The Arms Race

After the USA used nuclear weapons to defeat Japan in World War 2, the Soviet Union began to focus on building its own nuclear weapons and a 'nuclear deterrent'.

1940s and 1950s - The USA leads

On the 6th and 9th August 1945, the USA dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to defeat Japan and bring them to surrender. This ended World War 2.
On the 29th of August 1949, the Soviet Union completed its development of an atomic bomb. The USSR was 4 years behind the USA with its nuclear capabilities.
In 1952, the United States successfully built a Hydrogen bomb. Hydrogen bombs are estimated by experts to be 1,000x more destructive than the atomic bombs used in Japan in 1945.
In 1953, the USSR built their own Hydrogen bomb (H-bomb). They were now only 1 year behind the USA.

1950s - Neck and neck

Atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs were important because they allowed countries to do lots of damage to their enemies.
Missiles became very important because they allowed countries to remotely fire lots of missiles at their enemies quickly. The atomic bombs over Japan had been dropped out of planes.
In 1958, the USSR completed a test of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, called an ICBM. These missiles could be fired 5,500km (the distance from Lisbon to New York over the Atlantic Ocean).
The USA developed ICBMs in 1959, but the USSR had taken the lead in the Arms Race.

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

Whilst the Soviet Union didn't have nuclear weapons (before 1949), the USA knew that in a war, it could use nuclear weapons and win.
After 1949, both the USA and USSR had nuclear weapons.
After 1959, both sides could fire nuclear weapons 5,500km at each other.
If there were to be a nuclear war between the 2 countries, it is likely that both countries would have been completely destroyed, firing nuclear missiles at each other. This concept was called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).
This made using nuclear weapons seem like a worse option.

The Warsaw Pact

The Warsaw Pact was signed on the 14th of May 1955.
The Warsaw Pact was a rival to NATO (which was created in 1949).
It was an alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe (East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and more).

1The Cold War

1.1Early Tension

1.1.1The Grand Alliance

1.1.2Yalta & Potsdam Conferences

1.1.3Exam-Style Questions - Potsdam Conference

1.1.4Ideological Differences Between the Superpowers

1.1.5Early US-Soviet Relations

1.1.6End of Topic Test - Early Cold War Tension

1.1.7Grade 9 - Early Tension

1.2The Development of the Cold War

1.2.1The Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan

1.2.2East-West Boundaries

1.2.3End of Topic Test - East & West

1.3The Cold War Intensifies

1.3.1The Arms Race

1.3.2The Hungarian Uprising

1.3.3End of Topic Test - Developing Tension

1.3.4Grade 9 - The Development of the Cold War

1.3.5Exam-Style Questions - Hungarian Uprising

1.4Cold War Crises, 1958–70

1.4.1The Berlin Wall

1.4.2Czechoslovakia

1.4.3The Cuban Missile Crisis

1.4.4End of Topic Test - Cold War Crises 1958-70

1.4.5Grade 9 - Cold War Crises

1.5Attempts to Reduce Tension Between East & West

1.5.1SALT & Helsinki

1.5.2End of Topic Test - SALT & Helsinki

1.5.3Grade 9 - SALT & Helsinki

1.5.4Exam-Style Questions - Helsinki Accords

1.6The End of the Cold War

1.6.1Flashpoints

1.6.2Reagan & Gorbachev

1.6.3The Collapse of Soviet Control

1.6.4End of Topic Test - Reducing Tensions and The End

1.6.5Grade 9 - The End of the Cold War

1.6.6Exam-Style Questions - Eastern Bloc Collapse

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