M.A.D mutual assured destruction.?

Question

Who were the key players?
What caused the event and what happened?
When did this event occur?
Where did the event occur?
Why is this event significant, why is it considered a key event of the cold war?

Answer 1

My GOD... do they teach ANY history in school these days?

M.A.D. is "Mutual Assured Destruction"... it was the buildup of nuclear weapons between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War... basically... either country that would start a war could be assured of being destroyed in the reply from the other country.

Answer 2

Major players: The United States and the Soviet Union, President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev,

There was no "event" as such. The closest thing to an event was Kennedy causing Khrushchev to remove nuclear missiles he was placing in Cuba. Actually, the missiles never actually made it ashore in Cuba, but were stopped off the coast by US Naval forces. Eventually Khrushchev backed down and the ship turned around and went back. The phrase Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) actually came from a threat analysis study which expressed the thought that if we were to be attacked, our own missile silos were hardened and hidden well enough that they would survive a first strike by the Soviet Union in numbers enough to launch and wipe out the Soviet Union in return, thus mutually assuring destruction, i.e., take the other guys down with you.

The Cuban missile crisis was the closest we have ever come to firing nuclear missiles at one another. It was a very tense time for a while, until the ship with the missiles turned around.

Answer 3

If you nuke us, we'll nuke you, and we'll all be dead.

Key players- USA and USSR, UK, France and PRC to a lesser extent.

It wasn't so much an event as a theory/concept. I'd say the height was the 1960's, after Bay of Pigs. Its currency was reduced beginning inthe 1970's with the bilateral and multilateral disarmament treaties, such as SALT and CTBT, etc. It ended with the end of the Soviet Union, in 1991.

Now, nuclear attacks between countries are seen as even more unlikely, while nuclear attacks on a state by a non-state (ie terrorist group) are seeming more likely.

Curiously, this MAD theory was seen more as a deterrance/peaceful thing while at the same time calling for the nuclear arsenal to be continually expanded and improved - if we build enough bombs, we'll never have to use them.

MAD is unique because it changed the focus from building weapons and defenses for ready practical use to building weapons and defenses that will hopefully never be used (and were likely not practical at all).

To better understand the concept, watch Peter Sellars' classic "Dr Strangelove"

Now, our President, GWB, is undermining this whole concept. Don't get me started.

Answer 4

It's was not so much an event as a name applied to a siutation. It was coined around the time of the Cuban missle crisis. It's considered a key event of the cold war because it basically means the end of the world for everyone. I think that's a pretty key event.

Answer 5

The key players were the Soviet Block and NATO.
The Cold war was the event.
The idea was that if one side launched an attack the other side would retaliate. That would see both sides destroyed.
The fact that it didn't happen shows how each side knew what the outcome would be.
So as such it wasn't an event, but a concept.

Answer 6

The event did not take place, it was a deterrent, a policy, a reason for not initiating a nuclear exchange. MAD equals to global suicide. As you can see, we're still here, therefore it stands to reason that it did not happen. In the last 50 years, we came close at least 20 times, when the hair triggers on the US or Soviet side nearly launched against each other....mostly accidental reasons.