The new arms race has embraced all types of troops – air, land, and sea. The main result was creating a unique variety of strategic weapons: thermonuclear bombs, repeatedly exceeding the destructive power of atomic charges, and their carriers – intercontinental ballistic missiles, both stationary and mobile. In the conditions of the cold war that began in the second half of the 40s, scientific and technological development was stimulated by the needs of the military-industrial complex. This arms race was one of the causes of the Cold War.
President of the US Harry Truman outlined the government’s foreign policy program, expressed in economic, financial, and military assistance to non-communist regimes. In addition, this foreign policy company allowed the United States to openly interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and create networks of military bases on their territories. The basis of the Truman doctrine was the policy of containment against the Soviet Union, exerting pressure on the USSR and other countries of the socialist bloc.
In 1948, a plan put forward by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall and known in history as the Marshall Plan came into effect in the United States. One of its main goals was to stabilize the economy in European countries to prevent communist regimes from coming to power. The program, which lasted four years, assisted 17 countries in Western Europe with more than $12 billion. The states of Eastern Europe, under pressure from the USSR, refused to participate in it.
In 1949, the foreign ministers of 12 countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States) signed the Washington Treaty (the North Atlantic Treaty) with the aim of “strengthening stability and improving well-being in the North Atlantic region.” The treaty introduced a system of general security. According to one of the treaty points, an attack on one of the States’ parties of the agreement is considered as an aggression against all the countries that have signed it. Based on the document, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) began to function.
The Cold War left its mark on all cultural components, such as music, movies, books, television. Films about the history of the Cold War and the relationships between the USSR and the United States started to be released. Commercials were filmed that revealed the theme of totalitarianism of relations between the USSR and America. Humor also acquired shades of irony and sarcasm, and there were many discussions about the bombing, the laws adopted, and other things. As for art, the Soviet Union made the paramount choice in favor of ballet and chess, and the United States took interest in abstract expressionism and jazz.
It was an extended confrontation between two superpowers, the USSR and the United States. Therefore, both sides had nuclear weapons and did not want to unleash an open war, acting otherwise – under economic, commercial, and political pressure. At the same time, both the Union and America supported favorable regimes in other countries in different parts of the world, which led to several local military conflicts. In essence, the Cold War was an ongoing arms race and military buildup. The plans for a nuclear attack on the USSR, which accurately defined the bombing targets, the number of dead, and the timing of the attack, were thwarted. At the same time, the Western world was spared from the retaliatory attacks of the USSR.