Arms Race (1949-1963)

• Russia acquires the atomic bomb in 1949:

  • US had nuclear monopoly
  • CIA concluded that the USSR would not development an atomic bomb befote mid-1953
  • USSR successfully tested a plutonium bomb
• Start of thermonuclear arms race:

  • January 1950 - Truman announced the US were to build a ‘super’ bomb or hydrogen bomb
  • weapon would be based on nuclear fusion but would deliver an explosive force much greater
  • decision of prompted by: speed of the end of the US nuclear monopoly, Berlin Blockade, est. of People’s Republic of China, discovery of Soviet nuclear spy ring, assumption of USSR building such a weapon
  • November 1952 - successful testing of US hydrogen bomb
• Delivering the bomb by plane:

  • 1953 - 40% of US defence funds to air force
  • 1955 - US owned the first bomber with intercontinental range (B52 Stratofortress)
  • Strategic Air Command (SAC) became the first US main nuclear strike force with bombers on 24-hour alert
  • 1956 - USSR responded with the TU20 Bear
  • drawbacks were that planes were relatively slow and could be shot down and the USSR had no access to airbases near US territory
• Development of rocket technology:

  • May 1957 - USSR successfully tested first ICBM capable of carrying a thermonuclear warhead
  • USSR had success with Sputnik and Vostok I
• The ‘missile gap’ 1957-1961:

  • USSR successes of rocket technology → US fearing they had more advanced military technology
  • ‘Tsar Bomba’ showed that the USSR could prod. powerful nuclear bombs but not mass producing them
  • US possessed more nuclear weapons than the USSR as their own ICBMs were far more superior
  • CIA satellite revealed the USSR had few bombers and operational missiles
  • US deployed IRBMs in UK, Italy and Turkey
  • 1958 - Eisenhower increased funding for science education and research
  • July 1960 - US deployed world’s first submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)
• Nuclear deterrence and limited war:

  • USSR acquisition of the atomic bomb and determination to match US developments → made clear of a nuclear deterrence
  • deterrence emerged during the Korean War: Stalin did not intervene directly, Truman refused to use nuclear weapons against China and the US restricted the combat zone to Korea
• Massive retaliation:

  • US confidence of its nuclear superiority → Eisenhower administration introduced the doctrine of massive retaliation in 1954
  • greater reliance on nuclear weapons involved brinkmanship which also reduced conventional arms spending
  • similar policies adopted by USSR (1955) and UK (1997)
  • critics argue that massive retaliation was unrelealistic as the US would only use nuclear weapons in an emergency
• Flexible response and counterforce:

  • Kennedy rejected massive retaliation as being too rigid
  • ‘second strike’ capability (bombers, ICBMs, submarines) developed to strike back at Russia
  • 1962 - counterforce strategy introduced which made the USSR’s military installation to be the main targets of future US nuclear strike
  • USSR based its plans on an all-out nuclear attack
• Mutual assured destruction: (MAD)

  • failings of flexible response and gradual erosion of US nuclear superiority in early 1960s led to another shift in American nuclear strategy
  • based on understanding that neither superpower could defeat the other in a nuclear war without also being destroyed
• Impact of the arms race on the Cold War: (stabilising effects)

  • deterrent effect of nuclear weapons prevent directed US-Soviet confrontration
  • presence of nuclear weapons → superpowers respected each other’s sphere of influence and did not intervene such as Hungary in 1956
  • US and Soviet leaders acted responsibly (Khrushchev withdrew offer of help in nuclear programme from Chinese communist leader)
  • superpowers had to cooperate to regulate the nuclear threat such as:
  • removal of nuclear missiles from Cuba and Turkey (1962-1963)
  • Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963)
  • Washington-Moscow ‘hotline’ (1963)
• Impact of the arms race on the Cold War: (destabilising effects)

  • Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb (1949) precipitated a spiralling arms race
  • secrecy around nuclear weapon development led to superpower fears that the other side had military superiority
  • nuclear weapons encouraged superpower brinkmanship
  • cost of nuclear weapons imposed huge financial strains on both side
  • nuclear weapons did not stop other forms of superpower competition
• ICBM - intercontinental ballistic missile