Entering the Nuclear Arms Race: The Soviet Decision to Build the Atomic Bomb, 1939-45

Abstract

This paper traces the path from the discovery of nuclear fission in Berlin in December 1938 to the Soviet decision of August 1945 to launch an all-out effort to develop the atomic bomb. There were, properly speaking, three main Soviet decisions during this period. The first was taken in 1940, when senior members of the Academy of Sciences decided not to turn to the government for funds for an expanded programme of research into nuclear fission. The second was taken in 1942, when Stalin, after learning of German, British and American work, approved a small-scale effort to develop the atomic bomb. The third decision was that of August 1945, when Stalin asked those in charge of the 'uranium problem' to break the American atomic monopoly as quickly as possible.