Mutually Assured Destruction
We are growing up in an age where
it is not uncommon for us to hear about nuclear weapons, this is era is know as
the Atomic Age. This is a very controversial topic that is used in conversation
and debates all around the world. People either believe that nuclear weapons
are a great source of protection and should be kept close or they believe that
there is no need for nuclear weapons and they should be diminished all
together.
The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was the thing that got the idea of a full on
nuclear war stated. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had the
capability to launch a “nuclear- tipped missile from a submarine”, this
completed the nuclear triad that was necessary to apply the MAD doctrine. This
was the first time in history that we had the power to completely annihilate
the human race. “MAD has been compared to two men standing 10 feet apart, each of them
holding a revolver pointed at the other man's head. The revolver is loaded,
their fingers are on the trigger, quivering, and they are shouting insults at
each other. This vivid metaphor captures the mutual terror that was at the base
of our security policy during the Cold War.” I found this eye opening metaphor
for a speech given by Secretary of
Defense William Perry in Washington on Thursday, January 05, 1995. This speech
was given to help calm the people after the Cold War that nuclear war was to be
understood but not feared. After the Cold War ended in 1991 the Treaty of the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was brought to the table. This was a treaty whose objective was to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to reach the goal of nuclear disarmament. This is the only treaty that has the goal to disarm nuclear weapon states, it was enforced in 1970 and on May 11, 1995 was extended indefinitely. 190 parties have joined the treaty and out of these the five major nuclear weapon states have signed.
Mutually assured destruction was a doctrine that helped to give a sense of understanding to the confusion of the Cold War. There has been a fear of total world population wipe out but sense the ending of the Cold War this fear has lessened for some and grown for others. This topic is always going to be very controversial because it can't not be with the intensity that it holds. It literally holds the entirety of the people in the worlds life's in its metaphorical hands. The idea of demising the worlds supply of nuclear weapons is a great idea however this can never happen because of the power that nuclear weapons hold. Every country that already has nuclear weapons could never agree to completely erase nuclear weapons and time goes on more and more countries are beginning to obtain them. Nuclear weapons are used as a protective agent and should be taken seriously and should be kept close.
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Chart of Nuclear Weapons Around the World
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Photo from above Hiroshima After First Atomic Bomb was Dropped
The Atomic Bombs, Little Boy and Fat Man, on Display
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Stockpile of Nuclear Weapons
Sites:
Wikipedia: Mutually Assured Destruction
I used this site at the very beginning to get a very brief overview on mutual assured destruction and to get a basis of knowledge to help my further research.
Global Zero
This site is a anti nuclear weapons site that I used to find opinions on how people felt about nuclear weapons. This was very helpful because if gave me factual and opinionated evidence onto their believes.
Encyclopedia Britannica: Mutual Assured Destruction
I used this site similar to how I used Wikipedia as in I used it to get basic information and I also used it to get more facts and simple things that helped me actually understand what I was researching.
Arms Control Center
This site was helpful in getting true statistics on the amount of nuclear weapons each country had. It was crazy to learn the actual amount of weapons that we have obtained as a world.
U.S. Department of Defense Speech
This was one of my primary sources that I used and that I got one of my quotes from. It showed me how people were dealing with the things happening around them and how that took control of these situations.
Cold War History
To get a better understanding of the Cold War and what happened throughout it, I used this site to help me do this. I was researching so much on mutual assured destruction and I kept hearing about the Cold War which I did not know much about so I used this site to give me basic knowledge on it.
Joseph Crincione Video
These videos were interviews with a professor asking him about how he feels about different aspects of nuclear war. This helped greatly because it gave opinions as well as facts. It gave me the information on how the bad things that could happen if nuclear war struck.
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs
I used this site to find another treaty that helped me to back up other things that I have said. It is also
a treaty which allows me to have actual evidence for support.