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A Level M. Nichols SCIE 2011
THE NUCLEAR ARMS RACE
(1945-1991)
Theme 4: The Nuclear Arms Race, 1945-91
The Spread of Nuclear Weapons
The USA developed nuclear weapons during WWII. The Manhattan Project was lavishly funded and utilized the talents of a multi-national collection of scientists, including Americans, Hungarians, German Jews and Britons. It was led by Robert Oppenheimer, a man who would later repudiate his earlier views and campaign for nuclear disarmament.
President Truman would authorize their use against Japan, dropping two weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August 1945. It is the only time nuclear weapons (WMD) have been used in anger.
Why Truman used them remains controversial.
l Was he trying to save lives, by forcing a Japanese surrender? The allies would have lost many men invading the Japanese mainland (Okinawa had already given them a glimpse of Japanese fanaticism); some historians believe Truman’s experiences as an artillery captain in WWI had given him a compassionate and empathetic insight into what ground troops faced;
l Was he trying to intimidate the Soviets? Certainly, at Potsdam, Churchill suggests once the American president knew the Bomb worked (it had been tested in the New Mexico desert in 1945) he had become more arrogant towards the Soviets;
l Or did he just want to test a weapon that had cost billions to develop?
Their use certainly helped the Cold War to develop. Truman refused to share the secrets of the Bomb, not even with GB. Stalin was understandably worried, and set about acquiring the technology from spies like Klaus Fuchs. By 1949, the Soviets also had an A-Bomb.
The USA
The US would develop many types of nuclear weapon after 1945.
Use the internet site: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon to find the answers. Use the links also to help you. Dates are approximate.
Weapon / Date / Description / Implications for Cold WarGravity Bombs
/ 1953 / A relatively small explosion releases a huge amount of neutron radiation. It will kill masses of people, but not destroy infrastructure, and produce little fallout (dirt mixed with radiation) / Escalated the arms race as the US tested one in 1952, and by the autumn of 1953, the USSR also had H-Bombs. All this while the Korean War was going on, heightening tensions
Neutron Bombs
/ 1956 / Large, conventional-looking fission bombs that could only be dropped by heavy bombers like the B-29; small by later standards they had a maximum yield of
500 KNT. The US even today relies a lot on gravity weapons like the B28 (1958) - B83 (1983-) / These weapons are arguably the most dangerous, as they can be fired from anywhere and have great accuracy. The Americans developed nuclear-powered boats that can stay submerged for a long time. They still have 14 nuclear subs today.
Hydrogen Bombs
/ 1954 / Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles are fired from underwater vessels. The US developed Polaris, Chevaline, and later Trident I and Trident II systems, exporting them to GB / A US invention that would cause a lot of argument, as one missile could now carry say 10 individually targeted bombs. Led to many problems when it came to arms reductions talks.
SLBM’s
/ 1945 / Developed for use on the battlefield, as torpedoes, depth charges and artillery shells; even suitcase bombs were developed / A particularly controversial WMD as they were designed primarily to kill people. Carter cancelled them, but Reagan did not - ordering them in 1981
ICBM’s
/ 1963 / Much more powerful than Atom Bombs they are sometimes known as thermonuclear weapons as they rely on fusion. Their yield is theoretically unlimited and 100 Megaton devices are possible (though the largest ever tested was a Soviet one of 50 Megatons) / Triggered the start of the nuclear arms race as the USSR rushed to develop similar WMD to counter the advantage the USA now had in nuclear technology and numbers. They used espionage to gain the secrets they needed
MIRV’s
/ 1960 / Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles can be fired great distances and have high yields and a deadly accuracy / Given they involve a variety of delivery systems, and are often small and portable, they were easy to hide and deploy
Tactical Weapons
/ 1959 / Multiple Independently Targeted Re-Entry Vehicles are basically multiple warhead weapons. One missile can carry numerous weapons and hit various targets / Developed first by the USSR, they meant the two superpowers could destroy each other in only 30 minutes
Weapon / Date / Description / Implications for Cold War
Gravity Bombs
Neutron Bombs
Hydrogen Bombs
SLBM’s
ICBM’s
MIRV’s
Tactical Weapons
The USSR
At the height of the Cold War, the Soviets had between 16-45 000 nuclear weapons stockpiled. Though behind the US initially, in some ways they managed to forge ahead, especially in ICBM’s, explosive-yieldage, and in the space race.
