The Cold War Intensifies 7 3 Nuclear Weapons

The Cold War Intensifies 7. 3

Nuclear Weapons • When we learn that the Soviets have the atomic bomb, Truman authorizes research on a thermonuclear bomb, which is many times more powerful than an atomic bomb.

Nuclear Bomb Yields • Kiloton = 1000 tons of TNT • Megaton = 100, 000 tons of TNT • Little Boy (Hirosima) = 13 Kilotons (390, 000 lbs!)

“Davy Crockett” -. 01 to 1 Kiloton Since this was the Cold War, American war planners thought nothing of arming troops with a W 54 nuclear warhead. The resulting weapons system was known as the "Davy Crockett, " and it's range was just 1 to 1. 5 miles. Which meant that depending on the range it was fired at, plus other factors like the direction the wind was blowing in, it might've been a suicide weapon for its 3 -man team under the right conditions.

Castle Bravo – 15 Megatons (3, 000, 000 lbs) • 1, 200 times more powerful than the atomic bombs which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII

The race heats up… • 1953 – We test our first thermonuclear bomb • 1954 – Soviets test their first thermonuclear bomb • 1954 – We test 19 thermonuclear bombs

TSAR bomb 50 megatons (10, 000, 000 lbs)

• • Mushroom cloud was 64 miles high Blast was felt in Finland Broke glass windows 1000 miles away Shockwave traveled the Earth 3 times

• The US government believes in a policy of deterrence. We will become so strong, no one will attack us • Brinksmanship – the ability to go the very edge of open war to achieve political goals • ICBM’s – since we had much better planes to deliver our bombs, the Soviets began to develop missiles • ICBM=intercontinental ballistic missile

The Cold War “Race for Space”

A time-lapse map of EVERY nuclear detonation from 1945 -2008 Click the box below to play the video