Process Paper Why I chose this Topic: I have always had a great interest in the history of wars and the development of weapons. Prior to this competition, I knew what atomic weapons and energy were, but did not know much about their beginnings. After doing some research, I realized how relevant the Manhattan Project was. That is what sparked my desire to learn more about this topic. How I conducted my research: I visited the school library and found several resource books that I could not “check out”. Therefore, I visited my local public library and checked out the previous books identified during my school trip and found many more reference books that related to my topic. I researched the internet for additional primary sources, videos, and images. I was particularly interested in the National Security Archive website, which let me view previously classified documents relating to the Manhattan Project. How I created and developed my website: I thought designing a website would be cool as I enjoy technology. I made notes related to each section within the project. I created a research paper broken into sections as tab links would be on a website. I then chose a website template from Weebly. After choosing my template, I created my links associated with the sections from the research paper and transferred my related information onto the web pages. Subsequent to creating the web pages, I scoured the internet for topic related images for each page, added them to the bibliography, and uploaded them to the respective pages. How my project relates to the theme: My project relates to the National History Day theme: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform due to the direct impact the Manhattan Project had on the United States and the world powers. The Manhattan Project was initiated by several foreign scientists that approached Albert Einstein with the knowledge of nuclear chain reactions and how the Germans were working on an atomic weapon. In the aftermath of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor President Roosevelt ordered an atomic bomb to be built. Every aspect of the Manhattan Project was revolutionary. From the new technology it developed, the short amount of time it took to build it, to the never before seen utter destruction and devastation it caused. The reaction to the Manhattan Project's invention of nuclear technology started a technological and weapons race. The world power shift changed forever. The threat of nuclear destruction and energy created a frenzied reaction among the major industrialized countries to compete for military dominance and industrial power. This led to dramatic reforms. Eventually, the nuclear capable countries came to an agreement that nuclear weapons growth was not in the best interest of the world. The countries signed treaties and promised to destroy some of their nuclear weapons and not sell or use them called the Non-Proliferation Treaty signed in March 1970. In conclusion, I think it would be difficult to find a topic as relevant to this theme as the Manhattan Project is.