...To what extent was the nuclear arms race a stabilising factor in the Cold War between 1949 and 1963? (June 2011) The view that the nuclear arms race was a stabilising factor in the Cold War between 1949 and 1963 is a view that should be viewed as correct as the stabilising factors outweigh the de-stabilising factors because a nuclear weapon was never used aggressively. It allowed the Cold War to be just that, a Cold War, and not one of direct aggression between the USSR and the United States. Despite this, the anxiety of both nations increased drastically and there were also de-stabilising factors such as the pressure of domestic politics and the fear of each other from both nation’s publics. Also, the ‘hot wars’ in Korea and Vietnam show that indirect aggression remained. Moreover, Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD, shows how the nuclear arms race was much more a stabilising factor than a de-stabilising one. There were many de-stabilising factors that occurred due to the nuclear arms race. The secrecy of the two countries was a major issue as it led to constant beliefs that one was in front of the other. An example of this is the ‘missile gap’ of 1957 that led to many Americans believing they were behind Russia in the arms race and therefore pressurised the increased development of nuclear missiles therefore costing the U.S a lot of money. This also shows de-stabilisation as it meant that the missile stockpiles continued to unnecessarily increase therefore unnecessarily...
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...From the period of 1949 to 1963, the Arms race was a period were there which saw two superpowers the USA and the USSR increasing their nuclear technology developments. The arms race ultimately prevented tensions from escalating into an actual fully fledged war. On the other hand there were de-stabilising factors that put both countries on the brink of nuclear warfare and the world at risk of annihilation, such as the pressure of domestic politics, hot wars in Korea and Vietnam, and the Cuban missile crisis. Regardless of these factors the war remained a Cold war. This is because the arms race created the most important stabilising factor which was mutually assured destruction. Both superpowers realised the devastating capability of Nuclear weapons and as a result they did not use Nuclear weapons. Therefore the arms race (and fear of the consequences of an arms race) outweighed the other de-stabilising factors to a large extent from 1949 to 1963. An important reason why the arms race was a stabilising factor in the Cold war is because it led to Mutually Assured Destruction. This is based on the idea that the existence of massive nuclear arsenals prevented the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States from devolving into outright war between the superpowers. The arms race helped to keep the war cold because both Kennedy and Khrushchev's administrations knew that due to the massive nuclear stockpiles on each side, outright war between the two sides would result in...
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...In the book The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy, Hoffman focuses on the arms race during the Cold War, and the events that led up to finally bringing it to an end. Hoffman’s book also goes into detail about the secret decisions and motives the United States and the Soviet Union had during the Cold War. Hoffman also draws in top secret documents deep within Kremlin, interviews, and memoirs from both the Soviet Union and the United States, which he introduces the soldiers, scientist, diplomats, and spies all witnessed the world going towards what was thought as a complete disaster. From this, the author draws in the official leaders and their influence in the Cold War during that time, telling stories of President Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, and others who fought to bring the arms race and the Cold War to an end. The author’s purpose for writing this book was that he wanted to deliver a narrative how the arms race during the Cold War officially came to an end, along with explaining the...
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...HOW THE FIRST NUCLEAR AGE STARTED AND HOW IT ENDED Introduction Nuclear, the most powerful energy fuel on earth has been discover on 8th November 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen when he accidently discover X-ray. According to Njolstand Olav in the Nobel prize website “The real Nuclear age started in 1939 when the President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt received a letter from physicist Albert Einstein and his Hungarian colleague Leo Szilard, calling to his attention the prospect that a bomb of unprecedented power could be made by tapping the forces of nuclear fission, just after the outbreak of World War II in Europe.” (Njølstad, 2003) This was a turning point in the beginning of the development of nuclear weapons in the world. After the first atomic bomb exploded in 1945, many countries in the world have been competing with each other to develop these weapons systems. The earliest countries to blow up nuclear weapons after the U.S. was the Soviet Union and followed by Britain, France and others. The existence of the nuclear weapon become the most powerful deterrence tool in the cold war between two ideologies. The collapse of the communist ideology in many communist country in the world, it is the signed of the end of cold war and the end of the first nuclear age. The First Nuclear Age Concerned with the ability of the Nazi Germany to produce the super weapon at that time, the President of the US in collaboration with Britain has ordered an ongoing research project...
