The Global War, 1955-1963 -> Cold War rivalries:The arms and space races Flashcards
When were nuclear weapons used?
Only twice:
- In Hiroshima (August 6th 1945) and Nagasaki
- most destructive form of warfare deployed by humans
What were the shortest ways to deliver atomic weapons in the 1950s?
Through the B-52 Stratofortress and the Tu20 ‘Bear’
What are the strengths of the B-52 Stratofortress?
- Can be refuelled mid-air
- long range patrol bombers
What kind of aircraft is the Tu20 ‘Bear’?
A turbo aircraft
What are the benefits of these aircrafts?
Introduced in 1955 and still used today
- can cross whole oceans and continents fast
What impact did the arms race have on the cold war?
It was a major source of instability
What were Eisenhower’s aims for the space race?
- To get “more bang for the buck” - hoped that an increased reliance upon nuclear weapons would significantly reduce costs
- It was thought that the prospect of “massive retaliation” would deter the Soviets from expansionist activities
- It was also hoped that the possession by the USA of a massive nuclear arsenal would encourage the Soviets to toe the American line
- Coupled with the tactic of brinkmanship - defined by the Secretary of State for War, John Foster Dulles, as “going to the brink of war without being scared”
How did Eisenhower’s approach to the arms race differ from Truman?
- NSC 162/2 -> had a 6:1 advantage of weapons to the Soviets by 1960s
- willing to threaten ‘massive retaliation’ with the Soviets and Chinese
How was the US winning the arms race by the 1960s?
In terms of quantity
- however this was not static
When did the US successfully test a lithium-based H-bomb?
In March 1954
How much more powerful was the H-bomb than the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima?
1500 times more powerful
By when did the USSR have similar technology?
By September 1954 they had similar technology and by 1955 they had tested an airborne H-bomb that was 100 times more powerful than their first attempts
What were the two sides of Soviet foreign policy?
- On one side was summit diplomacy and peaceful coexistence
- on the other side was support for revolutionary regimes, the launch of Sputnik, and stockpiling of weapons
When did the USSR develop itself?
Had an economic increase from 1953-59
- increased by 5.9%
When had the Soviets caught up with the US’ military capabilities?
In 1969, they had reached parity by building more nuclear weapons to keep up
Did the US’ monopoly in the arms race work?
Khrushchev’s crushing of the Hungarian revolution during 1956 was not hindered - but Mao’s sabre-rattling with Taiwan over islands in the Taiwan Straits was
What did the arms race encourage?
- An increased reliance upon nuclear weapons by the USSR
- the arms race not only spiralled out of control, but became ever more costly
What did the arms race give rise to in the US?
Termed by Eisenhower as the ‘military-industrial complex’
- a body, comprised of generals, admirals, lobbyists, intelligence experts and armaments and aerospace manufacturers, which he thought were wrestling control of policy from the hands of elected officials
When did the Soviet economic boom occur?
Between 1954-58
Why did Khrushchev go for the nuclear option?
- To reduce his reliance on costly conventional forces, so that funds could be allocated away from heavy industry, arms production and maintaining the Red Army towards consumer industries
- intended to facilitate the fulfilment of the strategy of ‘peaceful coexistence’
What could ‘peaceful coexistence’ also be known as?
‘Peaceful competition’
What did Khrushchev’s policy represent?
A departure from Stalin’s, but his thinking was still conditioned by the factor which all Soviet leaders had had to countenance - the fact of encirclement by hostile capitalist powers
Was the arms race successful for Khrushchev?
- It did enable sweeping cuts to the Red Army’s budget (e.g. 250,000 officers and NCOs were laid off in 1960-61)
- High-profile projects such as Sputnik delivered the sorts of rocket systems needed to deliver nuclear payloads thousands of miles away
- enhanced Soviet prestige in the developing world
How did Khrushchev’s personality hinder the success of the arms race?
- Khrushchev’s erratic tendency to resort to bluff served only to encourage those hawks in the West who wanted an ever-greater nuclear arsenal (MAD)
- The USSR therefore became locked into an arms race that it could not afford, and which was eventually to contribute to its downfall
How much of the national wealth was being spent on the Red Army by the 1980s?
20%
When did the US reach space?
September 1969
What were the Soviets first to send to space?
First to send probes to Venus and Mars
When was the atomic bomb introduced to the arsenal by the USA?
1945
When was the atomic bomb introduced to the arsenal by the USSR?
1949
When was the Intercontinental bomber introduced to the arsenal by the USA?
1948
When was the Intercontinental bomber introduced to the arsenal by the USSR?
1955 (Tu20 ‘Bear’)
When was the Jet bomber introduced to the arsenal by the USA?
1951
When was the Jet bomber introduced to the arsenal by the USSR?
