The cold war and the nuclear arms race with the soviet union were vital international issues throughout his political career. Near the end of the cold war the soviet union was spending around 27% of its total gross national product on the military. An ongoing war in afghanistan o the ussr had intervened to support the procommunist government against a group of islamist rebels called the mujaheddin o the war, sometimes referred to as the soviet vietnam, was a major drain on soviet resources and manpower the cold war arms race o was extremely expensive to keep up with usa. Superpower relations alevel the nuclear arms race 19491963 learning objectives to identify how nuclear weapons were developed by the two superpowers to explain why and how the arms race developed to use the cuban missile crisis as a case study to illustrate your explanation to evaluate the impact of the arms race. The continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the communist world primarily the soviet union and its satellite states and allies and the powers of the western world. Students will collaboratively analyze and compare editorial cartoons focusing on the cold war and nuclear weapons. Gorbachev and the end of the cold war lawrence livermore. Ussr leader khrushchev bragged about how quickly they were producing weapons. During the cold war the united states and the soviet union became engaged in a nuclear arms race. Cold war the arms race knowledge organiser teaching. These documents provide, for the first time, a direct line of sight into the thinking and decisionmaking in the kremlin from 1974 to the collapse of the soviet union in 1991. At first, the focus of the cold war was eastern europe, where. A new history is meant chiefly, therefore, for a new generation of readers for whom the cold war was never current events. Ideally, the best measure of whether the two are in fact in a classic, reciprocal nuclear arms competition would be the rate at which both sides are.
The cold war rivalry between the united states and the soviet union lasted for decades and resulted in anticommunist suspicions and international incidents that led. Start studying what impact did the nuclear arms race have on the conduct of the cold war 19501975 learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. One example of an arms race is the dreadnought arms race between germany and britain prior to world war i. The cold war was a state of tension and hostility among nations without armed conflict between the major rivals. Arms control in the cold war foreign policy research. For more than half a century, nuclear arms control has been a key element of the bilateral relationship between the united states and the soviet union, now russia. Once the soviet union successfully tested the atomic bomb, the arms race was on. Soviets launch intercontinental ballistic missile icbm august 21. However, the discussion in this article is limited to military arms races. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. Icbms were designed in the cold war to carry a long range nuclear payload and.
The next arms race the nonproliferation policy education center. Eric loper quit slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. President obama warned russia of cold warstyle escalation over cyber arms race. President ronald reagan revived coldwar policies and rhetoric, referring to the soviet union as the evil empire and escalating the nuclear arms race. Shortly thereafter, the soviet union began replacing older intermediaterange ss4 and ss5 missiles with a new intermediaterange missile, the ss20. Space race cold war tensions increased in the us when the ussr launched sputnik i, the first artificial satellite into geocentric orbit on october 4, 1957. As the arms race of the cold war continued into the 1980s, the u.
The church 8 the arms race 39 called defense or protection. Justice, right reason and humanity, therefore, urgent. During this very period, in addition to the american and soviet nuclear stockpiles, other countries developed nuclear weapons, though none engaged in warhead production on nearly the same scale as the two superpowers. Arms race during the cold war the united states and the soviet union became engaged in a nuclear arms race. During the cold war, the soviet union valued nuclear weapons for both. In several cases, military competition is also, or primarily, driven by clearly. Examples of arms races since the early 20th century. Cold war period, scholars and policymakers have widely considered the asia.
The arms race concept is also used in other fields. This nuclear buildup led to a balance of terror, which some saw as a deterrent to war. Known as the cold war, this conflict began as a struggle for. To analyze the effects of the arms race on political conflict, hot wars, economic and scientific success i. Many feared where the cold war was going with the belief that the more nuclear weapons you. Answer the following questions while the teacher reads the book. This event helps launch the cold war which focuses around the arms race during this time. Truman, presidents secretarys files, subject file on bureau of the. Posed a major threat to the us because they could strike from farther than they could. The arms race was an important part of the cold war. Covers conventional weapons, the development of atomic and hydrogen bombs, icbms, nuclear weapons as a threat or a deterrent, the korean war, president eisenhower, the death of stalin and nikita khrushchev. All the questions on this quiz are based on information that can be found on the page at cold war arms race. Bbc history file film about the u2 spyplane and the arms race.
What other documents or historical evidence are you going to use to help you. Arms races as exemplified by the accumulation of stocks of weapons represent a very special case of weapons as an instrument of power. The central feature of the cold war was the arms race. The world teeters on the brink of mutually assured destruction, such that humanity could be. Soviet cold war nuclear arms race, occurs when countries increase their military forces to gain superiority over one another. Defense spending increased dramatically the nuclear arms race made people anxious about the future witheisenhowerselectionin1952, american anxieties subsided as the cold war became more covert. Both the soviet union and the united states continued to seek weaponry advantages in numbers, speed and distance.
Arms race 1957, ussr launches sputnik, the first satellite. Pdf during the cold war, the united states and the soviet union amassed remarkably similar nuclear arsenals. The cold war between the united states and soviet union saw both sides attempting to maintain or expand their sphere of influence while avoiding allout war. American and soviet union tensions during the cold war. The united states wanted to show that it was stronger, more able and more intelligent than the ussr, and viceversa. In the mid1970s, the soviet union achieved rough strategic parity with the united states. His inaugural address stressed the contest between the free world and the communist world, and he pledged that the american people would pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any. In just 15 years, the united states and the soviet union produced a total of 37,737 nuclear weapons 31,6 for the united states and 6,124 for the soviet union. It is therefore of major concern that the achievement of further reductions in excess nuclear stockpiles is difficult in the near term, and existing nuclear arms control agreements are at risk. Also known as thermonuclear bomb, a significant power increase above a typical nuclear bomb. Us felt a loss of prestige and increased funding for space.
We have argued that arms races in the twentyfirst century will be very different from the cold war arms race. This was to actively prevent another arms race and negate conflict into. They both spent billions and billions of dollars trying to build up huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons. For webquest or practice, print a copy of this quiz at cold war arms race webquest print page. Not long after world war ii ended in 1945, new hostilities emerged between the united states and the soviet union. Both superpowers developed technology and used their nuclear power to build as many weapons as possible. The competitive nature of the two nations led to the cold war arms race in which both sides competed to develop more powerful weapons, new delivery systems and obtain more nuclear weapons. To build its strategic forces to this level cost the united. To examine atomic diplomacy in the early old war years and to determine the extent to which acquisition of atomic weaponry caused or affected the cold war.
Katayev was an inveterate notetaker, writing meticulous entries into his journals and preserving more than 10,000 pages of original documents on the cold war arms race. In talking about arms control during the cold war, i will focus on the u. One of the things that is different about arms races now is the presence of increasing returns in the. How did containment and the arms race contribute to the cold war.
The us and the soviet union are engaged in a constant contest of oneupmanship. Teacher should lead discussion to the cold war and the arms race instructional steps. Players will be drawn into the struggle year by year, advance by advance, shadow war after shadow war. I hope readers who lived through the cold war will also find the volume useful, because as marx once said groucho, not karl, outside of a.
Yuri gagarin became first human in space and first to orbit earth. In the early 20th century, germany as a rising power. The balancing acts the us and ussr had to perform are captured vibrantly. Until a developer like paradox comes along with a more detailed but playable product, arms race will fill.
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