The Arms Race and the Space Race

President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Ever since the USA had dropped the on Hiroshima in 1945, the had been determined to develop its own nuclear weapons. It finally succeeded in 1949 and this began a nuclear arms race, with both sides racing to develop more and bigger bombs.

However, it became clear that the did not intend to use these new weapons hastily. This was demonstrated during the Korean War when President Truman sacked General MacArthur for arguing in favour of using nuclear weapons to end that war.

Nonetheless, a new idea developed: that of . This suggested that the very fact of a country possessing nuclear weapons would prevent another country from threatening its interests, because they wouldn’t want to provoke a nuclear attack. In order to maintain this upper hand, the superpowers had to continue to build up their stockpiles of ever more powerful nuclear weapons so that they would have the power to massively retaliate against any such attack.

As the Cold War developed, the theory of (MAD) took shape. This said that the existence of such massive nuclear weapons meant that open war between the superpowers, in which nuclear weapons were used, would end life on earth. This was the ultimate deterrent, and both sides continued to build up their arsenals of nuclear weapons to gain this advantage.

There was pressure on the US government from the armed forces and arms manufacturers to increase military spending throughout the 1950s. As President Eisenhower was coming to the end of his term of office, he warned the American public that too much power lay in the hands of this . As an army general, he felt able to resist their pressure, but he was concerned that a future president wouldn’t be able to resist their arguments for limitless military spending.

This nuclear arms race was also matched by similar competition over space and the race to the moon.

Date	Major Events of the Arms Race
1945	USA drops atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1949	The USSR’s first successful atomic bomb test ends American nuclear monopoly
1950	The UK carries out nuclear tests in Western Australia
1952	The USA successfully tests the first Hydrogen bomb, 2500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb
1953	The USSR tests its own Hydrogen bomb.
1955	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
1957	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).
1958	The USA tests its own ICBMs
1959	The USA deploys Polaris submarines capable of launching nuclear missiles close to the shore of the USSR
1961	The USSR detonates the Tsar Bomba, a nuclear bomb which produced the largest ever man-made explosion
1962	The Cuban Missile Crisis – for 13 days the world stood on the edge of nuclear war
1968	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

Date	1945
Major Events of the Arms Race	USA drops atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Date	1949
Major Events of the Arms Race	The USSR’s first successful atomic bomb test ends American nuclear monopoly

Date	1950
Major Events of the Arms Race	The UK carries out nuclear tests in Western Australia

Date	1952
Major Events of the Arms Race	The USA successfully tests the first Hydrogen bomb, 2500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb

Date	1953
Major Events of the Arms Race	The USSR tests its own Hydrogen bomb.

Date	1955
Major Events of the Arms Race	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

Date	1957
Major Events of the Arms Race	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).

Date	1958
Major Events of the Arms Race	The USA tests its own ICBMs

Date	1959
Major Events of the Arms Race	The USA deploys Polaris submarines capable of launching nuclear missiles close to the shore of the USSR

Date	1961
Major Events of the Arms Race	The USSR detonates the Tsar Bomba, a nuclear bomb which produced the largest ever man-made explosion

Date	1962
Major Events of the Arms Race	The Cuban Missile Crisis – for 13 days the world stood on the edge of nuclear war

Date	1968
Major Events of the Arms Race	The USSR develops an Anti-Ballistic Missile system to shoot down in-bound US missiles

Date	1968
Major Events of the Arms Race	The USA develops MIRV technology - allowing missile warheads to hit multiple targets from one missile

Date	Major events of the Space Race
1957	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.
1959	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.
1960	The USA launches Discovery XIV - the first satellite equipped with a spy camera.
1961	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.
1969	The American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, become the first men to walk on the moon.

Date	1957
Major events of the Space Race	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.

Date	1959
Major events of the Space Race	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.

Date	1960
Major events of the Space Race	The USA launches Discovery XIV - the first satellite equipped with a spy camera.

Date	1961
Major events of the Space Race	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.