ABSTRACT
The arms race competition is perhaps best called a controlled arms race, since the two superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union, were periodically negotiating arms control agreements that limited the numbers and types of weapons each side could build. The superpower arms race during the Cold War was characterized not only by a continuous buildup of weapons but also by periodic arms control treaties. According to the Canadian Army Journal, of the 1,587 arms races between 600 b.c. and 1960, all but ten culminated in war. The controlled arms race also led to technical developments that increased the risks of nuclear war. It undermined long-standing efforts to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons among other nations, terrorists, and criminals. The most terrifying feature of an arms race is the absence of a credible vision of a secure future. Of all the costs of the controlled arms race, the most difficult are the environmental ones.
