The Cold War is, for most, a rather confusing time in our history. War and social conflict were widespread and often Violent, Culture as we knew it was changing. The question has often been asked whether the Cold War was the cause of the arms race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. or if the arms race led to the Cold War. I personally believe that More than one arms race created the cold war, but the cold war also created several of it's own.
Many technological advancements occured during WWII; Planes, Boats, Guns, even Atomic weapons. While the western allies mostly shared these technology Russia was largely left out having devoloped many of these on it's own using combined research gained from working with germany Pre-WWII(H-Net). The rapid industrialization of countries like russia an japan Pre-WWII gave way to new ways of looking at technological and economical problems of the modern world; while they both imitated their neighbors
There is more than one type of arms race, of course there are weapon races, but there is also many economic, medicinal, and political "arms races" at play during WWII and during the Cold war. War time economies boom, there is no doubt about the economic boost that is gained by countries due to an overflow of new jobs and an enhanced work force. This is apparent in WW2 and through the cold war period, for example the american GNP rose from 200, 000 million to 300,000 million from 1940 to 1950 (About) and is often reasoned as the end of the cold war. Enhanced economies also bring new opertunities for technological advancement whether it be in actually technology or the method in which the products are produced. Other things like credit cards came into play during the cold war period, allowing people to spend money even when they don't have any. This was ground breaking for the american economy, based on the consumption of goods and the spending of large amounts of money the american economy exploded the GNP rose from...