Nuclear Arms Race Research Paper

796 Words2 Pages

Michael Lejeune
Mrs. Martinez
English IV, 4th Hour
4/18/16

Nuclear Arms Race: Winners and Losers

The Nuclear Arms race was not actually a race but a competition to see which country, United States or the Soviet Union, could produce more nuclear weapons than the other. This “race” started by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While the war was going on there was new weapons that were used and also introduced. In August of 1945 an Arms race began between the United States and the Soviet Union. Both sided contributed to the race by doing different things. The Soviet Union contributed to the race by launching the first spacecraft in space(Bently). This spacecraft was known as Sputnik, as a result of this people feared that Russia could send missiles to anywhere in the world because Russia had a bird's eye view of the whole world. Shortly after Russia released this spacecraft the United States was in hurry to get the first man in space. With the United States’ success they also had a bird's eye view of the world(Bentley). Both sides contributed to this
After the bomb was dropped the Japanese surrendered the war. Many people believe that the bombs weren't meant to cause destruction to the cities but to cause the Japanese to surrender(Ducksters). The United States dropped the bomb on these two cities because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack for the soldiers, they were expecting the Japanese to attack a couple of days later. The attack killed many soldiers and cause major mayhem at Pearl Harbor. This is the main reason the United States bombed
BBC.com. BBC.2014.Web.3 March, 2106
Burns, David, “Weapons of the Cold War,” Frameworks for Americans Past, Virgina Standards of Learning, 2011-2012.
The Cold War. Ducksters. Technological Solutions Inc. 2016. Wed. 1 March,

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