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How Far Was the Nuclear Arms Race a Threat to World Peace in the Years 1949-1962?

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Submitted By CharlieJ
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The nuclear arms race between the years 1949 and 1962 was a threat to world peace. The main threat to world peace was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 but there were many other occurrences that made people truly believe that the Cold War could be the end of the world.
1949 is the year that the Soviets tested their first Atomic Bomb on August 29th. This shocked the US Government as they believed that the Soviet nuclear technology was much further behind than it actually was. Unbeknownst to them, the Soviets had spies in America who were giving information about the US’s nuclear technology back to the Soviet scientists. This sped up their Nuclear weapon program. The West were already suspicious of the Soviets; this suspicion played a huge part in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in April 1949. This was a step towards maintaining world peace. So although there were threats towards World Peace throughout 1949, the formation of NATO encouraged the general public that the Western governments were making sure that Communism wasn’t spreading and World Peace would be maintained.
The development of delivery systems also unnerved both sides and threatened World Peace. When Sputnik was launched by the USSR in 1957, the US became nervous. If the Soviets could send a satellite into space, then they should be able to get a nuclear weapon to mainland America. The American public could turn on a radio and hear the beeping noise that Sputnik was transmitting. This scared them and was what they perceived as a threat to World Peace. What also unnerved both Governments and public alike was the development of the missiles that were to carry the nuclear weapons overseas and land to their targets. The first Soviet ICBM was launched on the 15th May 1957 but it crashed after it had travelled 250 miles. The first successful test was launched on the 21st August 1957

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