1.2.8

Build-up to the Cuban Missile Crisis

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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

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 capabilites.
  • 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

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)

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

  • 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).
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1

Key Topics

1.1

Conflict & Cooperation 1918-1939

1.1.1The Treaty of Versailles1.1.2The Terms of Versailles 11.1.3The Terms of Versailles 21.1.4Versailles & the League of Nations1.1.5LoN Successes & Failures1.1.6LoN Failure - Upper Silesia1.1.7LoN Failure - Corfu & Washington1.1.8End of Topic Test - Treaties and Agreements1.1.9The Great Depression1.1.10Tension in Europe in the 1930s1.1.11WWII & Failure of the League of Nations1.1.12End of Topic Test - Tension in the 1930s1.1.13Grade 9 - Conflict & Cooperation
1.2

The Cold War 1945-c.1989

1.2.1Emerging US-Soviet Rivalry1.2.2Communism in the 20th Century1.2.3The Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan1.2.4East-West Alliances1.2.5Berlin Crises1.2.6The End of the Berlin Wall1.2.7End of Topic Test - East & West1.2.8Build-up to the Cuban Missile Crisis1.2.9The Cuban Missile Crisis1.2.10Cold War Conflict - Vietnam1.2.11Cold War Conflict - Afghanistan1.2.12End of Topic Test - The Cold War 1945-19891.2.13Grade 9 - The Cold War1.2.14Diagnostic Misconceptions - Russia vs USSR1.2.15Diagnostic Misconceptions - Stalin & the Atom Bomb1.2.16Diagnostic Misconceptions - The Iron Curtain1.2.17Diagnostic Misconceptions - The Truman Doctrine1.2.18Diagnostic Misconceptions - USSR vs Eastern Europe1.2.19Diagnostic Misconceptions - The Berlin Airlift1.2.20Diagnostic Misconceptions - The Berlin Wall1.2.21Diagnostic Misconceptions - Hungarian Uprising1.2.22Diagnostic Misconceptions - Stalin's Death1.2.23Diagnostic Misconceptions - Cuba1.2.24Diagnostic Misconceptions - Bay of Pigs
1.3

From the End of the Cold War to 9/11

1.3.1Reagan & Gorbachev1.3.2Consequences of the Soviet War in Afghanistan1.3.3End of Topic Test - End of the Cold War to 9/111.3.4Grade 9 - The End of the Cold War1.3.5Diagnostic Misconceptions - Fall of the Wall
2

Changing Interpretations

2.1

Changing Interpretations

2.1.1Appeasement2.1.2The Responsibility for Cold War Tensions2.1.3End of Topic Test - Appeasement2.1.4Grade 9 - Changing Interpretations

Practice questions on Build-up to the Cuban Missile Crisis

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  1. 1
    In which year did the USSR first successfully test an atomic bomb?Multiple choice
  2. 2
    Timeline of the Arms RacePut in order
  3. 3
    When was the Warsaw Pact signed?Multiple choice
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End of Topic Test - East & West

The Cuban Missile Crisis