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...To what extent did peaceful coexistence ease cold war tension between US and USSR 1953- 1961? Between the years 1953-1961 the Soviet Union under the control of Nikita Khrushchev adopted a rather ‘friendly’ and calm approach regarding American-Soviet relations. Following the death of Stalin, Khrushchev adopted the policy of ‘peaceful coexistence’ that sought a friendly approach to the west limiting the threat of direct confrontation. Through the use of this foreign policy Khrushchev could build up the soviet nation directing resources in order to better the Soviet Union’s national situation. This new policy eased cold war tensions as it saw an age of negotiating and the end of a fierce opposing ideological battle upon the surface, yet it is clear that beneath a rather more sinister situation was occurring that would create the most dangerous period in the cold war; ‘the threat of total annihilation’ so therefore it is not fair to say that peaceful coexistence was close to being reached during this period even though the attitude of the Soviet Union had changed. Although it may seem that peaceful coexistence eased cold war tensions as a friendly approach however, it is clear that the change of attitude to a peaceful approach only created further suspicion and the need for security. The threat of total annihilation and the development of a nuclear race created an increasingly tense and dangerous situation. After the development of the atom bomb and hydrogen bomb on both sides both...
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...Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions of radioactive elements such as uranium and plutonium to generate nuclear energy. The energy generates heat to boil water which then causes the steam turbines to rotate and generate electricity inside a nuclear power plant. The United States is the world’s largest producer of nuclear energy, accounting for 30% of the world’s nuclear generation electricity. The US currently has 100 nuclear reactors in operation, producing 800 million kilowatt hour of electricity in 2015. Since the early 1990s, the United States is currently the only superpower country in the world due to their economy, military, and political influence. The United States relies on nuclear power for over the past three-quarters of...
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...heralded the Second Cold War which saw a deliberate attempt to undermine the forces of communism. * Reagan’s actions/policies were described as a militarised counter-revolution. They were much more aggressive than those of Carter including extensive re-arming and providing convert help to those fighting against communist forces or governments. Action | Aim | Key Features | 1. Increasing Nuclear Arms | * Regain American military supremacy * Cripple the USSR financially – to compete they would face bankruptcy * Supremacy in arms would therefore grant the USA strength in all areas & force the Soviet leadership to make concessions | * An unprecedented increase in military spending – defence spending was increased by 13% in 1982 and over 8% in each of the following two years * New methods of deploying nuclear missiles developed e.g. Stealth bomber & Trident submarines * Strategic Defense Initiative – SDI – or ‘Star Wars’ est. 1983. The deployment of anti-ballistic missile systems in space | Source A – The SDI Concept Online Explanation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B62n953nQ4o * Advantages of SDI… * Disadvantages of SDI… Source A David Painter, The Cold War: An International History, 1999 SDI was a technologically ambitious and extremely expensive plan to develop a nationwide ballistic-missile defense system that would deploy weapons in outer space to destroy enemy missiles in flight. Popularly known as Star Wars, SDI threatened...
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...The Arms Race Arsenal A-Bomb (US 1945, USSR 1949) H-Bomb (US 1952, USSR 1953) ICBM (US 1957, USSR 1958) 1957 : USSR launch first satellite “Sputnik”into space. “Missile Gap” paranoia in USA ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missiles intercept & destroy nukes in theory)(USSR 1968, USA 1972) MIRV (USA 1970, USSR 1975) -Stockpiling of nuclear weapons seen as necessary by both parties -Technological advances made both USA & USSR feel vulnerable -Secrecy, need to catch up or to be one step ahead = fuelled arms race -This (building increasingly powerful & sophisticated weapons) continued until 1980s Key Ideas : Nuclear weapons have crucial impact on US foreign policy during Cold War : -gave rise to arms race (essential feature of CW, maintains CW hostility) -revolutionized military strategy -imposed great economic strain (hence end of CW? Debatable) Brodie (1946) “The Absolute Weapon” Main idea : before nukes the purpose of military = win wars after nukes the purpose of military = avoid wars Military victory in total war impossible for either side US Presidents develop different strategies on what to do with their nuclear arsenal Eisenhower & “Massive Retaliation” = the US will use every weapon if attacked, despite the consequences = the threat of an all-out nuclear war used to make sure it wouldn’t happen ? Kennedy & “Flexible Response” =exploring wider options beyond military forces Sec of State McNamara’s belief in possibility of limited, controlled and rational (...
