Nuclear Arms Race! By Adam Damon and Grant Patrizio
Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 6, 1945 Fission bombs Developed in Americans’ Manhattan Project Intimidation against Soviets
F i s s i o n ! ! ! Unstable heavy isotope (U- 235, Pu-239) bombarded by neutrons Nuclei of atoms are split, creating lighter elements, and… –More neutrons, creating a chain reaction –Energy with each split, in the form of HEAT!!!
Stalin Bluffs… How typical Stalin pretended he didn’t care about US nuclear weapons Secretly worked on own nuclear weapons –Uranium mines from Eastern Europe and domestic mines –Massive funding to physicists –Spies
See, what’d I tell you? “Joe 1”
And they’re off! Soviets detonate first fission bomb August 9, 1949Soviets detonate first fission bomb August 9, 1949 –Almost identical to Fat Man Both nations want to be superior through nuclear weapons – More POWERFUL!!!Both nations want to be superior through nuclear weapons – More POWERFUL!!! Competition starts!Competition starts!
HYDROGEN FUSION!!! Behold… The Power of HYDROGEN FUSION!!! Both the US and USSR wanted to build something more destructiveBoth the US and USSR wanted to build something more destructive US detonated first hydrogen bomb November 1, 1952US detonated first hydrogen bomb November 1, 1952 Soviets followed with their own in August 1953Soviets followed with their own in August 1953
Hydrogen Bombs! A fission bomb compresses fusion fuel with gamma radiation Fusion fuel: Tritium,(3H) and Deuterium (H2) Fuses together from compression: helium 10’s of millions of degrees of heat
What now? The US wanted better delivery methods of bombs –Jet-powered bombers: B-47 and B-52 in early 50’s
The Soviets are Clever Deploy bombs using missiles ICBM’s – InterContinental Ballistic Missiles –Travel long distances, deliver nuclear warheads to anywhere in world –First revealed in delivery of Sputnik in 1957 –US builds their own (duh!) in 1959 Atlas, used in space missions
Nuclear Submarines? 1955: Soviets launch first SLBM, submarine-launched ballistic missile, from a diesel-electric submarine Improves mobility and accuracy of missiles US Polaris submarines –16 nuclear missiles, each with 4 warheads Another way to fight that is not actually used
Uh-oh…We’re Scared! Large radar arrays to detect missiles and bombers Underground bunkers and fallout shelters –Not actually effective
Mutually Assured Destruction Both superpowers knew it would be suicide to attack the other, so neither actually attacked!!!
Cuban Missile Crisis! October, 1962: Soviets try to readjust power against the US by stationing nuclear missiles in Cuba (Communist) Close enough to US coast that major cities were in danger
What does the US do? President John F. Kennedy decides to impose a quarantine on Cuba, so no more weapons will get in Brinkmanship: the US is ready to invade Cuba if the Soviet Union doesn’t get the missiles out
What does the Soviet Union do? Very difficult decision! A few days later, the Soviet Union agreed to remove their missiles if the US didn’t invade Cuba and if they would remove missiles from Turkey No more risky business!
Détente = Peace Economic problems in the Soviet Union from weapons Vietnam War costs in the US Both Richard Nixon and Leonard Brezhnev wanted to end the war Practical, outright negotiations with each other Cold war tensions dropped
Time for agreements! SALT I: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Soviet Union and US met November 1969 to May 1972 in Helsinki, Finland and Vienna, Germany –Froze the number of ICBM’s and SLBM’s in each country –Limited the number of ABM Systems in each nation
More Agreements SALT II Soviet Union and US agreed to limit the number of total ballistic missile launchers on June 28, 1979 Balance of power!
Star Wars! Ronald Reagan isn’t happy with détente Anti-communism drives his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), to protect the US against Soviet missiles –A space-based anti-ballistic missile system –Many Soviet negotiations reducing nuclear weapons were rejected because of plan Never happened
The End! Thanks for your kind attention.