Nuclear Arms Race

In order to maintain peace and stability in the world, there must be a balance of power between countries. The Nuclear Arms Race started because there wasn 't a balance of power after World War II. Ronald E. Powaski, March to Armageddon (New York: Oxford University Press: 1989) 5.The United States was the only country, at that time, which possessed nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union feared the United States would dominate the world so the Soviet Union developed a nuclear bomb of their own. Ronald E. Powaski, March to Armageddon (New York: Oxford University Press: 1989) 5. This started the Arms Race, in which both countries attempted to gain the upper hand in terms of the number of nuclear warheads each possessed. Ronald E. Powaski, March to Armageddon (New York: Oxford University Press: 1989) 5. The nuclear arms race was instrumental in shaping the Cold War. Many feared where the Cold War was going with the belief that the more nuclear weapons one had, the more powerful one was. Both America and Russia massively built up their stock piles of nuclear weapons. Ronald E. Powaski, March to Armageddon (New York: Oxford University Press: 1989)5. However, the Arms Race ended when several treaties in arms reduction were passed and the Soviet Union pulled out due to lack of money. Ronald E. Powaski, March to Armageddon (New York: Oxford University Press: 1989) 5. Fearing a nuclear war, arms negotiations began in an attempt to lessen the tension. Up until these treaties, many lived in fear of nuclear warfare as the bombs and artillery of the United States and Soviet Union increased to record numbers. Martin J. Sherwin, A World Destroyed (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press: 2004) 16 The United States became the first country in the world to use nuclear weapons when they bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Atlantic Unbound, "Hiroshima and Nagasaki," available from http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/flashbks/hiroshima.htm; Internet;

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