1954
When was the Intercontinental jet bomber introduced to the arsenal by the USA?
1951
When was the Intercontinental jet bomber introduced to the arsenal by the USSR?
1956
What are the benefits of the Intercontinental bomber?
- first bomber to cross oceans
- controlled by people
When was the hydrogen bomb introduced to the arsenal by the USA?
1952
When was the hydrogen bomb introduced to the arsenal by the USSR?
1953
When was the ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) introduced to the arsenal by the USA?
1958
When was the ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) introduced to the arsenal by the USSR?
1957
What is the ICBM?
Inter-continental Ballistic Missile
- targeted missile
- can cross oceans and continents
- can’t hide them
- follows the curvature of the Earth
- immensely powerful and destructive
- stationed in less populated areas
When as the Submarine-launched ballistic missile introduced to the arsenal by the USA?
1960
When as the Submarine-launched ballistic missile introduced to the arsenal by the USSR?
1962
What motivated the introduction of the submarine-launched ballistic missile?
A way of countering the ICBM
- crued by people
- lurks near enemy coasts
What did Jean-Paul Sartre quote about total war?
“Total war is no longer war waged by all members of one national community against all those of another. It is total… because it may well involve the whole world”
What is a total war?
No distinction between soldier and civillian
How could nuclear war become a total war?
- Weather and wind panels could cause atomic fallout
- could involve the world
- By 1960: enough nuclear weapons for the US and Soviets to destroy each other
When was the Geneva Summit?
July 1955
What as discussed at the Geneva Summit?
Nuclear disarmament and the future of Germany
What did Eisenhower dramatically unveil at the Geneva Summit?
The “Open Skies” proposal
- called for the US and the Soviet Union to exchange maps indicating the exact location of every military installation in their respective nations
- each nation would then be allowed to conduct aerial surveillance of the installations in order to assure that the other nations were in compliance with any arms control agreements that might be reached
How did Khrushchev react to Eisenhower’s “Open Skies”?
He declared that it was nothing more than an “espionage plot”
What was the outcome of the Geneva Summit?
No satisfactory outcome was reached but the summit marked the beginning of a dialogue between the superpowers, suggesting the foundations of peaceful coexistence were in place
What was the significance of the Geneva Summit?
- First time since Potsdam that the Soviets and US were meeting
- trying to achieve the aim of summit diplomacy: opportunity to regularly meet and find areas for cooperation
- arms race could end in war so need to talk
- the fact that the leaders are talking suggests peaceful coexistence is possible
When do the Soviets and US meet again?
In September 1959: Khrushchev visits the US and stays at Camp David
- agrees that Eisenhower can visit the Soviet Union in 1960
What was the U-2 incident?
a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory
- used by the CIA to spy on the Soviets
- it could fly at 75,000 feet which enabled it to be out of range of radar and missile attakcs
When was the U-2 incident?
1 May 1960
Who was driving the U-2?
Gary Powers who was shot down over the Soviet Union and imprisoned
How did Eisenhower try to cover up the U-2 incident?
Initially, American authorities acknowledged the incident as the loss of a civilian weather research aircraft operated by NASA, but were forced to admit the mission’s true purpose a few days later after the Soviet government produced the captured pilot and parts of the U-2’s surveillance equipment
What impact did the U-2 incident have on peaceful coexistence?
Peaceful coexistence had died in 1960
- Khrushchev’s erratic nature leads him to behave foolishly at the Paris Summit
How had US-Soviet relations changed following the U-2 incident?
- Khrushchev and Eisenhower had met face-to-face at Camp David in Maryland in September 1959
- the seeming thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations had raised hopes globally for a peaceful resolution to the Cold War.
- The U-2 incident shattered the amiable “Spirit of Camp David” that had prevailed for eight months
- prompted the cancellation of the summit in Paris and embarrassing the U.S. on the international stage.
When was the Paris Summit?
May 15th - May 16th 1960
What was the Paris Summit going to discuss?
Topics such as nuclear arms reduction and how to deal with increasing tensions surrounding Berlin
How were relations between Eisenhower and Khrushchev in the months following the Paris Summit?
In the months prior to the summit Khrushchev and Eisenhower had been getting along well - Khrushchev had visited the USA in September 1959, and the summit was going to be an opportunity for the two sides to come together
What ruined hopes for the Paris Summit?
Hopes for the summit were dashed by the U-2 incident on May 1st 1960 and by Eisenhower’s attempt at a cover-up
What did Khrushchev use the summit for?
To denounce US spying, and cancel a proposed visit to the USSR by Eisenhower
- he should have had the moral high ground but denounces the US and storms out the summit
What did Eisenhower conclude about the Paris Summit?
Had it not been for the U-2 incident, the summit and his visit to the Soviet Union could have greatly helped Soviet and American relations
- opportunity for peaceful coexistence had been blown up
Where did the space race have its origins in?
