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Overview
The five 'nuclear' states that signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – the USA, the USSR, the United Kingdom, France and China – held stockpiles totalling almost 70,000 nuclear weapons at the height of the Cold War.
Timeline
9th October 1941
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives the go-ahead to the "Manhattan Project", a well-funded research and development programme to build an atomic bomb.
11th February 1943
The State Defence Committee of the USSR resolves to develop a nuclear reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.
16th July 1945
First successful test of an atomic bomb in the USA.
6th August 1945
US President Harry S. Truman orders the first military use of an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima; three days later a second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.
29th August 1949
The USSR carries out its first successful test of an atomic bomb.
1st November 1952
First successful test of a hydrogen bomb in the USA.
12th August 1953
First successful test of a hydrogen bomb in the USSR.
12th December 1954
The American strategy of 'massive retaliation' (MC 14/2) is announced, under which deterrence will be guaranteed without excessive costs: military capability will be so deployed that the USA will be able to respond immediately to an attack with all available means and wherever it chooses.
4th October 1957
The USSR launches a satellite into earth orbit (Sputnik Shock´). America now fears that the Soviet Union could attack with intercontinental ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.
1st December 1959
The Antarctic Treaty is the first international agreement to designate a demilitarised zone free from nuclear weapons.
30th October 1961
The USSR explodes its biggest hydrogen bomb yet.
16th – 28th October 1962
The Soviet positioning of middle-range rockets in Cuba provokes the Cuban Missile Crisis, and brings the USA and the USSR to the brink of nuclear war. The crisis is only resolved through a secret exchange of letters, in which the Soviets agree to remove their rockets from Cuba and the Americans to remove rockets from Turkey.
5th August 1963
The USA, USSR and the UK sign the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
12th December 1967
1st July 1968
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is signed by the USA, USSR and UK, to come into force in 1970. All the nations of the world are expected to sign up.
26th Mai 1972
The USA and USSR sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM), to limit the spread of defensive rocket systems; and the SALT-1 Treaty (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks), which limits the number of strategic nuclear weapons systems.
22nd June 1973
Agreement on the prevention of nuclear war between the USA and the USSR.
18th June 1979
Signing of the SALT-2 Treaty between the USA and USSR: further reductions in the quantity and quality of strategic weapons systems are planned. The ratification of the treaty is postponed because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
8th December 1987
Signing of the INF Treaty (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces): the USA and USSR agree to disarm land-based middle-range systems.
31st July 1991
The USA and USSR sign the START-1 Agreement (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) to reduce the numbers of strategic nuclear weapons. It comes into force on 5th December 1994 after ratification by the United States Senate.
3rd January 1993
America and Russia sign the START-2 Agreement on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons. This envisages a further halving of nuclear warheads deployed by both sides.
24th September 1996
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, under which all types of nuclear weapons tests and all other types of nuclear explosions are banned. (Up to now, 150 states have ratified the Treaty – but not, amongst others, the USA.)
24th May 2002
America and Russia sign the SORT (Strategic Offensive Reduction) Treaty in Moscow. Both sides commit to reducing their strategic arsenals to between 1,700 and 2,200 nuclear weapons by 2012.
13th June 2002
The USA withdraws from the ABM Treaty, in order to expand its capability in the future to deploy more rocket-based defence systems than were allowed under the treaty.
8th April 2010
The USA and Russia sign the NEW START Treaty. This replaces the START-1 and SORT Treaties. Strategic delivery systems are to be reduced to 700 (plus 100 in reserve) and warheads to 1,500.
Recommended reading (a selection)
Stephanie Cooke, Atom. Die Geschichte des nuklearen Irrtums (Atom: The History of Nuclear Error), Köln 2011
Lawrence Freedman, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, Hampshire/New York 32003
John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know. Rethinking Cold War History, Oxford 1997
Helga Haftendorn, Deutsche Außenpolitik zwischen Selbstbeschränkung und Selbstbehauptung 1945-2000 (German Foreign Policy between Self-restraint and Self-assertion), Stuttgart/München 2001
Joachim Krause, Strukturwandel der Nichtverbreitungspolitik. Die Verbreitung von Massenvernichtungswaffen und die weltpolitische Transformation (Structural Change in Non-proliferation Policy. The Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Transformation of World Politics), München 1998
Uwe Nerlich, Trutz Rendtorff (Eds.), Nukleare Abschreckung – Politische und ethische Interpretationen einer neuen Realität (Nuclear Deterrence – Political and Ethical Interpretations of a New Reality), Baden-Baden 1989
Michael Paul, Atomare Abrüstung. Probleme, Prozesse, Perspektiven (Nuclear Disarmament: Problems, Processes and Perspectives), Bonn 2012 (i.E.)
Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, New York 1986
Michael Rühle, Gute und schlechte Atombomben. Berlin muss die nukleare Realität Mitgestalten (Good and Bad Atomic Bombs. Berlin Must Help Shape Nuclear Reality), Hamburg 2009
Bernd Stöver, Der Kalte Krieg 1947-1991. Geschichte eines radikalen Zeitalters (The Cold War 1947 – 1991. The History of a Radical Age), Bonn 2007
Useful Links
Externer Link: http://www.armscontrol.de/
Externer Link: http://www.atomicarchive.com/historymenu.shtml