Berlin Blockade
the cold was faught between the soviet union and the allied forces
we were afriad that the soviets would use nuclear weapons
and germany was set up into 4 zones
during this blockade the soviet union blocked the railroads going into berlin to block supply lines
we created the idea of the organized Berlin AIrcraft
our planes dropped tons of supplies (mostly food)
the soviets were mad that we were in their zones and we wanted to make a compromise and we wanted germany to be rebuilt and they wanted it to become communist
the allied forces wanted to repair germany and the sovietrs wanted to destroy germany
stalin and the Red Army set up in east germany while the united states was in west germany
the blockade lased about 11 months
soviet union wanted to destroy germany because they didnt ever want to have to worry about them again
we set up this arlift called the Berlin Aircraft
This was when we supplied the people of Berlin with supplies
in fact the US flew in hundreds of thousands of planes a day and they could drop around 12 or 13 tons of supplies a day
In the winter the people in Berlin didnt have much food and lived mostly on potatoes, bread, and they had little to no electricity
that is why we had to drop supplies for the people in Berlin
soviets had offered to drop supplies down but the people of Berlin rejected their offer.
The US put B-29 bombers (could carry atomic bombs) on bases in great britain
The Nuclear Arms Race
the first nuclear weapons were produced by the US through the Manhatten Project in WWII
even though the soviet union was an allied power, the US wanted to keep the weapon a secret for they did not trust them enough
the first nuclear bombs were drooped on Japan in 1945 and were made of Uranium 235 (little boy) and Plutonium (Fat Man)
THe US had a monopoly over nuclear wepon production during the years following WWII
however the soviets were secretly developing their own nuclear missiles behind the scenes
we believed that the USSR would not have nukes until at least the mid 1950's
on august 29, 1949 the soviets detonated their first nuclear weapon, it shoked the world
the bomb was basically a copy of fat man
we called it Joe One
After both nations possessed the nuclear wapons, they bagan to race to get better, more efficent and higher quality bombs
intercontinental Ballistic Missiles or ICBM's were created. They could deliver missiles at any part of the world. Missiles were regareded as the best form of nuclear weapon, and didnt require the use of bombers
when the soviets lanched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, it was feared that they might launch a nuclear missile attack that would reach any part of the world. This also had a major role in starting the space race
satellites were designed to detect a nuclear strike before it happened
large bunkers were made to save leaders and citizens built fallout shelters
people were taught how to react to a nuclear strike in an act of civil defense
Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) was the US and USSR's mutual understanding that a nuclear strike from either side would cause massive damage to both parties
This came into play during the 1950's when either side had enough power to completely obliterate the other side
even if the opposing side launched first and obliterated the enemy, the otehr side would have means of sending a counter strike to destroy the first attacker.
This was known as a second strike
This is what lead to the realization that an attack from eitehr side would end them both, thus MAD came into effect and nuclear weapons were never used offensively again
Along with the US and USSr the united kingdom, peoples republic of china and france also developed small caches of nuclear weapons
the strategic arms limitations talks took place wheile Nixon was president. There were two SALTs
they were arranged to limit the size of each power's nuclear arsenal
along with the SALTs there were bans placed on nuclear testing, anti ballistic missile systems and weapons in space
this did little to discourage peoduction of mass amounts of nuclear weapons. New technologies such as MIRV's (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles) didnt help the cause much.
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