Role of Arms cum Space Race in Cold War
This article analyses how the Arms Race and Space Race affected the Cold War and the world at large.
• Prevented the Development of a Nuclear War through MAD
The concept Mutually Assured Destruction was formulated shortly after the beginning of the Cold War, with reference to the arms race. Both countries, the USA and USSR, had stocked up a whole arsenal of nuclear weapons during this period, and continually competed with each other to outpace the opponent’s technology. Each country had enough nuclear weapons to kill off the entire world twice.
It was only after the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the MAD theory actually verified. The theory essentially states that because each country will also perish should it use its own weapons against its enemy, both countries would refuse to go to war against each other. During the Cold War (Arms Race in particular), such stockpiling of weapons occurred, and both countries were essentially waging a test of endurance against each other (in technical terms, brinksmanship), as shown by the picture above, trying to push each other to the limits to press the nuclear button, to detonate their nuclear missiles. As also demonstrated in the Cuban Missile Crisis, both countries were not willing to actually do so. The Arms Race was supposedly to pose a threat to each country (though there were also other motives behind the race), in the sense that it sends the message to its opponent: “you had better not provoke me, because I have the power to kill you.” Yet, not one party was willing to press that nuclear button at any point in the Cold War (despite coming very close to doing so), testifying to the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction.
The idea of MAD has prevented the development of any major nuclear war. This is highly evident during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, an event which was caused (albeit indirectly) by the Arms Race. Khrushchev knew the potential danger of the weapons and had no intention to start the war (“we had no desire to start a war” Khrushchev [1977]) and even though Kennedy expressed his willingness to wage a nuclear war against USSR, it was clear that he would only resort to that if he had no other alternatives. Therefore, the MAD theory, which arose from the Arms Race, prevented a nuclear war from happening. Fortunately.
The theory of MAD had guided the USA in much of their defense policy in the Cold War, though it was not official that it was being employed. Yet, it was most evidently put into use during the Kennedy Administration. While it is acknowledged that MAD itself is a very dangerous policy to use (there are many flawed assumptions that underlie the theory), it was being implied in many US policies and was used in the rhetoric of many political leaders from both superpowers.
• Maintenance of upper hold (as a symbol of power and strength)
As mentioned by Shengyi in an earlier post, the Arms Race and the Space Race were clearly avenues for the two superpowers to demonstrate their technological prowess and strength, to the other party and to the whole world. As compared to the other aspects of the Cold War, the races were more direct avenues. While it seems somewhat childish and sadistic to spend immense amounts of taxpayer money to developing destructive weapons, it seems to be the case that showcasing power and strength is an important part in the countries’ agenda. (Conversely, it can also be argued that traditionally large amounts of money has been allocated to the defence budget. The amount of money spent on nuclear weapons per person living in the United States in 1998 was equivalent to $22000, somewhere around the GDP per capita of Portugal today.)
Conversely, it can also be interpreted that the Arms and Space Race were symbolic of the power and superiority of one ideology over another. Their progress was an indication of the success of communism and capitalism in general, and as with the policy of détente, or peaceful coexistence, both countries were trying very hard to outdo each other in this aspect and tried to prove to the world that their model was the most ideal.
Because of the big budget spent on the projects in both the Space Race and Arms Race, both countries were unable to channel more resources into developing other areas of the economy- economically speaking, there was the presence of allocative inefficiencies, and had many negative externalities. Not only was money needed to develop and test the weapons and space equipment, money was pumped in for intelligence and defensive measures. Socially it created an atmosphere of secrecy. The USSR found the continuation of the Space Race and Arms Race a challenging marathon to win, as it used a larger amount of its industrial power to support the races. Since the growth of USSR industries (Average growth 4.8% before 1950-1975, 1.85% after 1975) is lower than its growth rate for weapon output, the USSR outstretched its industrial power to compete with U.S.A in the arm race, while at the same time ignoring the light industries and domestic economic issues. These factors might even have contributed to the long-term effect of the collapse of the USSR.
With the race for superiority came the sacrifice- the price of development.
• Space development and other technological advances
The Space Race first begun with the launch of Sputnik in 1961, signaling a great success for both USSR and mankind alike. The Space Race accelerated the development of space technology, for the competition among both parties proved a strong enough incentive and pressure for the countries to develop the best technologies in the shortest possible time. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was established in 1958, with the aim of facilitating the growth of the space industry in the United States. Scholarships were given out to support further studies into space technology and massive amounts of budget were dedicated to the agency. The launch of the first man to the moon in 1969 was a landmark for all of humankind, or in Neil Armstrong’s words, “one big leap for mankind”. If not for the Space Race, there would probably be not much incentive for either country (which were at that time the only few which had enough budget to fund such an exorbitant program) to dedicate the resources to venture into space, and the progress of space technology development would not have reached the pace it has achieved in the past few decades.
Furthermore, it can be credited to the Cold War for spawning the invention of the Global Positioning System and the Internet, both of which were technologies developed to boost USA’s defense but has since been developed to be available to the average consumer. Such projects are funded by the USA’s government agency Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). (Just for your information, ARPA, now renamed as DARPA with the word ‘defense’ added in front, had actually came to our school to give a talk last year.)
Since the Arms and Space Race spanned a few decades, we cannot isolate particular incidents and determine its effects on the Cold War and on the world in general. Yet, we cannot say that the Arms and Space Race did not play an integral role in the development of the Cold War either, for its long-term presence would indefinitely play a role in shaping the policies of both countries alike. Ironically, the Arms Race and Space Race have might made the already cold war even colder, for the steely edge of technology seemed only to distance the two factions further.
