WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -mutual assured destruction, principle of deterrence founded on the notion that a nuclear attack by one superpower would be met with an overwhelming nuclear counterattack such that both the attacker and the defender would be annihilated.

Detailed explanation-2: -As such, historians refer to the nuclear arms race of the Cold War as an example of Mutual Assured Destruction since it was clear to both the United States and the Soviet Union that if either attacked the other, then it would ultimately lead to total destruction for both.

Detailed explanation-3: -The term “assured destruction” was first used in the 1960s by then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

Detailed explanation-4: -The threat of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) created fear. This theory assumed that each superpower had enough nuclear weaponry to destroy the other. If one superpower attempted a first strike on the other, they themselves would also be destroyed.

Detailed explanation-5: -The cold comfort of mutually assured destruction still exists well beyond the Cold War. MAD is an extension of the practice known as nuclear deterrence.