Cold War - Arms Race Between US and USSR Which Lead to the Fall of Research Paper

Cold War - Arms Race Between US and USSR Which Lead to the Fall of USSR - Research Paper Example Both sides directed huge sum of money to the military budget with each side trying to outdo the other. History of the cold war The relations gap between United States and Soviet Union were widened up by differences in economic and political ideologies. As a result, each country started suspecting the other as fears of attacks rose to greater heights. These differences prevented them from coming into a mutual understanding an aspect that could have reduced the rivalry. Some of the key policies that widened this rivalry were for example, the case of Cuban missile crisis. In addition, immediately after World War II United States had monopolized knowledge concerning the raw materials that were required to develop nuclear weapons. United States thought that owning nuclear weapons would draw concessions and fear from USSR but, this was not the case. Soviet Union started by trying to match the weapons through working on the atomic bomb silently. A steady supply of uranium from Eastern Europ e provided hope to the Soviet Union. Although the project was so expensive for the country, they succeeded in making an atomic bomb. In mid 1950’s, Soviet Union detonated the first bomb in 1949 an aspect that caught the world unaware (Phillips, 2010). Arms race Decision by United States to drop nuclear bombs in Japan in 1945 signalled the starting of the cold war. This move also triggered main aspects of the cold war. A tense moment followed with both superpower being silent to each other in terms of arms up to 1949 when USSR tested its nuclear bomb that was known as ‘Joe one’. The weapon matched ‘Fat man’ which was dropped by United States in Japan. Once each country realized that their weapon power matched, they started funding research that was directed towards making stronger nuclear weapons that were of mass destruction. This resulted to increased quantities and quality of nuclear arsenals. The move saw both countries starting to develop a hydro gen bomb. United States was the first to detonate a hydrogen bomb in 1952. Following this move, Soviet Union intensified their effort to develop a more powerful nuclear bomb. In august 1953, the Soviet Union surprised the whole world by detonating a thermonuclear device despite not being a hydrogen bomb as many were expecting. Furthermore, in 1955, the Soviet Union exploded a hydrogen bomb an aspect that ended speculation that the country was working on hydrogen bomb (Ringer, 2005, p.67). The next major development followed in 1957 when USSR launched the first satellite that was called ‘sputnik’. This was the largest satellite that the world had seen before. In addition, it developed long range inter- continental ballistic missiles. These missiles were regarded as more advanced platform of nuclear weapons and that they were more effective system to deliver in comparison to strategic bombers that was initially used at the starting of the cold war. The soviet union were t herefore, able to proof to the world that they had the ability to launch a missile to any part of the world after they launched Sputnik in earth orbit. Following this incident, each country started concentrating on advancing the level of technology that was used to develop nuclear weapons. Although United States was developing missiles, it kept it a secret up to 1958 when it announced that it possesses missiles. This was after a public outcry that the country must rapidly build up its block of ICBM’