Nuclear Strategy in the Cold War
A Handout
1952
• Americans explode an H-Bomb
• 1000 times more powerful than A-Bomb
1953
• Soviets explode an H-Bomb
1955
• U2 spy plane goes into service for the CIA
1957
• Sputnik• first satellite• (USSR)
1958
• ICBM• first intercontinental
ballistic missile • (USA)
1960
• Polaris
• American missile launched from submerged submarine
1960
• Triad System • an arsenal of ground,
air and water-based missiles
Massive retaliation
• American commitment to hit the USSR with everything in their arsenal if Russia launched an offensive
Flexible response
• A more sane approach. American commitment to use either conventional weapons or nuclear weapons depending on the level of force necessary.
Mutually Assured Destruction
• Logical result of the nuclear arms race. Both the USSR and USA have enough weapons to totally destroy their enemy. Therefore no war will start. It would be MADness.
1949
• USSR developed its own A-Bomb. US no longer had a monopoly on nuclear power.
1957
• USSR had a rocket capable of launching a nuclear warhead that could reach continental USA
1962
• Cuban Missile Crisis revealed that strategy of massive retaliation was too dangerous. Flexible response was more appropriate.
Co-operation
• Both sides agreed to a Test Ban Treaty (1963) and a Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty (1968)
• A hot line was installed between the White House and the Kremlin to allow a quick coordinated response to potential trouble spots.
• US allowed Soviets a free-reign in Eastern Europe.
Korea (1950)
• Korea erupted into civil war. USSR and China backed the north; US backed the south
Berlin (1961)
• Soviets sealed off West Berlin with a wall. Hope for German re-unification dashed. This was a provocation to the USA.
German Democratic Republic
Federal Republic of Germany
1949 – Partition of Germany becomes permanent
1961
JFK, 1961: “Ich bin ein Berliner”
Cuba (1962)• Soviets exported nuclear weapons to Cuba which
could hit American targets. Another provocation to the USA.
Vietnam (1964)
• Civil war in Vietnam escalates. USSR and China back the north; US backs the south.
East Germany (1953)
Hungary (1956)
Czechoslovakia (1968)“Prague Spring”
Behind the Iron Curtain
• Despite their nuclear superiority the Americans did not use massive retaliation. They stood by while Soviet tanks crushed anti-Soviet uprisings in Eastern European nations. Americans did not have the resources or stomach to challenge the Soviets in their own backyard.