Classroom simulation connection/analysis

The simulation that we did in class on March 12th was related to the nuclear bombs race in the Cold War. We had to attempt to trade with other countries to gather all the materials we needed to make our nuclear weapon. In reality we were attempting to assemble a flashlight. Despite the fact that we were only racing to assemble a flashlight, other students in my class took racing serious, myself included. Many group made promises with others to make alliances with them after the nuclear weapons were assembled, however they did this only to get what they needed. My group was a prime example of a "democratic country" wanting only what was in its best interest. First off my group only traded one battery with other groups, which was clearly in our best interest to conserve goods to have an advantage, because each group needed two batteries to fully assemble their bomb. The second example was that my group made alliances with other groups to ensure that we got all the goods needed, but we had no unified agreement inside our group to honor those alliances. Lastly, when one dictatorship offered us all of their supplies to make a almost completed bomb, we jumped at the chance because we were only concerned with the well being of our country. The main thing that I would like to be taken away from this is the fact that countries are automatically selfish, and truly only primarily concerned with themselves. In the Cold War we see this many times, to many levels of intensity. When the United States first tested and used an atomic bomb the Russians were quick to follow. A reason behind this would be the fact that Russia had spies in the Manhattan Project. However, when the Russians first tested their nuclear weapon the US was shocked. We then followed with attempting to make a hydrogen bomb. The reason behind all of this was that the countries were trying to race each other, and therefore out do one another. Once this race started, and competition became more aggressive. It is somewhat shocking how Russia and the US were Allies and then turned on each other. It had seemed that the leaders of the US, Russia, and Great Britain were getting along, it almost seemed as though they were friends when FDR nicknamed Stalin "Uncle Joe". However this dynamic flipped quite quickly when these strong powers no longer were fighting the common enemy. This shows how war unites those who in different situations would not get along. These two countries were both strong powers and as soon as they had no real reason to consistently agree against the common enemy, they started disagreeing. If one country has a weapon that makes them strong (US with the atomic bomb) other countries who are strong will want this weapon to surpass them in power. All of these things happened in the Cold War, and were clearly demonstrated in our in class simulation as we observed groups turning on one another to do what was the best for them.