Arms Race

Question 1

1945

Answer 1

USA drop the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Question 2

1949

Answer 2

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

Question 3

1950

Answer 3

The UK carries out nuclear tests in Western Australia

Question 4

1952

Answer 4

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

Question 5

1953

Answer 5

The USSR tests its own Hydrogen bomb.

Question 6

1955

Answer 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

Question 7

1957

Answer 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).

Question 8

1958

Answer 8

The USA tests its own ICBMs

Question 9

1959

Answer 9

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

Question 10

1961

Answer 10

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

Question 11

1962

Answer 11

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

Question 12

1968

Answer 12

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

Question 13

1968

Answer 13

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

Question 14

1957

Answer 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.

Question 15

1959

Answer 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.

Question 16

1961

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

1969

Answer 17

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