18.1.5

The Atomic Bomb

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The Atomic Bomb

The dropping of atomic bombs by the USA on Japan began a nuclear arms race between the USA and the USSR which would last until the end of the Cold War.

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The arms race

  • The USA had an atomic bomb that worked by the end of the war.
  • This gave it an advantage until the USSR developed its own in 1949 AD.
  • Tensions increased over the years of the war, as the two sides tried to build new nuclear weapons and get ahead of each other.
  • This became known as the 'arms race'.
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The hydrogen bomb

  • By November 1952 AD the US had tested a hydrogen bomb.
    • The USSR then successfully tested a hydrogen bomb in 1953 AD.
  • These hydrogen bombs were 2500 times stronger than the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.
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Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

  • If there was a war between the USA and USSR it was likely that both countries would be completely destroyed.
    • This was called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).
    • It was (and is) the only thing that stopped them from being used.
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Potential death toll

  • US intelligence at the time estimated that if Russia attacked the US with missiles then 20 million Americans would be killed and another 20 million would be seriously injured.

That would have meant a total of 40 million casualties (the amount of dead and wounded).

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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