Weapon / Date / Description / Implications for Cold WarGravity Bombs / August 1949 / Soviets test their first A-Bomb and stockpile 5 ‘Joe-1’s / Now the world was divided into two nuclear superpowers
Hydrogen Bombs / August
1953 / Tested its first (partial) H-Bomb known as the RDS-6S / Soviets now had the much more powerful weapon as well
Tsar Bomba / October
1961 / Most powerful nuclear device ever exploded was a three-stage 50 Megaton weapon that could cause third degree burns 100km from its epicentre! / Khruschev used it to intimidate the Americans, claiming the USSR was developing 100 Megaton devices like sausages!
ICBM’s / May 1957 / R7 a 3-Megaton missile developed as world’s first ICBM.
(The USSR, like the USA, also had numerous IRBM’s, MRBM’s, MIRV’s, ABM’s, SRBM’s and tactical weapons) / Now the USSR could hit US cities without the need for strategic nuclear bombers. The US responded with its own ICBM’s from 1959. The US quickly developed a lead, but Eisenhower and Kennedy would always claim there was a ‘missile gap’ in the Soviets’ favour, which, as they knew, was simply untrue
Discussion
1. Which nation originally had the most nuclear weapons?
2. When did the two superpowers reach a rough parity?
3. Which period saw the largest total stockpile of weapons?
4. Why did the numbers fall from the late 1980s and 1990s?
The Other Nuclear Powers
Using your text and internet sites match up the details with the correct nation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/listofstateswithnuclearweapons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_the_United_Kingdom
Nation / Date Acquired / Description / Implications for Cold WarUnited Kingdom
/ 1960 / Developed its nuclear weapons programme, with initial Soviet help, from the 1950s. By 1967, it also had Hydrogen Bombs, and later MRBM’s / Trying to assert itself as a regional power, and as a deterrent against Pakistan and China. It further de-stabilised an already tense region
France
/ 1952 / Had secretly developed weapons as a way of protecting itself against its Arab neighbours, and said to have sixth largest stockpile in the world. It jailed Mordechai Vanunu for twenty years, after he revealed their existence in 1986 / Concerned with its global status, but also determined to play a key role in NATO, alongside the USA; it was the third global nuclear power. During the Cold War it not only had SLBM’s, but also a strategic bomber force
China
/ 1974 / Created, despite fierce objections from nations like Canada, which had supplied peaceful nuclear technology / Developed as a guarantor of apartheid, but since abandoned after it signed the Nuclear NPT in 1991
Israel
/ 1990 / Produced six weapons in the 1980s, probably secretly testing them in the Indian Ocean (the Vela Incident) / De Gaulle’s forces de frappes, it was developed as much to maintain their status in the world as to ‘tear the arm’ from the Soviets should they ever attack
India
/ 1979 / Had developed and maintained its own weapons and nuclear submarines, despite the huge cost, after the 1956 Suez Crisis and increasing estrangement from the United States. / Developed weapons as a deterrent against both the US and USSR, but at a huge cost in resources (50% of all its electrical power in the test year!)
Pakistan
/ 1979 / The US’ closest ally had initially been denied American nuclear weapons technology by Truman, and so it developed its own gravity bombs and Blue Steel missiles. In 1957, it tested an H-Bomb. However, under Eisenhower, it acquired SLBM’s like Polaris (and later Trident) / Refused to declare whether it had them. Its possession led states like Iraq and Iran to try and develop their own WMD. Another example of how even its closest ally, the USA, could not control nuclear proliferation
South Africa
/ 1964 / Tested its first weapons 16 years after its neighbour and rival did. / Created its arsenal as a response to India, US imposed (ineffective) sanctions in 1990 on it
Nation / Date Acquired / Description / Implications for Cold War
United Kingdom
France
China
Israel
India
Pakistan
South Africa
Deterrence Theories
The irony of nuclear weapons was that they were never meant to be used. Instead their possession was meant to act as a deterrence to aggression.
