Arms race

Question 1

1945

Answer 1

Atomic bomb on Hiroshima

Question 2

1949

Answer 2

First russian atomic weapon

Question 3

1950s

Answer 3

There was pressure on the US government from the armed forces and arms manufacturers to increase military spending

Question 4

1950

Answer 4

The UK carries out nuclear tests in Western Australia

Question 5

1952

Answer 5

The USA successfully tests the first Hydrogen bomb, 2500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb

Question 6

1953

Answer 6

The USSR tests its own Hydrogen bomb.

Question 7

1955

Answer 7

The USA publishes its Doctrine of Massive Retaliation stating that any attack on the USA or its allies would be met with incredible destructive force

Question 8

1957

Answer 8

In order to launch the satellite Sputnik I, the USSR had developed a rocket. The same rocket was capable of carrying an atomic warhead for thousands of miles. This meant the USSR had created the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).

Question 9

1958

Answer 9

The USA tests its own ICBMs

Question 10

1959

Answer 10

The USA deploys Polaris submarines capable of launching nuclear missiles close to the shore of the USSR

Question 11

1961

Answer 11

The USSR detonates the Tsar Bomba, a nuclear bomb which produced the largest ever man-made explosion

Question 12

1962

Answer 12

The Cuban Missile Crisis – for 13 days the world stood on the edge of nuclear war

Question 13

1968

Answer 13

The USSR develops an Anti-Ballistic Missile system to shoot down in-bound US missiles

Question 14

1968

Answer 14

The USA develops MIRV technology - allowing missile warheads to hit multiple targets from one missile