[fru_love]

what was sputnik and the significance of imbc's

[Mr Field]

Sputnik was the first satellite successfully sent up into orbit by the USSR. This demonstrated how nuclear missiles could potentially be fired on the USA. The USA was creating exactly the same technology at the same time. This was the Arms Race!

ICBMs (rather than IMBCs) stands for Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. These were powerful missiles that both the USSR and USA developed as part of the Arms race. ICBMs meant that nuclear weapons could be fired in one continent to another continent - this meant that both the USSR and USA could basically fire nuclear weapons anywhere in the world.

See more about the Arms Race at http://www.historyle...r_arms_race.htm

Quote

The nuclear arms race was central to the Cold War. Many feared where the Cold War was going with the belief that the more nuclear weapons you had, the more powerful you were. Both America and Russia massively built up their stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

The world greatly changed when USA exploded the H-bomb in 1952. This one bomb was smaller in size than the Hiroshima A-bomb but 2500 times more powerful. The Russians produced an H-bomb in 1953 and the world became a much more dangerous place.

However, it is possible that the sheer power of these weapons and the fear that they evoked, may have stopped a nuclear war.

USA produced a bomber - the B52 - that could fly 6,000 miles and deliver a nuclear pay-load. Such a development required massive financial backing from the government - something which America could afford to do and which Russia could not. Russia concentrated on producing bigger bombs - a far more cost effective procedure.

In October 1957, the world was introduced to the fear of a missile attack when Sputnik was launched. This was to lead to ICBM’s :  Inter-continental ballistic missiles. As a result, America built the DEW line around the Artic - Defence and Early Warning system.