Miltary Rivalries Flashcards
When was NATO formed?
April 1949
When was the Warsaw Pact created? What was it in response to?
1955
In response to West Germany being allowed to join NATO.
How many original members were in NATO? Who were they?
12 original members
The USA and its allies.
How many original members were in the Warsaw Pact? Who were they?
8 members
USSR and other countries behind the Iron Curtain
What was the purpose of NATO?
- collective defence
- if one member came under attack, it would be seen as an attack on all members
What was the purpose of the Warsaw Pact?
- formed as a counter-balance to the power of NATO
- aimed to protect the security and interests of countries behind the Iron Curtain
How was NATO lead?
- collective leadership of the member countries
- USA provided the majority of funds and fire power and built bases across Western Europe
How was the Warsaw Pact lead?
- officially a collective organisation
- in reality all armed forces were controlled by the USSR
- all decisions made in Moscow
Why was there a space race?
Propaganda
- both countries keen to show they were superior
- both countries wanted to be seen as leading the world into the modern age
Weapons development
- the Americans were concerned that nuclear missiles could be launched using the same system as the soviets used to launch rockets into space
- this concern was justified as intercontinental ballistic missiles could be carried thousands of miles using rockets
What happened in the space race in October 1957?
☭🚩
- USSR launches Sputnik
- first man made satellite to orbit Earth
What happened in the space race in November 1957?
☭🚩
- USSR sends the first animal into space
- a dog named Laika
What happened in the space race in December 1958?
🇺🇸
- USA launches the first communications satellite into space
What happened in the space race in April 1961?
☭🚩
- the USSR sends the first human into space
- Yuri Gagarin
What happens in the space race in 1961?
🇺🇸
- Kennedy announces that an American will land on the moon by the end of the decade
- this promise seems impossible at the time is technology is a long way from being advanced enough to achieve this
What happened in the space race in 1963?
☭🚩
- USSR send first woman into space
- Valentina Tereshkova
What happens in the space race is July 1969?
🇺🇸
- USA get first man on the moon
- Neil Armstrong
- Kennedy’s promise fulfilled
What happens in the space race in 1971?
☭🚩
- first human-crewed space station is launched by the USSR
What happens in the space race in 1975?
☭🚩 🇺🇸
- first joint space mission between USA and USSR
- Apollo Soyuz
Why was Apollo Soyuz significant?
seen as a symbol of a new age of cooperation between the superpowers
Who were the first man and woman in space?
- Yuri Gagarin
- Valentina Tereshkova
What started the development of nuclear weaponry?
- the use of atomic bombs against Japan in 1945
When did the Soviets successfully detonate their first A-bomb?
29th August 1949
What was Polaris?
a missile the Americans had that could be launched from a submarine
What is Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)? What did this mean for the Cold War?
The knowledge that launching a weapon wopildlead to retaliation and therefore destruction of both sides.
This is probably the main reason no nuclear weapons were ever launch.
What was brinkmanship?
Each side would push the other to the brink of using weapons knowing that they would eventually back down.
During what events the possibility of using nuclear weapons was raised during.
- the Berlin Blockade
- the Korean War
- Cuban Missile Crisis
What were the impacts of the arms race?
- preparations were made by both sides for a nuclear war
- ‘ban the bomb’ movement
- inspired many works of literature, film and television
How did governments on both sides prepare for nuclear attack?
- constructed huge underground bunkers
- campaigns to teach children to ‘duck and cover’ under their school desks
- many of the public awareness campaigns were simply attempts to reassure people and prevent panic
What was the ‘ban the bomb’ movement?
- 1950s
- some questioned the morality of nuclear weapons
- The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) called for Britain to unilaterally disarm
- similar movements grew across the Western world
How did the nuclear standoff between East and West inspire works of literature, film and television?
Dr Strangelove
- satirical film
- the film points out the danger and absurdity of the situation
