalienable rights, and that the greatest good that mankind and governments can perform for one another, is to pay appropriate homage to those rights.