Nuclear arms race

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/nuclear-arms-race

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary belligerents?United States and the Soviet Union
2. What is the key strategic doctrine?Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
3. Why did the Soviet Union start building bombs after the U.S. did?They were scared that the U.S. would have all the nuclear power, so they wanted to catch up and keep their country safe.
4. How did the bombs get from one country to another?They used planes, rockets that fly in the sky, and submarines that travel under the ocean to carry the bombs to faraway places.

Deterrence: The prevention of a large-scale attack by the threat of overwhelming retaliation.
First Strike Capability: The ability of a nation to launch a surprise nuclear attack that destroys the enemy's ability to retaliate.
Second Strike Capability: The ability of a nation to retaliate with nuclear weapons even after suffering a first strike.
Nuclear Proliferation: The spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear technology, and nuclear information to nations not recognized as 'nuclear weapon states'.