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U.S. successfully tested the first atomic bomb. The test was located 210 miles south of Los Alamos, New Mexico, on the plains of the Alamogordo Bombing Range, known as the Jornada del Muerto. The code name for the test was "Trinity." -
U.S. bombed Hiroshima, Japan. During World War II, the US military dropped an atomic bomb code-named “Little Boy '' on Hiroshima, Japan. There was an estimated death toll of about 140,000 people. -
U.S. bombed Nagasaki, Japan. 3 days later after the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, they dropped the second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. This bomb was code-named “Fat Man”. There was an estimated death casualty of 74,000 people. Japan then surrenders. -
The Soviet Union tested their first nuclear weapon, becoming the second nuclear power. This was code-named “First Lightening” and exploded in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. -
The U.S. began a series of tests with thermonuclear and hydrogen bombs on the Marshall Islands. These tests went on till 1958. These explosions were discovered to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
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The Soviet Union tested their first thermonuclear bomb close to Kazakhstan. Many Kazakhstan locals were harmed with devastating health issues in this testing.
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U.S. scientists tested another bomb, but this time they dramatically miscalculated the yield of the bomb. Due to this, many people living on the Marshall Islands were harmed by the radioactive fallout. -
The I.A.E.A. was established for international cooperation on civilian nuclear research. This establishment was anonymously approved by more than eighty countries.
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The U.S. conducts its first full-range ICBM flight through the Atlas missile program. -
The world's first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was conducted by the Soviet Union. This ballistic missile was seen as capable of hitting U.S. territory. -
The Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1, a satellite, on a modified version of the ICBM into orbit. -
France became the world’s fourth nuclear power when it conducted its first nuclear test in 1960
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When U.S. reconnaissance flights discovered that the Soviets were constructing secrets and missile bases in Cuba, tensions rose almost to a nuclear conflict in the Cold War. The Soviet Union agrees to remove its missiles after a thirteen-day standoff. When the Soviet Union agreed to this, the U.S. pledges publicly to not invade Cuba. They also confidentially agreed to pull nuclear missiles out of Turkey. -
The Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed by the top three nuclear powers, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. This treaty banned all nuclear tests that took place in the atmosphere, underwater, or space.
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The Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons was signed by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. By signing this treaty, these countries agreed to pursue general disarmament and forgo the acquisition of nuclear weapons.
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The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was signed by the United States and the Soviet Union. This treaty limits the country's deployment of missile defense systems to one ICMB site and their nation's capital.
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In this year, the Soviet Union and the United States were going to sign a SALT II agreement. This agreement placed further restrictions on their launch platforms and their nuclear weapons.
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The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. This started a nine-year war in which Soviet forces and allied Afghan communists fought a mujahideen resistance funded by the U.S. President Jimmy Carter asked the Senate to freeze consideration on the SALT II agreement. -
President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev held a meeting in Iceland that was extraordinarily last minute. These new leaders came close to, within ten years, abolishing their offensive nuclear weapons.
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The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed by President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. This treaty agreed to eliminate their country's arsenals of ground-launched, midrange nuclear missiles by 1991.
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The START treaty was signed by President George H.W. Bush and Gorbachev which was an agreement to deploy below six thousand by 2009. This agreement was a success for both sides.