Of all the competing issues that fanned the flames of the conflict that formed the core of the Cold War, none affected the outcome as much as the development and testing of nuclear weapons and the politics surrounding their management. After the long years of fighting during World War II, many of the old world powers were significantly weakened. The explosion of Little Boy and Fat Man by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, attracted the world's attention and demonstrated American superiority in technological and military might (atomcentral.com). Capabilities like this were well beyond the reach of any other country and would become a major factor in determining the global balance of power. Other countries craved the influence the United States had come to hold. Mainly a country with completely different worldviews and lifestyle than the United States. This country was the newly formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Widely known as the USSR, they soon began to gain ground with the United States in terms of nuclear technologies. A rivalry began between these two nations, until they became the undisputed world power. This rivalry would be evident on a global scale for many years into the future, emerging through the many altercations that were the Cold War. Although the Cold War, as a whole, was composed of many aspects, what primarily influenced its outcome was the same primary reason the United States originally positioned itself as a world power: the possession of advanced nuclear technologies. A deadly race began between these two countries, a race for nuclear dominance, a race that would define the Cold War. On September 3, 1949, the President of the United States of America, Harry S. Truman, announced ..... .middle of paper ......ng for ways to protect them, to finally find a solution. Even then, their usefulness and role in the eventual outcome of the Cold War cannot be denied. The world is a different place in many ways because of them. The United States is a world power, and the Soviet Union is all but gone, with its vast quantities of nuclear weapons scattered throughout the world. Works Cited http://www.tsarbomba.org/ http://www.nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/ TsarBomba.html http://www.coldwar.org/articles/90s/fall_of_the_soviet_union.asp http://www. atomcentral.com/hiroshima-nagasaki.aspx United Nations General Assembly and Disarmament Committee Conference. Convention on the prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of bacteriological (biological) and toxic weapons and on their destruction. Implementation of the decisions of the Geneva summit (c)