The cold war did not end the rivalries but the mutual suspicion led them to be alarmed of any sudden war. Huge stocks of arms were piled up and were considered safe to prevent wars from taking place. This was known as arms race.

The reasons that led to produce arms race as well as arms control were :

1. The two superpowers and the countries in rival blocs were expected to behave rational and responsible in the sense that they understood the risk in fighting which will be massively destructive

2. The rivals speculated that if the war happened then there would be no winner as it would cause loss for both the rivals, so eventually US and USSR, decided to collaborate in limiting or eliminating certain kinds of nuclear and non nuclear weapons. A stable balance of weapons could be maintained through arms control.

Then significant agreements like Limited Test Ban Treaty, Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty were signed.