Initially, the USA had a ‘First Strike’ policy. This meant that it would use nuclear weapons against, for example, an invasion by the USSR of Western Europe. The Strategic Air Command (SAC) under its unstable chief, General Curtis Le May, saw its role as to deliver a massive B-52 bomber assault on the Soviet Union itself. In the 1950s, its planes were kept on permanent standby and in the air 24/7. John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower’s Secretary of State, had a “massive retaliation” policy. Submarine commanders were even allowed autonomous control of their SBLM’s. However, as the Cold War developed US policy changed. The First Strike option was removed as immoral and de-stabilizing, and later only the President had the ability to order a nuclear attack. It was also altered by the fact that rough parity between the superpowers (as well as the invention of ICBM’s) meant it was no longer even practical. Instead the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) was implemented during the period of détente. This was the view that no side could win a nuclear war and in any exchange of thermonuclear weapons both would be destroyed.
Another shift came with the accession to the White House of Ronald Reagan. He had naïve ideas of developing a nuclear umbrella using Anti Ballistic Missiles and the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) or Star Wars programme. This worried the Soviets enormously as it seemed to indicate the Americans believed they could now win a nuclear war with a pre-emptive strike! It was for years a serious obstacle to successful arms talks.
The problems of deterrence can be summarized as:
l Does not deal with maverick or suicidal opponents bent on destruction; enemies do not always act rationally; Israel did not expect an attack from Egypt in 1973 because it believed the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) were so strong, Egypt knew it would be beaten; President Sadat attacked anyway;
l Deterrence led to an arms race which involved the fallacious logic (or syllogism) that ‘unless I have as many or more weapons than my opponent, deterrence will be negated’; and it created a ‘security dilemma’ scenario;
l Military build ups are not only de-stabilizing, but horrendously expensive and so create even further tensions within a nation; they also lead to a neglect of conventional forces meaning a nuclear war becomes more likely;
l The possession of huge stockpiles of weapons can be as much to do with national (or even personal) status as with deterrence; France, for example, has its forces de frappes arguably more to maintain its permanent seat on the Security Council than for genuine defensive reasons;
l An accidental launch can always occur or an over-reaction to say, a drifting weather balloon or a NATO military exercise (1983), can, and does, happen;
l Nor did nuclear weapons do much to hinder or solve conflicts in the Third World;
Questions
Use the site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mutuallyassureddestruction
1. What academic theory underpins MAD?
2. What US developed weapons system undermined MAD?
3. What was ‘second strike’ capability? Describe its rationale.
4. Why was the development of SLBM’s so de-stabilising? How were they superior to ICBM’s?
5. What was Carter’s countervailing strategy (Presidential Directive 59)?
6. What is BMD? Why did the USSR and later Russia dislike it?
7. Why would a missile launch from near the Sino-Russian border cause problems for the United States? What does this indicate about warning systems?
Test Ban Treaties
(See also page 23 in the ‘Globilisation of the Cold War’ booklet).
The 1972 SALT I agreement is called by Lundestad the most important of the arms limitation treaties. They were an important milestone and crucial element of détente. SALT I was signed by Nixon and Brezhnev in Moscow.
SALT II in 1979 saw new agreements signed by President Carter and Brezhnev in Vienna.
Problems & Limitations of SALT
SALT I had been unpopular with the Senate, which believed the Soviet Union was being allowed to keep more of its (bigger) missiles. Reynolds agrees, calling the terms of SALT I unfavourable to the USA.
SALT II was never ratified by Congress, and then it was repudiated by Reagan in 1986 (but it had been honoured by both sides up until then at least).