Cold War Arms Race - 2351 Words

Drew Valerio Prof. McNally History 268 September 6, 2012 Introduction The Cold war dated from 1947-1991. It was characterized by both political and military superiority between United States, which was backed by its NATO allies, and Soviet Union that led the communist side. The cold war was mainly started after the success of the alliance that was formed against Nazi Germany. This competition supremacy on nuclear warfare attracted other countries that also started making nuclear weapons due to the tension that existed in the world. Both sides directed huge sums of money to their military budgets with each side trying to outdo the other. History of the cold war The relation’s gap between United States and Soviet Union were widened by†¦show more content†¦This was after a public outcry that the country must rapidly build up its block of ICBM’s. The United States then went ahead to develop U-2 spy planes, which played a great role in helping United States spy the Soviet Union weapons and facilities. This build up forced USSR to try and catch up with United States development at all costs despite its weakening economy. One of the following developments was the announcement by United States that it possessed submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the third and most effective delivery system developed. The USSR maintained silence until 1968 when they too started using the new technology. This new technology came up with various new challenges because the country had very few harbours that could service its nuclear submarines (Phillips, 2003). In 1968, the Soviet Union came up with a new development- the building of antiballistic missiles defence systems. These were to be used for nuclear, chemical, biological or even conventional warheads in the homeland defence of such a strike because they were designed to counter ICBM’s. As a method to counter this development, United States came up with multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles (MIRV’s) which improved the chances of avoiding detection by ABM systems. In addition to this, United States also developed its own IBM in order to match that of Soviet Union. During this period that countries were developing their own nuclear weapons, countries wereShow MoreRelated COLD War and the Arms Race Essay1686 Words   |  7 PagesCOLD War and the Arms Race When President Truman authorized the use of two nuclear weapons in 1945 against the Japanese in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, the nature of international security was changed irreversibly. At that time, the United States had what was said to have a monopoly of atomic bombs. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union began working on atomic weaponry. 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