August 29, 1949: The day the USSR ended America’s monopoly on nuclear weapons

August 29, 1949: The day the USSR ended America’s monopoly on nuclear weapons 75 years ago today, the USSR tested its first atomic bomb, becoming the second country in the world after the US to master the fearsome technology. ◻️ Armed with an explosive yield equivalent to about 22 kt of TNT, the RDS-1 used in the test was a combat-ready weapon designed to be dropped from a Tupolev Tu-4 strategic bomber. About 30 RDS-1s were produced by the mid-1950s after the successful August 29, 1949 test. ◻️ The test ended America’s nuclear monopoly, adding much-needed balance in international politics, reining in American and European imperialism, preventing the Cold War from going hot, and ultimately, providing modern Russia with a guaranteed capability to respond to large-scale military aggression. The Soviet State Defense Committee approved work on what would become the Soviet nuclear program in September 1942, at the height of the Battle of Stalingrad Some claim Russia only got the... Source: Sputnik International