Arms Race Flashcards
USA drops atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1945
The USSR’s first successful atomic bomb test ends American nuclear monopoly
1949
The UK carries out nuclear tests in Western Australia
1950
The USA successfully tests the first Hydrogen bomb, 2500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb
1952
The USSR tests its own Hydrogen bomb.
1953
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
1955
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).
1957
The USA tests its own ICBMs
1958
The USA deploys Polaris submarines capable of launching nuclear missiles close to the shore of the USSR
1959
The USSR detonates the Tsar Bomba, a nuclear bomb which produced the largest ever man-made explosion
1961
The Cuban Missile Crisis – for 13 days the world stood on the edge of nuclear war
1962
The USSR develops an Anti-Ballistic Missile system to shoot down in-bound US missiles
1968
The USA develops MIRV technology - allowing missile warheads to hit multiple targets from one missile
1968
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.
1957
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.
1959
The USA launches Discovery XIV - the first satellite equipped with a spy camera.
1960
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.
1961
The American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, become the first men to walk on the moon.
1969
NATO definition
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.
Warsaw Pact definition
A collection of twelve communist countries who agreed to defend each other if one of them was attacked.
Sputnik
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.
