The Nuclear Arms Of The United States And The Soviet Union

In order to maintain peace and stability in the world, there must be a balance of power between countries. The Nuclear Arms Race was started because there wasn t a balance of power after World War II. The U.S. was the only country at that time which possessed nuclear weapons. Russia, fearing a United States domination of world power, developed a nuclear bomb of its own. Thus started the Arms Race, in which both countries attempted to gain the upper hand in terms of the number of nuclear warheads each possessed. However, the Arms Race ended when several treaties in arms reduction were passed. I believe that in the end, the United States and the Soviet Union realized that one country would eventually win, and the balance of power would†¦show more content†¦Typically, in popular depictions of arms races, the political calculations that start and regulate the pace of the game remain obscure. As Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr., has noted, â€Å"The strange result is that the activity of the other side, and not one’s own resources, plans, and motives, becomes the determinant of one’s behavior.† And what constitutes the â€Å"finish line† of the game is the province of assertion, rather than analysis. Many onlookers, and some participants, have claimed that the likelihood of war increases as the accumulation of arms proceeds apace. A close examination of the historical evidence reveals a different picture. Political purposes almost always drive and govern arms races. It is common for a major race to be initiated by a state interested in changing the political status quo. In some cases, the response of states content with the status quo is swift and resolute, but in other cases it is constrained by domestic political or economic considerations or diverted by diplomatic calculations. The course of an arms race has frequently exacerbated a sense of rivalry and occasionally even determined the timing of a war; but most often it has ended in a political settlement between rivals or in a decision by one side to moderate its buildup. The first competitive buildup in which contemporaries used the arms race metaphor seems to have been the naval rivalry in the late nineteenth century, in which France and Russia challenged Britain in the context ofShow MoreRelatedThe Cold War And Soviet Union840 Words   |  4 Pagesit caused in the United States and the West. Others believe the primary responsibility for the cold war derives from the hardline policies of the United States. (Viewpoints Article: the Soviet Union Start the Cold War) I believe The Cold War was triggered by the theory of two superpower countries in a race for dominance in the world of nuclear arms. 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