Nuclear arms race

Cold War nuclear arms race
Part of the Post-WWII era and the Cold War
Left to right, nuclear bomb test Crossroads Baker; a Soviet RT-2PM Topol mobile ICBM; a flying LGM-30 Minuteman ICBM; the mushroom cloud explosion of the test Castle Romeo

DateSeptember 28, 1942 – December 8, 1987
(45 years, 2 months, 1 week and 3 days)
LocationUnited States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, China, France, India, Pakistan, atmosphere of Earth
Result
Competitors

South Asian Arms Race
Commanders and leaders
Major operations

Costs

Est. $5.5 trillion

Near catastrophes
Cuban Missile Crisis
Able Archer 83
United States and Soviet Union/Russia nuclear weapon stockpiles

The nuclear arms race was an arms race competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War. During this same period, in addition to the American and Soviet nuclear stockpiles, other countries developed nuclear weapons, though no other country engaged in warhead production on nearly the same scale as the two superpowers.