Arms Race Flashcards
Why were nuclear weapons the focus of the arms race?
Cheaper than conventional weapons. It was more cost effective for both side to build nuclear weapons than pay for large standing armies.
A ted as a deterrent because both sides had the power to retaliate in an attack.
Prestige (reputation and importance) see what side was stronger and was part of the battle between communism and capitalism.
Wanted to have more weapons than the other side. The one with the least would not attack first.
When and where is the USA launch their first atomic bomb?
In 1945 in Japan on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman believed this reflects the superiority and prestige of America as no other country had a weapon this powerful.
When did the USSR invent their first nuclear bomb?
4 years after America in 1949.
In 1952 how did the USA push forward in the arms race?
They developed and tested an even more powerful weapon than the atomic bomb. They had created the worlds hydrogen bomb in November 1952. However the USSR caught up to them and developed their own hydrogen bomb in 1953.
What caused the arms race to slow down in mid 1950s?
Stalin’s death meant relations between the east and west started to thaw. Khrushchev was more peaceful than Stalin and him and Kennedy both wanted to reduce spending on arms.
Kennedy wanted an ‘open skies’ policy where they would allow the soviets to spy in them to check USAs weapon reduction if the USSR would allow the same they did not agree so disarmament did not happen.
What did the USSR invent in the late 1950s?
In 1957 they developed the worlds first Inter continental Ballistic missile (ICBM) the ISA were worries at this point that the USSR has more weapons and had over taken them in the arms race even though this gap did not exist?
What did Kennedy do in 1957 when the USSR had developed the ICMB?
He increased spending on defence to $7 billion to compensate for the supposed gap.
By 1971 had the s bets bridged the gap?
The had bridged the gap by at a great cost. Almost a quarter of soviet national income had been spent on defence and the arms race.
What agreement was signed in August 1963?
The Americans, soviets and British agreed to sign a nuclear test ban theory which consisted of all three countries agreeing they would no longer carry out tests of nuclear weapons in air and water.