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...Past Papers, Marks Scheme indicative content and examiners Report comments June 2010 A) How far did ‘peaceful coexistence’ ease Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the USA in the years 1953–61? Mark Scheme: Candidates should have knowledge about the main features of ‘peaceful coexistence’ in the period 1953-61. Developments which helped to ease Cold War tensions might include: the end of the Korean War (1953); Soviet settlement of border disputes with Turkey and Iran (1953) and recognition of Israel (1953); Austrian independence and improved Soviet-Yugoslav relations (1955); the ‘Geneva spirit’ based on east-west summit diplomacy and Khrushchev’s visit to the USA in 1959. Developments which sustained Cold War tensions during the period might include: US attitudes towards communism in the 1950s (domino theory, ‘roll back’, Eisenhower doctrine); Soviet concept of peaceful coexistence based on long-term victory of communism; the impact of the Hungarian Rising (1956) and the launch of Sputnik (1957); the U2 spy plane incident (1960) and the issue of Germany (1958-1961). At Levels 1 and 2 simple or more developed statements will provide either only simple or more developed statements about peaceful coexistence with either only implicit reference to the extent tensions were eased or argument based on insufficient evidence. At Level 3, students should provide some sustained...
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...Bassett COLD WAR ESSAY 3/5/13 1945-1950, wartime alliances between the United States and the Soviet Union broke down and the start of the cold war was off. The next 40 years, relations between the two countries differentiated between confrontation and détente. Each tried to increase their worldwide influences and spread its competing economic and political systems. During this period of time, the competitors were at the brink of war. What weapons were used during the cold war? One major weapon that was used to fight this war was money. On March 12, 1947, President Truman announced that he would give each Greece and turkey $400 million in aid. Giving these countries money will show that we are willing to help those in need of review; we will pick them up off the ground and push them in a better direction. (DOC.2) Another weapon that was used was alliances. The united states made a treaty call the` North Atlantic Treaty` which was signed by the U.S, CANADA, and ten other nations of western Europe in 1948. This treaty says that if either country is attacked, that we will have their back in war. Today there is 28 states in the treaty. Before his presidency, Dwight D Eisenhower was supreme allied commander and got that title in January of 1951. (DOC.4) The last weapon used to fight in the war was the arms race. The United States was the first country to create, test, and use the nuclear weapons to use on the Japanese to surrender at the end of WWII. The arms race was one...
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...Cold WarPatricia Hamilton Kaplan University OnlineSS310-Exploring the1960s- An Interdisciplinary ApproachMay 29, 2012Professor Rookstoolii Cold War I will be writing about longest war in history the Cold War . First, about the historical and political conditions of the Cold War. Explanation of specific threat against United States during the Cold War. Third, my preparation to prepare my family for Cuba Missile Crisis in the Cold War. Lastly, the question I was asked about the Cold War. Historical and Political Conditions of the Cold War The Cold War begin in 1945 until 1991. The Cold War starts with conflict between the Communist nation of Soviet Union and United States. Also, what type of government should rule Eastern Europe. Their three historical and political factor in 1960s about the Cold War Bay Of Pig, Vietnam War, and Cuba Missile Crisis. Also, United States and Soviet Union competed with each other through the arm race. The Arm Race to be first to build manufacture atomic and hydrogen bomb. Also, Both developed short and intermediate – range missile that will armed with nuclear warhead and to make a nuclear weapon to battle in war. Next, is the space race the Soviet build Sputnik and United States send man to walk on the moon. According to (Naranjo,May 6,2003) “The longest conflict of the twentieth century, the Cold War affected everything, from political ideology, foreign and domestic policy, to the presidency and the personal lives of Americans. With the...
