<P> The term is also used to describe any long - term escalating competitive situation where each competitor focuses on out - doing the others . </P> <P> From 1897 to 1914, a naval arms race between the United Kingdom and Germany took place . British concern about rapid increase in German naval power resulted in a costly building competition of Dreadnought - class ships . This tense arms race lasted until 1914, when the war broke out . After the war, a new arms race developed among the victorious Allies, which was temporarily ended by the Washington Naval Treaty . </P> <P> In addition to the British and Germans, contemporaneous but smaller naval arms races also broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire; the Ottomans and Greece; France and Italy; the United States and Japan; and Brazil, Argentina, and Chile . </P> <P> A nuclear arms race developed during the Cold War, an intense period between the Soviet Union and the United States and some other countries . This was one of the main causes that began the cold war, and perceived advantages of the adversary by both sides (such as the "missile gap" and "bomber gap") led to large spending on armaments and the stockpiling of vast nuclear arsenals . Proxy wars were fought all over the world (e.g. in the Middle East, Korea, Vietnam) in which the superpowers' conventional weapons were pitted against each other . After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, tensions decreased and the nuclear arsenal of both countries were reduced . </P>

Who was involved in the arms race ww1
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