The Economic Times

In 1949, Soviet Union detonated its first atom bomb, ending U.S. monopoly on atomic weapons, more than seven decades later United States and Russia together hold over 80 per cent of world's nuclear arms stockpile

Soviet Unions first atomic bomb test transformed the international security landscape. On August 29, 1949, the world entered a new stage in which the United States was no longer the sole nuclear power. The event intensified the Cold War arms race, reshaped American strategic thinking, and increased the urgency of debates over international nuclear control.