After world war ii, the united states and the soviet union each boosted military spending to try to prevent the other from gaining a military edge. this pattern is called

The use of atomic bombs in August 1945 to force Japan to surrender fueled both the United States and Russia to an arms race. The two superpowers turned out Colossal stockpiles of modern conventional and non-conventional weapons of mass destruction, each committed to outgun the other. The Arms Race ended when both countries signed the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty of November 1990.