Arms race The phrase arms race , in its original usage , is a competition between two or more parties to have the best armed forces . Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapon s , greater armies , or superior military technology in a technological escalation . International conflict specialist Theresa Clair Smith , defines the term as " the participation of two or more nation - states in apparently competitive or interactive increases in quantity or quality of war material and / or persons under arms . " Nowadays the term is mostly used to describe any competition where there is no absolute goal , only the relative goal of staying ahead of the other competitors , essentially the goal of proving to be " better " . Examples of arms races . WWI naval arms race . From the dates 1891 to 1919 , an arms race between several European countries , including Prussia , France , Russia , and a few more took place . Specifically , Germany ' s envy of Britain ' s superior navy in the run up to World War I resulted in a costly building competition of " Dreadnought " - class ships . This tense arms race lasted until June 1914 , when , after two antagonistic power blocs were formed because of the rivalry , the World War broke out . After the war , a new arms race developed among the victorious Allies . The Washington Naval Treaty was only partly able to put an end to the race . Prior to WWI , a dreadnought arms race also took place in South America . Nuclear arms race . A nuclear arms race developed during the Cold War , an intense period between the Soviet Union and the United States . This was one of the main causes that began the cold war . On both sides , perceived advantages of the adversary ( such as the " missile gap " ) led to large spending on armaments and the stockpiling of vast nuclear arsenals . Proxy war s 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 . Other uses . More generically , the term " arms race " is used to describe any competition where there is no absolute goal , only the relative goal of staying ahead of the other competitors in rank or knowledge . An arms race may also imply futility as the competitors spend a great deal of time and money , yet end up in the same situation as if they had never started the arms race . An evolutionary arms race is a system where two populations are evolving in order to continuously one - up members of the other population . An example of this is the escalation of drug resistance in pathogens , in step with the use of increasingly powerful drugs . This is related to the Red Queen effect ( Red Queen ' s Hypothesis # Arms race ) , where two populations are co - evolving to overcome each other but are failing to make absolute progress . In technology , there are close analogues to the arms races between parasites and hosts , such as the arms race between computer virus writers and antivirus software writers , or spammers against Internet service provider s and E - mail software writers . The arms race argument has also been invoked by gun control advocates , particularly in the United States where the debate is most polarised .