-
Yalta Conferene
The Yalta conference held in Crimea, made some military and political decisions that were largely kept secret due to the fact that Japan and Germany were yet to be defeated. The ability for the participants of the meeting to reach a peaceful agreement was limited by the differences in outlook and personality but was also made near impossible by the fact that Stalin was in control of most of Eastern Europe. Stalin clearly controlled the negotiations and lead the conference from beginning to end. -
US bomber drops Atomic bomb on Hiroshima
Truman authorised the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6th 1945. U.S bomber B-29 dropped the bomb nick named as "little boy". Another bomb was later dropped on Nagasaki nicknamed "fat boy." The U.S bombing of Hiroshima killed an estimated 146,000 and the bombing of Nagasaki had an estimated casualty count of 80,000.
The reasons behind the U.S utilising their newly acquired piece of advanced warfare against the Japanese were that the US wanted to force Japanese surrender and minimise casualties. -
UN calls for elimination of atomic weaponry
The UN were opposed to atomic weapons from the beginning. The UN wished to control the development of atomic technology and tried to ensure that it was only used for peaceful purposes. Nuclear weaponry has been used twice in the history of its existence but is still seen as a danger to the worlds population on the 24th of January the UN created a commission that set out to ensure the disarmament of nuclear armed countries was enforced. This committee was named the atomic energy commission. -
Stalin delivers speech on cohesion of communism and capatalism
The soviets were provoked by Churchill's "Fulton speech". Stalin compared the entire western world and specifically the Americans to the Nazi's and Hitler, Stalin made a speech on Feb 9th 1946 in retaliation to Churchill's aggressive speech. Stalin stated that capitalism and communism could not successfully co-exist. -
US nuclear test's "operation crossroads" are undertaken at Bikini Atoll
A series of nuclear tests were conducted at Bikini atoll by the US. Two different explosions were detonated, one codenamed "ABLE" and the other "BAKER". Operation crossroads was later terminated because of concerns raised over radiation. The pigs, mice, goats on the vessels that were placed in the drop zone of the bombs were all killed and the ships left standing as "ghost ships". This series of tests greatly intimidated the USSR and caused tensions to rise once again. -
Formation of NATO is ratified
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) was created by the United States and included many other countries within western Europe and Canada to provide security against the possibility of invasion from the USSR against western countries. This organisation provided unity and protection for those countries that would otherwise be easily pushed aside by the soviet union -
Soviet Union conducts its first nuclear test.
'RDS-1' was the first nuclear test conducted by the Soviet Union in Kazakhstan on the 29th of August 1949. The atomic bomb detonated by the Soviets held 20 Kilotons of yield. The scientists that were employed to design and construct the piece of nuclear weaponry were honoured as "heroes of socialist labour". This invention upped the anti and created further tension between the soviets, the U.S and their western allies. -
Truman announces development of H-bomb.
On this day president Truman announced his approval of the continuation of the development of the H-bomb. The H-bomb was designed by physicist Edward Teller, the H-bomb was supposedly hundreds of times more powerful than the nuclear bomb. Truman approved mass funding for the development of the H-bomb which heated up the arms race and caused tensions to rise to another level between the soviets and the U.S. -
Great Britain make atomic bomb
To remain a superpower in the view of the world, Great Britain created their own nuclear bomb. Churchill wanted Britain to be able to break off with co-operation with the U.S when it came to weaponry so he denied information on Britains nuclear developments. Britain no longer wanted to depend on the U.S for protection and development of weapons so they invented their own form of nuclear weaponry in operation 'hurricane'. -
US tests first hydrogen bomb
The development of the first thermo nuclear weapon in the world by the U.S allowed a minor advantage for the west. This new found piece of weaponry was approximately 1,000 times more powerful than an atomic bomb. The arms race had greatly accelerated due to the development of the Hydrogen bomb cause the Soviets to follow on and create their own a year later. -
First Soviet Hydrogen bomb
The first Soviet Hydrogen bomb invented by Russian scientist Andre Sakharov, test yielded 400 kilotons of explosive power but was far less powerful than the previously tested U.S hydrogen bomb but the soviets had a distinct advantage that would allow the soviets Hydrogen bomb to be dropped by an airplane due to it being smaller in weight and diameter. -
Dulles policy
U.S secretary of state Dulles announces policy of "massive retaliation". This policy brought about the policy of M.A.D (mutually assured destruction). John Foster Dulles took an aggressive stance on the cold war and against communism. -
Sputnik launched into orbit by USSR
Sputnik was launched into orbit by the USSR. Thus launching the U.S into a competitive race to conquer the space race. The worlds first artificial satellite caught America off-guard. The U.S were worried about the capability of Sputnik's and the Russians ability to carry ballistic missiles much further than ever before. As soon as Sputnik was launched the US defence department approved for funding of their own American satellite project, thus creating the space race between the USSR and the U.S. -
Cuban Missile crisis
The world's leaders were intensely engaged in a standoff for 13 days. The installation of Soviet Nuclear weapons in Cuba caused the greatest rise in tensions in the history of the arms race and in the history of the world. The cuban missile crisis was the closest to mass destruction of the globe the world has ever come to. Nikita Khrushnev's offer to remove the Soviet missiles in exchange for the U.S promising not to invade Cuba. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S missiles from Turkey. -
Strategic defence initiative
March 23rd 1983 Strategic defence initiative was an initiative to create extensive an anti-ballistic missile system that would prevent any missile attacks from foreign soil for both sides and allow all tensions to come to an end and the arms race between the two great super powers of the world come to a final end.
