USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -arms race, a pattern of competitive acquisition of military capability between two or more countries. The term is often used quite loosely to refer to any military buildup or spending increases by a group of countries. The competitive nature of this buildup often reflects an adversarial relationship.

Detailed explanation-2: -An arms race occurs when two or more countries increase the size and quality of military resources to gain military and political superiority over one another.

Detailed explanation-3: -Initially, only the United States possessed atomic weapons, but in 1949 the Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb and the arms race began. Both countries continued building more and bigger bombs. In 1952, the United States tested a new and more powerful weapon: the hydrogen bomb.

Detailed explanation-4: -Militarism (arms race): a competition between countries to see who can create the most powerful weapons. System of Alliances: when many alliances are made at the same time.

Detailed explanation-5: -Arms races are likely to be associated with war because offense advantage can make both an arms race and war a state’s best option, and because differences in force size, which are likely to be generated by an arms race, create larger incentives for war (Van Evera 1999).