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...The Military Impact of the Cold War on the United Sates Kin Ruan 4/8/12 D.Cooper Green Class Every big event usually has very huge impact affecting the world we are in nowadays. These events happened decide how the world is going to be, such as the Cold War that made changes in the U.S. military. The Cold War happened between the U.S. and USSR from 1945 to 1991. During the Cold War, the two superpowers were competing with each other. They had varieties of competitions in different ways such as nuclear arms race. One of the biggest reasons for their competitions is that the U.S. and the USSR have two different political systems. As the final result we occur today, the Cold War forced the U.S. to cease their nuclear weapons and instead focus on conventional weapons. Both the United States and the Soviet Union emerged right after the World War II as the two strongest powers in the world, advanced in various aspects such as technology, military, and economy. However, their development was based on two different political systems that to some extent go against each other. These two national systems were very different. The system in the U.S. called capitalism. Capitalism has been known by profit income, private wealth, competitive markets, and inequality classes. The system emphasizes on personal ownership and individual development. The system in the USSR called communism. It...
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...Are Nuclear Devices Global Peacemakers or Killing Devices? Right after World War 2, after two nuclear bombs were dropped in Japan by American Aircrafts, the war gradually and eventually ended. But with it began a new kind of war called the "Cold War". It is technically not war rather tension amongst nations. The two superpowers the Soviet Union and the United States were probably the most tensed nations. Some nations took side of the Soviet Union and some decided to stay neutral. The world has been in a peace state has been and a lot more stable since the cold war has begun. But can it stay that way? Nuclear weapons are scary and deadly. We all know that. They can wipe out a whole city in just a fraction of a second and kill millions and millions of innocent people. Their radiation is long lasting and fatal which can be found up to several hundred miles away from the impact zone, and can last over for decades. They can cause changes in our genes which last several generations. In Japan you can still find disabled children and adolescents due to defect in their genes cause by nuclear radiation. Well, now technically speaking nuclear weapons are killing devices, but it’s indeed wrong to say that since the invention of it, we haven’t had global peace. Actually, right after the bombing and the massacre, we have realized how terrible the consequences can it be. It’s that sudden realization that is keeping the peace. Deadly weapons are designed to annihilate, but in the right hands...
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...printingThe RePEc blog | | Arms Trade and Arms Races: A Strategic AnalysisMaria Garcia-Alonso and Paul Levine (p.levine@surrey.ac.uk)Chapter 29 in Handbook of Defense Economics, 2007, vol. 2, pp 941-971 from ElsevierAbstract: In this chapter we present the main characteristics and problems involved in the study of the arms trade: product definition and data, strategic aspects of the arms trade and regulation. We illustrate these aspects using the latest theoretical and empirical literature on arms trade. The papers reviewed illustrate the complexity involved in studying the arms trade. The nature of the exporters interaction in setting export controls and export policies raises the benefits of coordination in both export control and industrial policies. A failure to coordinate in one of these two policies tends to increase the incentives to deviate from an agreement to coordinate in the other policy, therefore, highlighting the importance of a unified approach to arms trade regulation. Issues such as differences in the security perceptions of exporters, the home bias and the characteristics of the competition between exporter firms may all make the implementation of export controls ever more challenging. Interestingly, although uncertainty will generally make matters worse, it may not if it decreases the effort that exporter firms put into producing higher quality weapons. We argue that supply side regulation will not be enough to prevent arms proliferation among initially...
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...minutes before midnight. Tensions were at its peak as the United States and the Soviets had their stock piles of nuclear warheads pointed and ready to be launched in response to an attack. The question this paper will be answering is, ‘what event was the trigger behind this near catastrophic situation?’ Although there is no specific event that all historians agree upon the cause of the Cold War, a Soviet cipher clerk who defected to Canada and exposing the Soviet spy ring in North America is largely credited as the man who start the Cold War. To determine whether a cipher clerk can single-handedly start the largest confrontation between...
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