The arms race was a competition for supremacy between the USA and USSR and their allies. The race for superior technology was for world domination and a stepping stone for the expansion of the sphere of influence. The superpowers wanted to “become the first one” rather than being ranked at the same level. This could only be achieved by expanding their sphere of influence; the more the artilleries- the more the power. But, it was nuclear power and space dominance that the new superpowers were aiming for, to prove themselves as the only power.
The Nuclear Arms race actually began during the Second World War when the USA and Germany each began to research to build an atomic bomb. But it kicked off the cold war when Stalin was informed about the Manhattan project by his spies. Later, the advent of nuclear weapons with the drooping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima, the little boy by USA on 6th August, 1945 and fat man on 9th August, 1945 on Nagasaki had a crucial impact as the cause of the cold war and the nuclear arms races. Uranium, which was thought to be rare, was acquired by USSR in the late 1940s and shocked the world by detonating its first nuclear bomb in 1949, several years before USA had thought possible. The arms race was on. The United States then stepped up its efforts to develop the hydrogen bomb, which was 1000 times more powerful than the bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It achieved this in 1952, only to be followed by the USSR a year later. These new and terrifying weapons started an arms race between the major powers which was the cause of cold war and also an integral part of the war period. This also caused both sides to rethink military strategy and thus the way conflicts were handled during the cold war. Thus, though the arms race got more intense during the cold war with the launch of Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM), Anti-ballistic missile (ABM),Multiple Independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) and the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD); the arms race had already started before the cold war and is a major cause for it.
The two superpowers had a major ideological disparity as USA believed that Capitalism and liberal democracy was needed for the new world whereas USSR believed that it was the communist policies that the post second world war world needed. This major disparity later took a big form as world was divided into two blocs, communist and capitalist. Besides, that USA was fearful for the expansion of communism and thus, the concept of the spheres of influence started. The arms race also provided a platform to scare-off the rival and to gain more influence as most countries would be in the more-powerful bloc. Moreover, the nuclear development of one superpower would intimidate the second one. The dominos theory is applicable in this case as differing ideology caused the two separate communist and capitalist blocs trying to expand their sphere of influence, fearful of each other’s expansion resulting in the arms races. The arms races in turn, intensified the cold war. Thus, the arms race is a definite cause for the outbreak of the cold war.
The superpowers each thought that the other posed a thereat to them. Thus, Arms race was a way for that superpower to be prepared in case the other decided to do anything. The arms race is not only intensified in the nuclear level but also in the space level. There was an incredible technology race going on. The superpowers wanted to prove their supremacy by taking control of the space. The launch of Sputnik and sputnik II by USSR in 1957 sent the Americans to a state of panic as they became convinced of Soviet superiority in missile technology. The US congress and the media promoted this idea of a’ missile gap’. Later, the launch of explorer by the United States reconfirms this race for space supremacy. This demonstrates the importance of arms race during cold war.
