Arms race

• Arms Race: origins


  Another area of superpower rivalry was in science and technology, particularly the deadly technology of nuclear weapons. When the USA dropped the atomic bomb on Japan in August 1945, Stalin realised the USSR had to catch up with its rivals. He made atomic research his top priority. This started the Arms Race.
• Arms Race: How did USSR build its weapons after 1945


  Massive amounts of money were poured into research and development. Entire towns like Arzamas-16 were created to house the scientists and engineers. The hard work paid off and by 1949, the Soviets had their own atomic bomb. It was the beginning of the deadly arms race.
• Arms Race: How did US respond to USSR's arms race build up

  US allocated 40% of its defence spending to its air force, particularly the Strategic Air Command bombing force. This level of funding continued throughout the Cold War. Money was also pumped into developing stockpiles of nuclear weapons
• Timeline of Arms Race

  1 - USSR takes lead in Aug 1949: USSR detonates it's 1st atomic bomb, this causes great concern for the USA as US intelligence predicted that USSR wouldn't be able to develop a bomb until 1953

  2 - US takes the lead in 1951: US Strategic Air Command develops policy of of constant readiness, it's Commander Curtis Le May identifies 6000 targets in USSR to be hit in the event of war

  3 - US still in lead in Nov 1952: USA detonates the first hydrogen bond which is 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb

  4 - USSR takes lead in Aug 1953: USSR detonates its own H - bomb
• Timeline of Arms Race (2)

  5 -USA takes lead in March 1954: Develops a H-bomb small enough to be dropped from a bomber

  6 - USSR takes lead in September 1954: USSR drops a test H-bomb from a bomber
• Bomber Gap: What was it and how did USA try to resolve it


  There was further concern in the US when the Soviets developed the Bison jet bomber and the long range TU-95 bomber. This aircraft could hit American cities with nuclear weapons and this triggered a panic known as the bomber gap. The new President Eisenhower ordered new B-52 bombers to close the gap with the USSR.

  In reality there was never a bomber gap: US always had more nuclear bombers than USSR but ,in paranoia, threats were overly exaggerated
• Arms Race: December 1953

  There was a debate in USA about the nuclear build up. In Dec 1953, Eisenhower put forward a plan to UN to share nuclear research +tech, but this was strongly opposed by many of his supporters + the US military. Despite being an army general, Eisenhower had misgivings about what was called the military industrial complex. Some commentators claimed that American industries and the top US military commanders were in league. The military wanted huge spending on weapons and other developments, while big businesses benefited from huge government contracts for the military
• Impact of arms race

  Saw a huge escalation in number of weapons that each side had - people became more worried about 'HOT' war

  Led to MAD (mutual assured destruction - aimed to prevent direct full scale conflict between US and USSR) and Brinkmanship ( where a country would push a dangerous issue or event to the edge looking for the best outcome for their side - was a policy tool used by the US to coerce the USSR into backing down militarily. However, ultimately, brinkmanship worsened the relationship between the Soviets and the Americans)Affect on societies