Even though most people have never given it much thought, humanity nearly disappeared in a war without real fighting; this war received the name Cold War (SV; SV). The Cold War was a period of increasing tension between the United States and the Soviet Union several years after World War II. Nuclear weapons had a considerable influence on the arms race during the Cold War. At its peak, both superpowers had enough nuclear weapons to kill everyone on Earth! Although the Cold War had many different aspects when stockpiling weapons, the most notable was the invention of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons research began in the United States with the creation of the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was started when a British scientist arrived in the United States with the idea of ​​creating a new, more powerful bomb. The first test was conducted in Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945. This test showed the world that we had new technology that could be extremely dangerous to our enemies. The Soviets tested their first nuclear bomb four years later, in 1949 (“Nuclear War”). The arms race continued and soon weapons began to become far more deadly than anyone could have predicted. “From 1951 to 1965, the United States produced an average of 2,108 nuclear weapons per year” (Lindley). On May 12, 1951, the first thermonuclear hydrogen bomb, or H-bomb, was tested in the United States; this bomb was so much more powerful than the atomic bomb that research stopped shortly after its invention (SV;SV). Soon, research turned to submarine-launched ballistic missiles, called SLBMs, which were first tested in 1960 but were quickly outclassed by a new, more advanced type of weapon (" nuclear war"). Intercontinental ballistic missiles began to become... ... middle of paper ......ton, an entire civilization could be destroyed in the blink of an eye. Works Cited Jameson, Robert P. "The Shortening Fuse of Armageddon: How Advances in Nuclear Weapons Technology Driven Strategists to Mutually Assured Destruction, 1945-1962." Air Power History 60.1 (2013): 40-53 Academic Research Premier. Web February 27, 2014. Kristensen, Hans M. and Robert S. Norris. “Global nuclear weapons inventories, 1945-2013.” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 69.5 (2013): 75-81. Premier Academic Research. Web February 20, 2014. Lindley, Dan and Kevin Clemency. “Low-cost nuclear arms races.” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 65.2 (2009): 44-51. Academic Research Premier Web. February 27, 2014. “Nuclear War.” Hutchinson Encyclopedia. Electronic Library 2011. Web February 28, 2014. Weiss, Ann E. The Nuclear Arms Race: Can We Survive It? Boston, Massachusetts, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983. Print.