Cold war

Major Events of the Arms Race

1945 USA drops atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

1949 The USSR’s first successful atomic bomb test ends American nuclear monopoly

1950 The UK carries out nuclear tests in Western Australia

1952 The USA successfully tests the first Hydrogen bomb, 2500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb

1953 The USSR tests its own Hydrogen bomb.

1955 The USA publishes its Doctrine of Massive Retaliation stating that any attack on the USA or its allies would be met with incredible destructive force

1957 In order to launch the satellite Sputnik I, the USSR had developed a rocket. The same rocket was capable of carrying an atomic warhead for thousands of miles. This meant the USSR had created the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).

1958 The USA tests its own ICBMs 

1959 The USA deploys Polaris submarines capable of launching nuclear missiles close to the shore of the USSR 

1961 The USSR detonates the Tsar Bomba, a nuclear bomb which produced the largest ever man-made explosion 

1962 The Cuban Missile Crisis – for 13 days the world stood on the edge of nuclear war 

1968 The USSR develops an Anti-Ballistic Missile system to shoot down in-bound US missiles 

1968 The USA develops MIRV technology - allowing missile warheads to hit multiple targets from one missile

Major events of the Space Race

1957 The USSR launches Sputnik 1 - the world’s first telecommunications satellite. Sputnik 2 was launched later that year and carried a small dog named Laika – the first living animal to go into orbit.

1959 The USSR launches Luna 1 - the first man-made object to orbit the sun. The USA then sent Pioneer 4 to do a fly-past of the Moon, prompting the Soviets to launch Luna 2 at the moon.

1960 The USA launches Discovery XIV - the first satellite equipped with a spy camera.

1961 The USSR puts the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into space. The USA responds by launching its own Apollo missions, and Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space. President John F Kennedy challenges America to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

1969 The American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, become the first men to walk on the moon.