One, if not the most prominent way that the nuclear arms race stabilised the cold war was the threat of one being launched, both the USA and the USSR were both already threatened by the ideological capabilities of each other, which is why they feared the nuclear arms race would extend to not just trying to achieve the upper hand over their opponent. The fact that both sides were developing their nuclear weaponry and rapidly gaining a vast amount of nuclear bombs meant that it acted as a defence strategy in warning the up and coming countries who thought they would have an opportunity in joining the world superpowers, such as China. The damage that the weapons could cause were enough to not just warn each superpower of the sheer control that the other had but it warned the world too. An example of how the
He had blamed Iraq to be holding terrorists, he had made America believe that Iraq had been under Saddam Hussein’s clutches and that whatever he had to say was law. President Bush had stated in his speech that, “Saddam Hussein is harboring terrorists and the instruments of terror, the instruments of terror of mass death and destruction, and he cannot be trusted. The risk is simply too great that he will use them or provide them to a terror network”. He had made Americans believe that Hussein was creating weapons and developing a nuclear weapon so that he could “blackmail” the world. President Bush had not trusted Saddam Hussein and he didn’t want rest of America to either.
The main aspect that lead to the Cuban missile crisis was the arms development between 1945-1963. The competition between the USA and USSR lead to bigger and more dangerous weapons, the increased threat these weapons bought created great tension that could only end with firing upon one another or a significant reduction of nuclear arms. In 1949 the USSR had matched the USA with the development of their own atom bomb. This sparked the battle for dominant power with the rapid development of hydrogen bombs, inter-continental ballistic missiles and huge advancements in satellite and missile delivery systems. These developments changed the US policies of brinkmanship and massive retaliations, as these methods only worked while the USA remained militarily superior.
After the debatable “success” of the atomic bomb there was talk of using it again Every country now wanted to know who had one, where it was kept, and when/if they would be using it Causes Differences between the US and the Soviet Union were intensified by suspicions after the war. Power was largely shared between the Soviet Union and the United States. As one wanted to dominate the other conflicts were inevitable. Cold and warm Open warfare is referred
The nuclear arms race made the world a more dangerous place 1949-63 During the course of history many Arms races have developed, however this one was different. These nuclear weapons possessed an incredible amount of destructive power which meant that both superpowers, the USA and USSR, found themselves in a situation where doing everything to intimidate their adversary by being the more superior superpower to prevent direct nuclear warfare was vital. It is for this reason that this stage of the cold war is seen by some as the most key stage as well as a pivotal turning point. From what looked like initially a simple issue at first with more of these weapons being produced therefore the world would become a more dangerous place it can be assumed. This isn’t case with as this arms race progressed it became clear about the catastrophic dangers nuclear warfare would bring if the weapons were ever deployed.
The Cold War changed American culture in a number of important ways. Fear of communism greatly increased due to rising tensions with the Soviet Union. Politicians of both parties often tapped into that fear and ran for office based on how strong they would be against communists. And fighting communism always involved the threat of nuclear war since both the U.S. and Soviet Union had nuclear weapons trained on each other. President Dwight Eisenhower's military plan relied on nuclear stockpiles rather than land forces.
the Cold War was a contest between the USA and the Soviet Union. It led to the existence of thousands of nuclear weapons, two universal ideologies in conflict, and two different self-images, the United States championing a world made safe for democracy. Its opponent, the Soviet Union advocated world Communism. The United States prides itself on its heritage of freedom, a refuge for persecuted religious groups, a land of liberty that successfully rebelled against the imperial power of Britain in 1776. Its guiding principles were the protection of the individual’s life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and the establishment of a constitution that embodied the best political idea of modern times, a system of checks and balances so that the president,
Although they became allies during WWII to eliminate their common enemy – Nazi-Germany – the superpowers had set themselves up for a great conflict. Aggressive actions and opposing ideologies had developed that would confirm the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine, the Long Telegram, and NATO are all examples of these actions due to opposing ideologies. These actions are seen as official causes of the Cold War; nevertheless, other factors played a large role in starting the conflict. The two opposing ideologies caused the war to a certain extent, but the fear and revenge that grew out of the ideological split were
Essay topic: is there such a thing as strategic culture? Introduction: Traditionally the term “strategy” has been used to define how, in the pursuit of a particular interest, the military power is used. In particular, until the Cold War, the study of strategy was finalised only to the understanding of military events, typically battles, and the evolution of military technology, in order to provide the armed forces with tactical manuals. The advent of the nuclear weapons and the Cold War changed the way in which strategy was conceived and studied. Accepting the immense power of destruction of a nuclear weapon it was immediately clear, at least in the western world, that a nuclear war could not have a winner.
Fears of ideological shifts in the political stage over Western and Eastern Europe also shifted the intensity of foreign policy intervention of both sides. Furthermore, the invention of the Atom bomb grossly increased the Soviet suspicions of the spread capitalist imperialism, leading to an arms race which expanded not only military presence in other countries, but also led to the rapid development of space programs. This war was not only limited to an increase in military and political involvement, but also a tightening of cultural and social reforms, sowing the seeds of ‘McCarthyism’ within the U.S. and strengthening Stalin’s paranoia of western imperialism. The geopolitical stage set after World War II emerged two superpowers, the U.S.A and USSR. The Soviet Union had lost more than 20 million of its people, compared with the American losses of less than half a million.