Answer:
Mutually Assured Destruction, or mutually assured deterrence (MAD), is a military theory that was developed to deter the use of nuclear weapons.
Explanation:
The theory is based on the fact that nuclear weaponry is so devastating that no government wants to use them. Neither side will attack the other with their nuclear weapons because both sides are guaranteed to be totally destroyed in the conflict.
At first, the US air force military wanted to continue to use nuclear weapons to counter additional threats from communist China. But although the two world wars were filled with technological advances that were used without restraint, after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons came to be both unused and unusable.
The MAD strategy was developed during the Cold War, when the U.S., USSR, held nuclear weapons of such number and strength that they were capable of destroying the other side completely and threatened to do so if attacked. Consequently, the siting of missile bases by both Soviet and Western powers was a great source of friction.
Mutually Assured Destruction is based on fear and cynicism and is one of the most brutally and horribly pragmatic ideas ever put into practice. At one point, the world really did stand opposed to each other with the power to wipe both sides out in a day.
