Nuclear Weapons
First Soviet Union tested atomic bomb: Success.
A while after the United States had successfully test "Trinity" (the first atomic bomb), the Russians were able to obtain the blue prints of the Trinity design. On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union had tested its first atomic bomb at Semipalatinsk Test Site. This event makes the United States not the only other country to have nuclear weapons and launches the Cold War.
Nuclear Arms Race
Picture of U.S first tested hydrogen atomic bomb.
In 1952, the United States had tested the first hydrogen (theorem-nuclear) bomb beating the Russians' creation of the "Super Bomb". The nuclear arms race soon became the focus of the Cold War. A nuclear arms race is a competition to see who has the better nuclear warfare between the United States, Soviet Union, and their allies.
The New Policy
On January, 1954, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announced the policy called "Massive Retaliation." The policy says that any major Soviet attack would be met with a massive nuclear response. There was a serious confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that took place in October, 1962. That confrontation was called the Cuban Missile Crisis that almost caused a nuclear war. Click on the button below to learn more.