The nuclear arms race between the two superpowers
- the space race was a continuation of nuclear proliferation
What was theorised about the ability to build a satellite?
It would give the developer superiority in the arms race
What made possible the space race?
German rocket technology and personnel acquired at the end of World War II
Why was technological superiority deemed necessary?
The technological superiority required for such supremacy was seen as necessary for national security, and symbolic of ideological superiority
What did the Space Race spawn?
It spawned pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites, unmanned space probes of the Moon, Venus and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and to the Moon
When did the space race begin?
In July 1955, when the Eisenhower administration announced that it intended to launch a satellite by the end of 1968
Who was America’s favourite Nazi engineer?
Wernher von Braun
Who was Wernher von Braun?
- A German-American aerospace engineer and space architect.
- was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS
- the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany
- later a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States
What did Wernher von Braun develop?
The first ever guided missile - the V-2
- it was fired at London and Brussels
- used slave labour to build rockets
- became the first artificial object to travel into space on 20 June 1944
What did Eisenhower commission in November 1957?
The Gaither Report, to investigate the state of US-Soviet nuclear capability
When was Sputnik 1?
October 4th 1957
What was sputnik 1?
The world’s first artificial Earth satellite
- released on the 40th anniversary of the Russian Revolution
- put into space by the ICBM
What was the significance of Sputnik 1?
- The satellite’s success was unanticipated by the United States.
- This precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race.
- Huge leap forward for the Soviets who start up with a victory
- winning the space race has more of an impact than a military battle
What did the Gaither report first present?
The concept of a missile gap between the USA and USSR, revealing gaps between Soviet and US technology and predicted a 100 to 40 lead in ICBMs in favour of the USSR
What as the significance of Eisenhower placing his trust in data received from the U-2 spy plane rather than the Gaither Report?
- This data suggested a slow rate of production of nuclear warheads by the USSR
- The Gaither Report had based its conclusions on Soviet nuclear strength on inadequate evidence
- Enabled Eisenhower to realise the deployment of Soviet ICBMs was limited
How many ICBMs had been deployed by the Soviets by 1959?
By 1959, only ten SS-6 ICBMs had been deployed
What new ICBMs were being developed by the USA?
The Atlas and Titan models, and were aded to the intermediate range ballistic missile systems
Who was Laika?
A Soviet space dog who became one of the first animals in space, and the first animal to orbit the Earth
Who were Belka and Strelka?
Spent a day in space aboard Sputnik 2 on 19 August 1960 before safely returning to Earth
How did these developments in Soviet technology alarm the USA?
It appeared that Soviet space technology had surpassed theirs
What did businessman and political adviser Bernard Baruch write in “The Lessons of Defeat” about Sputnik?
“While we devote our industrial and technological power to producing new model automobiles and more gadgets, the Soviet Union is conquering space…It is Russia, not the United States, who has had the imagination to hitch its wagon to the stars and the skill to reach for the moon and all but grasp it. America is worried. It should be”
When was Sputnik II launched?
3 November 1957
What did Sputnik II convince the USA of?
The USSR had the technology to launch nuclear missiles against it, and that this possibility would rapidly become a reality
- fundamentally undermined the effectiveness of the massive retaliation strategy that was so central to the USA’s Cold War nuclear defence programme
What signifies how Sputnik created a sense of urgency for the USA to develop its own space technology programme?
When in September 1958, the government authorised $1 billion for the technological development in this field
How as this response a failure?
When on 6 December 1957, the US Navy’s Vanguard rocket crashed on its take off from Cape Canaveral
- it was cynically referred to as ‘Flopnik’
Who got the Soviets into space and led the Soviet space programme?
Sergei Koroler
When was the first manned satellite to orbit the earth launched?
12 April 1961
Who was the first Soviet cosmonaut?
Yuri Gagarin
How did the US reverse the Soviet lead in the space race?
By 1962, the USA had successfully launched 63 space missions compared to the USSR’s 15 missions
What was established as a response to the USSR’s triumph
NASA
Who won the November 1960 election?
Kennedy triumphed over Nixon (republican)
- he was uninterested in NASA and the space race
Had Kennedy been supporting America’s manned space program?
Before Yuri Gagarin’s flight, Kennedy’s support for America’s manned space program had been lukewarm
What did Kennedy reject and when?
In March 1961, when NASA administrators submitted a budget request to fund a Moon landing before 1970, Kennedy rejected it because it was simply too expensive
- From January 1961 - March 1961: NASA asks for $20 million
- Gagarin goes to space a month later
What did Kennedy ultimately decide to pursue?
What became the Apollo programme, announcing in September 1962 that America was choosing to go to the Moon (it got there in July 1969)
