Arms Race
The arms race was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons. Both countries had one major goal, and that was to show their superiority by having the greatest amount of weapons and the most powerful ones! The United States quickly began working towards the creation of the world’s first atomic bomb, and they code named this operation “The Manhattan Project”. Soon enough, on July 16th, 1945, a test bomb know as “Fat Boy” was successfully detonated. The arms race had begun. Shortly after, the bomb known as “Little Boy” was detonated in the Japanese city of Hiroshima and three days later another bomb nicknamed “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki.
After witnessing these events, the Soviet Union realized it had to catch up with the United States. On August 29th, 1949, the Soviet Union tested their first atomic bomb. The Soviet Union was back in the race. In 1952 the United States developed the Hydrogen bomb, which works by using atomic fusion to give off an extreme amount of energy causing a destructive explosion. The atomic used atomic fusion, which also produced a good amount of energy, but it was nothing compared to what the hydrogen bomb could do. Following the previous action of the United States, the Soviet Union began testing ICBM’s. ICBM stands for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and they are long range explosive devices that are used for crossing oceans and continents to deliver nuclear weaponry and attack far away nations. The Soviet Union made their first test on May 15th, 1957. The test ended in failure. However, the Soviet Union did not give up and on August 21st, 1957, they made their first successful test.
Once the Soviets successfully tested their first ICBM, the United States had to have one. They soon developed the Atlas Missile and it became operational in October 1959. A few years later, the United States developed the Minutemen Missile. This missile had the power to destroy civilization, so the destructive forces acted as a deterrent that maintained peace and prevented war. Times have changed since then and today the United States had around 7,700 nuclear bombs and Russia/the Soviet Union has around 8,500 nuclear bombs!
After witnessing these events, the Soviet Union realized it had to catch up with the United States. On August 29th, 1949, the Soviet Union tested their first atomic bomb. The Soviet Union was back in the race. In 1952 the United States developed the Hydrogen bomb, which works by using atomic fusion to give off an extreme amount of energy causing a destructive explosion. The atomic used atomic fusion, which also produced a good amount of energy, but it was nothing compared to what the hydrogen bomb could do. Following the previous action of the United States, the Soviet Union began testing ICBM’s. ICBM stands for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and they are long range explosive devices that are used for crossing oceans and continents to deliver nuclear weaponry and attack far away nations. The Soviet Union made their first test on May 15th, 1957. The test ended in failure. However, the Soviet Union did not give up and on August 21st, 1957, they made their first successful test.
Once the Soviets successfully tested their first ICBM, the United States had to have one. They soon developed the Atlas Missile and it became operational in October 1959. A few years later, the United States developed the Minutemen Missile. This missile had the power to destroy civilization, so the destructive forces acted as a deterrent that maintained peace and prevented war. Times have changed since then and today the United States had around 7,700 nuclear bombs and Russia/the Soviet Union has around 8,500 nuclear bombs!