Arms Race Flashcards

1
Q

USA drops atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

A

1945

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2
Q

The USSR’s first successful atomic bomb test ends American nuclear monopoly

A

1949

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3
Q

The UK carries out nuclear tests in Western Australia

A

1950

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4
Q

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

A

1952

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5
Q

The USSR tests its own Hydrogen bomb.

A

1953

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6
Q

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

A

1955

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7
Q

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).

A

1957

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8
Q

The USA tests its own ICBMs

A

1958

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9
Q

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

A

1959

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10
Q

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

A

1961

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11
Q

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

A

1962

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12
Q

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

A

1968

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13
Q

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

A

1968

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14
Q

The USSR launches Sputnik 1 - the world’s first telecommunications satellite. Sputnik 2 was launched later that year and carried a small dog named Laika – the first living animal to go into orbit.

A

1957

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15
Q

The USSR launches Luna 1 - the first man-made object to orbit the sun. The USA then sent Pioneer 4 to do a fly-past of the Moon, prompting the Soviets to launch Luna 2 at the moon.

A

1959

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16
Q

The USA launches Discovery XIV - the first satellite equipped with a spy camera.

A

1960

17
Q

The USSR puts the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into space. The USA responds by launching its own Apollo missions, and Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space. President John F Kennedy challenges America to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

A

1961

18
Q

The American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, become the first men to walk on the moon.

A

1969

19
Q

NATO definition

A

North Atlantic Treaty Organization - a military alliance of western powers that was originally created to provide a counterforce to the Soviet armies of Eastern Europe.

20
Q

Warsaw Pact definition

A

A collection of twelve communist countries who agreed to defend each other if one of them was attacked.

21
Q

Sputnik

A

The first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957. It influenced the USA to create NASA and started the space race between the two countries.