Cold War Shifts: Atomic Bomb and China

In the second half of 1949 two events took place which transformed the Cold War and shifted

the balance of power. On 29 August the Soviets exploded an atomic bomb. American intelligence

knew of this test almost at once, and Truman announced the news publicly on 23 September.

Then on 1 October Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

The communists had won the long civil war in China against the Kuomintang, and this enormous

country (with a population estimated at about 550 million) had joined the communist camp.

Communism was not so much on the march as advancing like an express train. These events shook

the Americans badly. They had expected their monopoly of atomic weapons to last longer than