September 23 is the 60th anniversary of US president Harry Truman’s announcement that the Soviet Union acquires the atomic bomb. This event ratcheted up tensions in the Cold War considerably. Now, both opponents possessed nuclear weapons.
The military consequences were important. Both primary Cold War contenders now raced to beef up their nuclear arsenals. Soon, scientists perfected more destructive hydrogen bombs. Besides the bombs themselves, both the US and USSR now focused on how deliver them to potential opponents. At first, it was bombers. Then, missiles, and later, submarines.
The political consequences were enormous, as well. When the USSR acquires the atomic bomb, its international prestige rises. In the United States, this event, along with others to come, helps feed the anti-communist frenzy for which the 1950s is so notorious. US intelligence did not realize the USSR was so close to a successful test—therefore, suspicion arose immediately that American spies had shared crucial information with the Soviets.
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Consequences of when the Soviet
Union Acquires the Atomic Bomb
There are a great number of them, but I’d like to discuss just one, and it’s the most important one. By the 1970s, both the US and the Soviet Union had enough missiles in their respective arsenals to destroy every major city in both countries several times over. There was a very real possibility that one bad decision could ignite a war destroying human life on Earth.
Most of my readers probably remember that such a war almost began in November of 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fewer, however, know of a second major incident that almost had the same result. There is not space to elaborate here, but I’d invite anyone who is unfamiliar with Operation Able Archer to read about it immediately. It took place in 1983 and is, to my knowledge, the second time the world stood on the brink of annihilation. In both these cases, if certain people in the Soviet military had made aggressive decisions rather than cautious ones, it’s quite possible that none of us are here today.
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