World War 1 Beneficial

War, what is it good for? Absolutely something. In modern history, war has led to many of the most important technological advancements of all time. World War 1 was really the first war to rely not just on pure soldier on soldier combat, but also machines and technology*1. Submarines, armored tanks, and military planes were all first used in a war scenario during World War 1. WW1 showed that developing new technologies was just as important as training and growing infantry population; this began the race to develop new weapon technology in order to get a step ahead of the enemy. The situation was much the same during World War 2, nations were flexing their power and ingenuity with the use of new weapons and other technology. In the years following World War 2, power vacuums existed across Europe and both Americans and

Soviets wanted to take advantage, attempting to spread their respective political and economic systems. After the use of the atom bomb in World War 2, the United States was still the only nation to possess the technology, but unfortunately soviets and others made it top priority to develop their own atomic bombs. This soon led to a race to prove technological superiority between the Soviets and America, with the byproduct being better quality of life and advancing technology for the civilian consumer.
The staple weapon of World War 2, the atomic bomb, was developed in secret by a group of scientists led by Julius Robert Oppenheimer, as it was believed that the germans had been working on developing an atomic powered weapon since the 1930s.

After successful testing, the newly developed weapon of mass destruction was deployed against the japanese in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which lead to Japan’s surrender. The Atomic bomb wasn’t about the actual damage caused by it, its about having the ability to decimate a whole dang city instantly, these very real threats were making citizens around the world fearful. The Fat Man atomic bomb developed had a yield more than 3000 times greater than the most powerful conventional bomb at the time; after seeing the destructive power of the Fat Man and Little Boy, the Soviets accelerated their development of nuclear weapons. By 1949* the Russians had managed to successfully test a nuclear weapon, the “Tsar Bomba” which translates to “King Bomb”, with a maximum possible yield of around 100 megatons (nearly 7000 times the yield of Fat Man) Tsar Bomba was capable of decimating everything within a 100 mile

radius**.
During the Cold War, enormous and terrifyingly powerful nuclear weapons weren’t the only things being developed by Dr. Oppenheimer, he was also toying with the idea of harvesting nuclear power to create sustainable energy. Creating a functional nuclear power plant was now a high priority objective, **not just for the betterment of society, but to prove that we were the superior technological force and that Democracy was superior to Communism. In 1945 a book titled The Atomic Age discussed peaceful use of nuclear power and depicted a future where fossil fuels would become obsolete, and included numerous potential applications of nuclear power. The first nuclear reactor to successfully achieve criticality went online in 1951, in 1954* the soviets had a nuclear reactor supplying 5 megawatts of power to a powergrid near moscow. Soon after in the US, amendments to the Atomic Energy Act were passed to rapidly declassify our peaceful nuclear reactor technology and encourage private development. This soon led to
During the war, while nuclear weapon development was reaching its peak, the Americans focused their resources primarily on bombs and our preferred method of deploying was via plane, while alternatively the Russians worked towards the development of missiles capable of long range flight because of the lower cost*. During times of elevated tension, the ability to have nuclear weapons capable of activation on a minutes notice is a crucial part of the US’s deterrence strategy, ensuring both the attacking and defending parties would be completely annihilated upon a nuclear strike. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles(ICBMs) are missiles launched well past the earth’s atmosphere where the warhead payloads are then detached and fall back to earth at high speeds; unlike bombers carrying nuclear payloads, these ballistic missiles are virtually impossible to shoot down once the warhead detaches and begins its journey back towards earth.** The massive threat of ICBMs during the Cold War is believed by many to have sparked what we now know as the space race, when news broke that the russians would be able to launch satellites into orbit capable of gaining information on the Americans military proceedings, Dwight Eisenhower responded by forming a government funded civilian led agency to direct the US’ future space endeavors, known as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The space race was the perfect platform for the Americans to prove their technological dominance, and flex their scientific muscle. Having already been beaten to the first ‘first’ by the Russians, the US had much higher aspirations, in 1961 John F. Kennedy asked his vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, to figure out how to catch up, he was soon presented with two options to demonstrate the First World’s celestial prowess: establish a orbital space station/laboratory or put the first man on the moon. Less than a year later, JFK authorized a budget increase for NASA to hopefully land a man on the moon before 1970 as he felt a successful manned moon landing was farther in the future and gave the Americans a fighting chance in being the first to achieve the ambitious feat.**