Arms Race

Question 1

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

Answer 1

1945

Question 2

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

Answer 2

1949

Question 3

The UK carries out nuclear tests in Western Australia

Answer 3

1950

Question 4

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

Answer 4

1952

Question 5

The USSR tests its own Hydrogen bomb.

Answer 5

1953

Question 6

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

Answer 6

1955

Question 7

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).

Answer 7

1957

Question 8

The USA tests its own ICBMs

Answer 8

1958

Question 9

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

Answer 9

1959

Question 10

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

Answer 10

1961

Question 11

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

Answer 11

1962

Question 12

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

Answer 12

1968

Question 13

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

Answer 13

1968

Question 14

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.

Answer 14

1957

Question 15

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.

Answer 15

1959

Question 16

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

Answer 16

1960

Question 17

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.

Answer 17

1961

Question 18

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

Answer 18

1969

Question 19

NATO definition

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Warsaw Pact definition

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Sputnik

Answer 21

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.