Arms Race Flashcards

1
Q

What was the Manhattan project?

A

Secret military policy by the USA to create Nuclear Weapons completed by a group of scientists

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2
Q

How long did the USA have a nuclear monopoly for?

A

4 years

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3
Q

When did the USSR develop their first atomic bomb?

A

29th August 1949 at Semipalatinsk

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4
Q

What happened in Hiroshima August 1945?

A

The USA dropped an atomic bomb known as Little Boy in Japan

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5
Q

What was the Baruch Plan?

A

A plan which stated that the USA must share its nuclear knowledge but no other nation would be allowed to develop atomic weapons

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6
Q

When did the USA develop their hydrogen bomb

A

1950

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7
Q

When did the U.S. test their first hydrogen bomb?

A

Eniwetok 1 November 1952

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8
Q

What was the result of the hydrogen bomb tested by the USA?

A

It created in the seabed 60m deep a cloud of radioactive dust that measured 100 miles in diameter

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9
Q

When did the USSR develop their hydrogen bomb?

A

1951

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10
Q

What did the USSR develop 9months after the U.S. H bomb was tested?

A

A lithium bomb which could be deployed easier

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11
Q

What did the U.S. test in March 1954?

A

A lithium bomb

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12
Q

What is the B52 Stratofortress?

A

1955 - USA develop the first bomber with intercontinental range (delivery system)

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13
Q

What did the USSR respond with in 1956?

A

TU20 Bear - a delivery system that could deploy bombs with intercontinental range

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14
Q

What was the largest nuclear bomb ever tested?

A

1961 - TSAR BOMBA 50Megatons

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15
Q

What was the V2 Rocket (Nazi)?

A

Many Nazi scientists were captured & forced to work for SU.
They launched their first rocket in Kazakhstan 1957.

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16
Q

Why was the V2 Rocket so significant?

A

It was the first ICBM capable to carrying a thermo-nuclear bomb

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17
Q

What was Sputnik?

A

1st artificial satellite launched by SU

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18
Q

When was Sputnik I launched?

A

1957 - created great fear amongst USA

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19
Q

When was Sputnik II launched & who did it carry?

A

November - carrying Laika the dog into space

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20
Q

Why was America’s satellite nicknamed Kaputnik?

A

It launched rising half a metre then exploded

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21
Q

What were the Soviet Union the first to do in 1961?

A

Put a man in Space

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22
Q

What did Yuri Gagarin do?

A

He was the first to orbit space in the Vostok I

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23
Q

What did historian Gaddis term Khrushchev’s approach as?

A

Potemkinism - the process of building just enough capability to provide the illusion that there is more behind it

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24
Q

What happened during the Moscow Air Show in 1955?

A

Numbers of the planes were painted out so that there was an illusion of more flying past

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25
Q

What did the Gaither Report do?

A

In November 1957 the report from the CIA warned Eisenhower of the missile gap.

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26
Q

Why wasn’t Eisenhower bothered by the Gaither Report?

A

He placed his confidence in the supremacy of the U.S. Strategic Air Command which coordinated the deployment of B52 bombers

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27
Q

What did information from the U2 Spy plane in 1958 provide?

A

Information that the USSR were not as far ahead as they claimed

28
Q

In July 1960 what did the USA develop?

A

Polaris - worlds first submarine launched ballistic missile

29
Q

What did Kennedy order (increasing capability)?

A

The construction of 41 nuclear submarines & expanded the number of Minuteman ICBMs to 1054

30
Q

What did Kennedy commit the USA to do within 10years?

A

Landing on the moon

31
Q

How many warheads did the USA have compared to the USSR in 1962?

A

USA - 4000

USSR - 220

32
Q

When was the Cuban Missile Crisis?

A

1962

33
Q

When did US begin to influence Cuba?

A

Since 1898 after Spanish Rule - became the U.S. playground

34
Q

How was this relationship threatened?

A

The brutal regime of Batista was overthrown by Fidel Castro in 1959

35
Q

What did Castro want?

