Cold war led to arms race …

Since the Cold War did not eliminate rivalries between the two alliances there were mutual suspicions between them. This led to an arms race. Huge stock of arms was considered necessary to prevent wars from taking place. Both USA and USSR wanted to prove their supremacy on the global stage. The two opposite bloc were sceptical to each other about their nuclear arsenals which led them to produce more and more nuclear weapons for their safeguard. On the other hand, both the sides understood that in spite of restraint, the war might occur due to the following reasons:

1. Miscalculation of the number of weapons in the possession of the other camp.
2. Misunderstanding the intentions of the other side.
3. A nuclear accident by mistake or by a soldier mischievously to start a war.

Thus, both the powers - the US and the Soviet Union - decided to limit or eliminate certain kinds of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons to maintain a stable balance of weapons. Starting in the 1960s, three treaties were signed. These were the Limited Test Ban Treaty, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Thereafter, the superpowers held several rounds of arms limitation talks and signed several more treaties to limit their arms.