Arms race

• 1945: The USA developed their atomic bomb at the end of the second world war, which they exploded in Hiroshima without informing the Soviet Union.

  This had, at the time, increased tensions between the two sides, as the Soviet Union had not been informed of the dropping of the bomb and it was displayed as almost a threat towards them

  The atomic bomb gave the USA a sense of security until 1949, knowing they had developed a weapon capable of far more destruction than the stacks of traditional warfare material that the Soviet Union possessed
• However, in 1949 the Soviet Union had developed their own atomic bomb and the two sides were equal again until 1952 when the USA developed a hydrogen bomb, 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb, once again giving them assurance.
• But in 1953, the Soviet Union developed its own hydrogen bomb or H-Bomb. By 1957, both the Soviet Union and the USA were on the same page, each having ICBMs, however before the USA had a chance to launch their ICBMs, the Soviet Union were already testing theirs, which essentially put the USA behind.
• The ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) could fire nuclear warhead at target 4,500 miles away. Just months after the USA had developed this, the Soviet Union had launched its first ICBM.
• Consequences:

  • Spending had increased

  1949: US arms spending = 13.5 billion

  1949 Soviet arms spending = 13.4 billion

  1953 US arms spending = 49.6 billion

  1953 Soviet arms spending = 25.5 billion
• Consequences:

  • Tensions increased further

  Each side made more alliances and built more weapons

  • Conventional weapons

  Could be reduced as next war was expected to be based on nuclear weapons

  Also reduced the desire for war though, as nuclear weapons were seen as a deterrent due to their ability to destroy the world many of times over