Y10 GCSE History

THE ARMS RACE

To understand:

How USA and the USSR became nuclear powers

How an arms race developed between the USA and the USSR

LESSON OBJECTIVES

NAGASAKI RUINS9th August 1945

To end the war in the Pacific, the USA dropped two atomic bombs on Japan- One on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki.

The ‘Manhattan Project’ was a secret project created by the US government aimed at making the world’s first atomic weapon during WWII

The creation of the atomic bomb ushered in a new era- The Nuclear era

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

BACKGROUND

America maintained it’s nuclear monopoly until 1949

In 1949 the USSR had produced its own atomic bomb and became a nuclear power

But what happened next?

DATE OF TESTING OR INTRODUCTION INTO THE ARSENAL

ATOMIC BOMB

INTERCONTINENTAL BOMBER

JET BOMBER

H BOMB

ICBM

1945 1949

1948 1955

1951 1954

1952 1953

1958 1957

Why was it called an Arms Race?

Inter-continental Ball istic Missile

Original design came from the Nazis who planned to send rockets to bomb America in WWII (Projekt Amerika)

But as part of Operation Paperclip, the US govt recruited Nazi scientists after WWII to help with their own rocket development programme

ICBM Rockets were capable of travell ing over 5,500km, carrying a nuclear warhead

The USSR tested the fi rst successful ICBM in 1957

THE ICBM

The US developed nuclear weapons – CREATING the nuclear threat

The US developed the hydrogen bomb – REFINING the nuclear threat

The USSR developed the ICBM – making the nuclear threat GLOBAL

Task-Your task for today is to complete all the activities on the two task sheets on all the remaining issues surrounding the build up to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which we will be looking at next week

These include the U2 crisis and MAD

Use P342-346 to help you with your activities

WHAT WAS THE ARMS RACE?

Evaluate what you think was the most important development of the Nuclear Arms race

EXTENSION

Write a newspaper front page about what you think is the most important flashpoint of the nuclear arms race so far

Due next Thursday

HOMEWORK