The evolution of USSR's nuclear capacities

By maryamm19

  • THE FIRST BOMB

    The USSR exploded its first nuclear weapon at a test range in Kazakhstan.

  • The NEXT GENERATION OF BOMBS

    Moscow tests its first thermonuclear device

  • Sputnik launch

    The USSR launches Sputnik I, the first man-made satellite in space. The advances in technology which were theoretically capable of delivering a nuclear weapon startled the US national security establishment.

  • Tsar Bomba - 'The King of Bombs!'

    A thermonuclear bomb. It is the most powerful explosive ever detonated. The bomb was detonated at the Sukhoy Nos ("Dry Nose") cape of Severny Island in the Barents Sea near Russia.

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    16th-28th October 1962. JFK promised retaliation against the USSR for a missile attack launched from Cuba on any country in the Western Hemisphere and imposes a naval blockade on the island.

  • Limited Test Ban Treaty

    In August 1963, the US joined USSR and UK in agreeing to ban nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, outer space or underwater and placed significant restrictions on detonating nuclear devices underground.

  • Non proliferation Treaty signed

    The international framework to prevent nuclear proliferation treaty began in the UN in 1959. It was signed in 1968, it recognised the 5 existing nuclear weapons states at the time- US, USSR, UK, China and France and guaranteed other signatories the right to civilians the rise to civilian nuclear technology, however, prohibits them from acquiring nuclear weapons.

  • The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) 1

    Aimed at restraining the arms race.