A

To make Cuba independent of American control

36
Q

What had happened by 1961?

A

Many American economic interests in Cuba had been seized & Castro announced his conversion to communism

37
Q

What was the Bay of Pigs?

A

Invasion of Cuba by anti-Castro supporters including 1500 cuban exiles supported by the CIA

38
Q

When was the Bay of Pigs?

A

1961

39
Q

What did the USA hope would happen as a result of the Bay of Pigs?

A

It would lead to an uprising against Castro

40
Q

What was the result of Bay of Pigs?

A

The invasion was a disaster & relations deteriorate

41
Q

What did the USA decide to do to Cuba?

A

Cut off its sugar trade which would destabilise the Cuban economy

42
Q

How did Castro react to USA’s sugar trade halt?

A

He asked SU if they wanted to buy Cuban sugar & appealed for arms

43
Q

What was Operation Mongoose?

A

A series of plots devised by the CIA designed to eliminate Castro & his regime

44
Q

When was the Cuban Missile Crisis?

A

October 1962

45
Q

What did the USA discover in 1962?

A

American spy plane brought back pictures of missile bases under construction in Cuba

46
Q

How many exiles & Americans were sent to Cuba to blow up lines, destroy crops shops & factories?

A

10,000 exiles 400 Americans

47
Q

Why did the USSR send arms to Cuba & build their missile base there?

A

USA had missiles in Turkey which was on USSR’s land border

48
Q

What two options was Kennedy faced with?

A
  1. Hawks - surgical air strike - Rusk

2. Doves - blockade of soviet ships to Cuba - Bobby Kennedy

49
Q

What did Kennedy announce Oct 22nd?

A

A naval blockade & quarantine line 800miles from Cuba

50
Q

What would happen if Soviet troops passed the quarantine line?

A

Action would be taken!

U.S. We’re on high alert with 54 bombers 150 intercontinental missiles aimed Polaris submarines 4 nuclear war heads

51
Q

What did Khrushchev do?

A

He sent a letter to Kennedy stating that he would remove the missiles from Cuba if the USA removed their missiles from Turkey

52
Q

What happened the 28th Oct 1962?

A

Khrushchev publicly announced the removal of missiles from Cuba
Whilst the USA secretly removed missiles from Turkey

53
Q

How did the CMC affect Khrushchev?

A

He was left humiliated & the soviet armed forces never forgave him leading to his dismissal in 1964.

54
Q

When was the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty?

A

1963

55
Q

What was the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty?

A

A step towards controlling nuclear arsenals it banned
1. Tests in atmosphere
2. Tests in space
3. Tests under water
However it still permitted testing underground

56
Q

What was the Hotline & when was it created?

A

1963 - a line between the US&USSR intended to umpiring communication between the superpowers to prevent conflict

57
Q

What was the Explorer 1?

A

1958- US first satellite

58
Q

How many strategic bombers did the USA have compared to the USSR in 1956?

A

USA-560

USSR-60

59
Q

How many strategic bombers did the USA have compared to the USSR in 1965?

A

USA-630

USSR - 200

60
Q

How long did the USA posses nuclear monopoly?

A

5 years until 1949 when USSR developed ABOMB

61
Q

What does MAD mean?

A

Mutually Assured Destruction
Both sides possessing so many nuclear arms & delivery systems that conflict would result in both sides being destroyed

62
Q

What was Kennedy’s strategy of dealing with communism?

A

Flexible Response?

63
Q

What was Eisenhower’s strategy to dealing with communism?

A

Brinkmanship & New look

64
Q

What strategy did Kennedy use during CMC?

A

Brinkmanship

65
Q

When & where was the first Nuclear bomb tested?

A

U.S. Tested the first atomic bomb in Alamogordo 16th July 1945

66
Q

What three impacts did the arms race have on the Cold War?

A
  1. Military strategy - both sides restrained & prevented armed confrontation
  2. Conventional arms - reduce nuclear arms to prevent devastation of war
  3. Civilian consequences - prompted technological innovation