Arms race

This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (June 2007)

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (May 2007)

The term Arms race, in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for real or apparent military supremacy. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation.

Contents 1 Examples of Arms Races 2 Other uses 3 See also 4 Literature

Examples of Arms Races

• The period preceding World War I, when Germany, Britain, France and Italy were competing to build the most powerful battleship. Lewis Fry Richardson made an arms race model, trying to retrodict World War I, where he showed how two countries would go to war if more money was spent in the arms race than in trade.^{[citation needed]}
• At the geopolitical level of the 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union developed more and better nuclear weapons during the Cold War (see: nuclear arms race). Immediately after World War II, the United States was behind the Soviet Union in the area of intermediate range missiles, but they managed to catch up with the help of German scientists. The Soviet Union committed their command economy to the arms race and, with the deployment of the SS-18 in the late 1970s, achieved first strike parity. However, the strain of competition against the great spending power of the United States created enormous economic problems during Mikhail Gorbachev's attempt at konversiya, the transition to a consumer based, mixed economy, and hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union. Because the two powers were competing with one another instead of aiming for a predefined goal, both nations soon acquired a huge capacity for overkill.

Other uses

More generically, the term "arms race" is used to describe any competition where there is no absolute goal, only the relative goal of staying ahead of the other competitors. An arms race may also imply futility as the competitors spend a great deal of time and money, yet end up in the same situation as if they had never started the arms race. An evolutionary arms race is a system where two populations are evolving in order to continuously one-up members of the other population. For example, a predator / prey arms-race involves predators evolving more effective means to catch prey while their prey evolves more effective means of evasion. This is related to the Red Queen effect, where two populations are co-evolving to overcome one another but are failing to make absolute progress.

In technology, there are close analogues to the arms races between parasites and hosts, such as the arms race between computer virus writers and antivirus software writers, or spammers against Internet service providers and E-mail software writers.

See also

• Cold War
• Missile Technology Control Regime
• Space Race

Literature

• Richard J. Barnet: Der amerikanische Rüstungswahn. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1984, ISBN 3-499-11450-X (German)
• Jürgen Bruhn: Der Kalte Krieg oder: Die Totrüstung der Sowjetunion. Focus, Gießen 1995, ISBN 3-88349-434-8 (German)

v • d • e Cold War Participants   NATO · Non-Aligned Movement · People's Republic of China · Warsaw Pact 1940s Yalta Conference · Operation Unthinkable · Potsdam Conference · Gouzenko Affair · Iran crisis · Chinese Civil War · Greek Civil War · Restatement of Policy on Germany · Truman Doctrine · Marshall Plan · Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia · Tito-Stalin split · Berlin Blockade · Western Betrayal 1950s Korean War · First Indochina War · 1953 Iranian coup d'état · 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état · Uprising of 1953 in East Germany · First Taiwan Strait Crisis · Poznań 1956 protests · Hungarian Revolution of 1956 · Suez Crisis · Sputnik crisis · Second Taiwan Strait Crisis · Cuban Revolution · Kitchen Debate 1960s Congo Crisis · Sino-Soviet split · U-2 Crisis of 1960 · Bay of Pigs Invasion · Cuban Missile Crisis · Berlin Wall · Vietnam War · 1964 Brazilian coup d'état · U.S. Invasion of Dominican Republic · South African Border War · Transition to the New Order · Bangkok Declaration · Laotian Civil War · Greek military junta of 1967-1974 · Cultural Revolution · Prague Spring · Goulash Communism · Sino-Soviet border conflict 1970s Détente · Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty · Black September in Jordan · Cambodian Civil War · Ping Pong Diplomacy · Four Power Agreement on Berlin · 1972 Nixon visit to China · 1973 Chilean coup d'état · Yom Kippur War · Strategic Arms Limitation Talks · Angolan Civil War · Mozambican Civil War · Ogaden War · Sino-Vietnamese War · Iranian Revolution 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan · Olympic boycotts · Polish Solidarity Movement · Central American Crisis · Able Archer 83 · Strategic Defense Initiative · Invasion of Grenada · Romanian Revolution · Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 · Singing Revolution · Fall of the Berlin Wall · Revolutions of 1989 1990s Breakup of Yugoslavia · Dissolution of the USSR See also Bricker Amendment · Glasnost · Iron Curtain · McCarthyism · Operation Condor · Operation Gladio · Perestroika · Soviet espionage in US · Soviet-United States relations Establishments Central Intelligence Agency · Comecon · European Community · KGB · Stasi Races Arms race · Nuclear arms race · Space Race Ideologies Capitalism · Liberal democracy · Communism · Stalinism · Trotskyism · Maoism Propaganda Pravda · Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty  · Voice of America  · Voice of Russia Foreign policy Brezhnev Doctrine · Ulbricht Doctrine · Carter Doctrine · Containment · Domino theory · Eisenhower Doctrine · Johnson Doctrine · Kennedy Doctrine · Nixon Doctrine · Ostpolitik · Peaceful coexistence · Reagan Doctrine · Rollback · Truman Doctrine · Marshall Plan Timeline of events · Portal · Category

---

No comments have been added.

Your name:
City:
Country:	USA UK India Pakistan UAE Saudi Arabia Germany Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burund Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Rep Chad Chile China Columbia Comoros Congo Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic DR Congo Denmark Djiboutil Dominica Dominican Rep Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Eq Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Grenadines Guatemala Guinea Bissau Guinea Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Macau Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Nepal Neth Antilles Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Rawanda Romania Russia Sao Tome Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Korea South Africa Spain Sri Lanka St Kitts_Nevis St Lucia Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvala UAE Uganda Ukraine Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Western Samoa Yemen Yugoslavia Zaire Zambia Zimbabwe
Your comments:
Security check * (Please enter the number into adjoining box)