Nuclear Arms Race1945-2002

By: Eric Loper

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The Contenders:United States:

Atomic BombHydrogen BombSDINMD & ABM Treaty

Soviet Union/Russia:Atomic BombHydrogen BombSputnik

Great Britain:Atomic Bomb

France:Atomic Bomb

China:Atomic Bomb

India and Pakistan:Nuclear Tests

Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty:S.O.R.T

Click on image for video of the largest Quit

United States: 1945The first nuclear test was done in 1945 by the United States. The device was an A-bomb, a technological achievement made possible through massive amounts of resources and the Manhattan Project. In the same year the U.S. would use this new technology on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Shortly after these bombings Japan had surrendered and WWII ended.

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United States: 1952The United States conducts the first hydrogen bomb test in Bikini Atoll, located in the Pacific ocean. The hydrogen bomb was named Ivan. The top right picture illustrates the magnitude as you can see the battle ships around the blast.

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United States: 1983Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), was a project that Ronald Reagan started to defend against a possible nuclear strike against the United States. The project is referred to as “Star Wars”, because the far fetched Idea at that time in history seemed impossible. The project was a defensive militarization of space, which cost billions of dollars in development. SDI never was completed and the project was aborted.

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United States: 2001The United States under the George W. Bush administration approved the National Missile Defense system (NMD) and withdraws itself from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty (ABM). The idea is to create protection against an nuclear strike against the United States. The U.S. came under heavy criticism from Russia and China for approving NMD and withdrawing from ABM as both of those states feel this could be a threat.

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Soviet Union: 1949Four years after the first atomic weapon was tested in the United States, the Soviet Union had developed and tested one of their own. This would further intensify the relations between the two super powers, the United States and Soviet Union.

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Soviet Union: 1954The Soviet Union successfully tests its first hydrogen bomb. This bomb proved to the world that the Soviet Union has the resources and technology to build and further develop its nuclear arsenal.

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Soviet Union: 1957Soviet Union conducts the first successful space satellite. The primary focus of Sputnik was to gather temperature readings, but to the rest of the world and the United States, Sputnik brought great fears that the Soviet Union was surpassing everyone in the arms race and in new technology. This would also mean that the Soviet Union now has the capability to launch a nuclear weapon across the continent. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile or (ICBM).

Radio broadcasts were sent across the United States of the noise Sputnik made.

Click here to listen

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Great Britain: 1952Great Britain conducts its first successful A-bomb test on the Monte Bello Islands.

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France: 1960 and 1968Successful test of the atomic bomb in 1960 and successful test of the hydrogen bomb in 1968.

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China: 1964China launches a successful nuclear test of the hydrogen bomb in 1964.

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India and Pakistan: 1998India and Pakistan have been rivals for decades and in 1998 both countries tested nuclear weapons, creating more uncertainty in the region.

The test missile on the left is India’s and the test missile on the right is Pakistan’s. The picture below is Pakistan’s test. As you can see the debris and smoke coming off the mountain since the bomb was tested underground. Atmospheric and underwater testing had been banned in 1963 under the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which is why there is not a “mushroom cloud”.

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Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty: 2002S.O.R.T is a treaty between the United States and Russia signed in 2002. The treaties goals are to “establish a genuine partnership based on the principles of mutual security, cooperation, trust, openness, and predictability”. Committed to implementing significant reductions in strategic offensive arms, both states by the year 2012 may not exceed more than 1700-2200 nuclear weapons each.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia is pictured on the left and George W. Bush president of the United States is pictured on the right.

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Sourceshttp://www.behance.net/MartinMiller/frame/56260

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/05/19/us.russia.nuclear.talks

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images-cdn01.associatedcontent.com

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB94/tb02.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.granitegrok.com

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/CUSEDS/Events/WSW/2007/sputnik

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.burpelsonafb.com/coldwarmedia/images

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40149000/jpg/_40149887_marshalls_bikini2

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