The Nuclear Arms Race Begins
Think about two rivals constantly trying to outdo each other - that's exactly what happened between the superpowers after World War II. The Soviet Union shocked the world in 1949 when they successfully tested their first nuclear bomb, ending America's nuclear monopoly.
The Americans weren't having any of it. They immediately ordered the development of an even more powerful hydrogen bomb and massively ramped up their defence spending from 50 billion by 1953. The Soviets matched this escalation, nearly doubling their own military budget during the same period.
This arms race created a vicious cycle where each side felt increasingly threatened and responded by building more weapons and forming new alliances. By 1961, tensions had reached boiling point, with crises in Berlin and the infamous U-2 spy plane incident making things worse.
Key Point: The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before, showing just how dangerous this arms race had become.
