Reference
- THE COLD WAR NUCLEAR ARMS RACEThe United States, with Britain, developed atomic weapons during World War II and used them as a means to force Japan's early surrender. The first (and so far last) use of these weapons in hostilities came in August 1945 with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By then the seeds of the Cold War were being sown as the two superpowers argued about the political reconstruction of postwar Europe. If the United States hoped that the Soviet Union would be sufficiently impressed by the destructive potential of a single bomb to become more conciliatory in its foreign policy, it was soon disappointed. Josef Stalin recognized that troops on the ground would determine the distribution of political influence in Europe and Asia, and he acted accordingly. By the time of Hiroshima he was already well informed about the American nuclear program, from sympathizers working within it, and he pushed forward with a Soviet program.
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Streaming Media
- Secrets of the Nuclear AgeSellafield is the keystone of the UK’s nuclear industry. Its story is the story of the nuclear age. Now, for the first time, Sellafield is opening its doors to television cameras. From the world’s first commercial nuclear reactor, to the first reprocessing facility ever to recycle used fission material, this is a revelatory tour around one of the country’s most controversial sites. Discover secrets that have been hidden for 60 years, in this remarkable account of humanity’s attempts—past, present and future—to harness the almost limitless power of the atom. A BBC Production.
- Century Of Flight: Cold War Skies 1945-89This episode of Century of Flight investigates the role of aviation during the Cold War era, and the massive technological advances brought about the nuclear arms race. Learn how the United States Nuclear Triad developed. Watch NATO and the Warsaw Pact form. Experience the G forces of supersonic jets, and find out how traditional fighters bested them in ground attacks and air to air combat.
- The Astonishing Growth of Nuclear Weapons in the 1950sIn the 1950s, the U.S. nuclear arsenal expanded at an astonishing rate: from 50 weapons at the start of the decade to 12,000 by the end. This rapid growth hinted at the dark realities of the global nuclear arms race.
Online Articles from the Library
Perspectives
Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy
"A tour de force of investigative history." --Steve Coll The Dead Hand is the suspense-filled story of the people who sought to brake the speeding locomotive of the arms race, then rushed to secure the nuclear and biological weapons left behind by the collapse of the Soviet Union--a dangerous legacy that haunts us even today. The Cold War was an epoch of massive overkill. In the last half of the twentieth century the two superpowers had perfected the science of mass destruction and possessed nuclear weapons with the combined power of a million Hiroshimas. What's more, a Soviet biological warfare machine was ready to produce bacteria and viruses to sicken and kill millions. In The Dead Hand, a thrilling narrative history drawing on new archives and original research and interviews, David E. Hoffman reveals how presidents, scientists, diplomats, soldiers, and spies confronted the danger and changed the course of history. The Dead Hand captures the inside story in both the United States and the Soviet Union, giving us an urgent and intimate account of the last decade of the arms race. With access to secret Kremlin documents, Hoffman chronicles Soviet internal deliberations that have long been hidden. He reveals that weapons designers in 1985 laid a massive "Star Wars" program on the desk of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to compete with President Reagan, but Gorbachev refused to build it. He unmasks the cover-up of the Soviet biological weapons program. He tells the exclusive story of one Soviet microbiologist's quest to build a genetically engineered super-germ--it would cause a mild illness, a deceptive recovery, then a second, fatal attack. And he details the frightening history of the Doomsday Machine, known as the Dead Hand, which would launch a retaliatory nuclear strike if the Soviet leaders were wiped out. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the dangers remained. Soon rickety trains were hauling unsecured nuclear warheads across the Russian steppe; tons of highly-enriched uranium and plutonium lay unguarded in warehouses; and microbiologists and bomb designers were scavenging for food to feed their families. The Dead Hand offers fresh and startling insights into Reagan and Gorbachev, the two key figures of the end of the Cold War, and draws colorful, unforgettable portraits of many others who struggled, often valiantly, to save the world from the most terrifying weapons known to man.