what does mad stand for during the cold war

What does Mad stand for in military?

Mutual assured destruction or mutually assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender (see pre-emptive nuclear strike and second strike).

What was the MAD policy in the late Cold War?

Late Cold War. This modified version of MAD was seen as a winnable nuclear war, while still maintaining the possibility of assured destruction for at least one party. This policy was further developed by the Reagan administration with the announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, nicknamed "Star Wars"),...

How was mutually assured destruction seen during the Cold War?

How Mutually Assured Destruction was Seen During the Cold War As the United States continued to build and place their nuclear weapons during the Cold War, it became clear to United States officials that there was no defense against a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. This led to the dismantling of defense systems, both civil and antiballistic.

What is the abbreviation for Mutual Assured Destruction?

Mutual assured destruction. Mutual assured destruction or mutually assured destruction ( MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender...

What is MAD in context of Cold War?

Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.

What does the abbreviation MAD stand for Cold War?

"During the Cold War, the main function of nuclear weapons was to deter the Soviet Union with a nuclear triad—intercontinental ballistic missiles, strategic bombers and sea-launched ballistic missiles from submarines," Panofsky said. The outcome of any nuclear strike then would be MAD—mutually assured destruction.

What does MAD mean history?

Mutual Assured DestructionBy 1969 the Soviets had equalled the nuclear capability of the USA. 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.

What is MAD Why is it so important during the Cold War?

Perhaps the most famous concept of the nuclear era, mutually assured destruction (MAD), describes a stalemated balance of power where nuclear adversaries possess survivable retaliatory capabilities ensuring neither side can escape devastation in an all-out nuclear war.

Who coined the term MAD?

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.

Where does the word MAD come from?

The word “mad” was derived from the Old English word gemædde, which meant “out of one's mind.” Pretty close to the meaning of “mad” we have today.

When was MAD Cold War?

The primary application of this doctrine started during the Cold War (1940s to 1991) in which MAD was seen as helping to prevent any direct full-scale conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union while they engaged in smaller proxy wars around the world.

What is MAD face?

Emoji Meaning A yellow face with a frowning mouth and eyes and eyebrows scrunched downward in anger. Conveys varying degrees of anger, from grumpiness and irritation to disgust and outrage. May also represent someone acting tough or being mean.

How did the concept of mutually assured destruction influence the Cold War?

The hydrogen bomb was more destructive than the atomic bomb. How did the concept of mutually assured destruction influence the Cold War? It reminded people that a nuclear war would be devastating for everyone.

Who came up with mutually assured destruction?

Robert S. McNamara, 1963. Neptune has winds that blow faster than the speed of sound, with gusts reaching 1,500 mph. The term “mutual assured destruction,” along with the derisive acronym “MAD,” was not actually coined by McNamara but by an opponent of the doctrine.

What if the Cold War went hot?

Ignoring the use of nuclear weapons by both sides, which would have been catastrophic for the planet, what would have ensued next would have been a sky filled with electricity, fighter and bomber aircraft, and an aerial war and dogfighting like no one has seen before.

When was mutually assured destruction first used?

"Assured destruction," a term first used about 1964, bluntly describes the end result of a nuclear war. The term soon evolved into "mutual assured destruction," appropriately abbreviated MAD.

What did MAD stand for with regard to the arms race?

mutual assured destructionmutual 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. nuclear weapon.

Why is MAD important?

The MAD helps determine whether the set's mean is a useful indicator of the values within the set. The larger the MAD, the less relevant is the mean as an indicator of the values within the set. to see what the Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) tells us.

What does MAD stand for in shipping?

Mean Absolute Deviation MAD. It is also called MAD for short, and it is the average of the absolute value, or the difference between actual values and their average value, and is used for the calculation of demand variability.

What is the arms race and mutually assured destruction?

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.

What is the meaning of "mad" in the movie The Americans?

For the episode of The Americans, see Mutually Assured Destruction (The Americans). Mutually assured destruction ( MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender ...

What is the meaning of mad strategy?

The term "mutual assured destruction", commonly abbreviated "MAD", was coined by Donald Brennan, a strategist working in Herman Kahn 's Hudson Institute in 1962.

What was the Cuban missile crisis?

By the time of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, both the United States and the Soviet Union had developed the capability of launching a nuclear-tipped missile from a submerged submarine , which completed the "third leg" of the nuclear triad weapons strategy necessary to fully implement the MAD doctrine.

What was the original goal of the MAD doctrine?

This modified version of MAD was seen as a winnable nuclear war, while still maintaining the possibility of assured destruction for at least one party. This policy was further developed by the Reagan administration with the announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, nicknamed "Star Wars"), the goal of which was to develop space-based technology to destroy Soviet missiles before they reached the United States.

What did theorists think about nuclear warfare?

When nuclear warfare between the United States and Soviet Union started to become a reality, theorists began to think that mutual assured destruction would be sufficient to deter the other side from launching a nuclear weapon.

What is the doctrine of mutual assured destruction?

Mutually assured destruction ( MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender (see pre-emptive nuclear strike and second strike ).

How was mutually assured destruction seen during the Cold War?

How Mutually Assured Destruction was Seen During the Cold War. As the United States continued to build and place their nuclear weapons during the Cold War, it became clear to United States officials that there was no defense against a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union.

What is the meaning of MAD in military?

Robert Wilde. Updated June 20, 2019. Mutually Assured Destruction, or mutually assured deterrence (MAD), is a military theory that was developed to deter the use of nuclear weapons. 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 ...

Why was mad preferred in the Cold War?

Both sides of the debate, including the pros and the anti-MAD, worried it might actually tempt some leaders to act. MAD was preferred because if successful, it did stop the massive death toll. Another alternative was to develop such an effective first strike capability that your enemy couldn’t destroy you when they fired back. At times during the Cold War, MAD proponents feared this ability had been achieved.

What is mutually assured destruction?

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. Amazingly, this probably did stop a greater war from taking place.

Why did the Cold War have a lack of missile defenses?

For long periods of the Cold War, MAD entailed a relative lack of missile defenses so as to guarantee mutual destruction. Anti-ballistic missile systems were closely examined by the other side to see if they changed the situation. Things changed when Ronald Reagan became president of the U.S.

Why did the US use nuclear weapons?

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.

What was the Soviet threat in the 1960s?

In the 1960s, however, the realistic Soviet threat exemplified by the Cuban missile crisis drove President Kennedy and then Johnson to develop a "flexible response" to replace the pre-planned overkill. By 1964, it became clear that a disarming first strike was increasingly infeasible, and by 1967 a "city avoidance" doctrine was replaced by a MAD strategy.

When was the mad strategy developed?

The MAD strategy was developed during the Cold War, when the U.S., USSR, and respective allies 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.

Who coined the term "mutual assured destruction"?

McNamara based this tenuous equilibrium on the “assured-destruction capability” of the U.S. arsenal. Robert S. McNamara, 1963. The term “mutual assured destruction,” along with the derisive acronym “MAD,” was not actually coined by McNamara but by an opponent of the doctrine.

What is the evolution of mutual assured destruction?

The evolution of mutual assured destruction (MAD) An overview of the atomic bomb and the threat of nuclear warfare as reflected in the popular culture of the 1940s and '50s, particularly in the “duck and cover” campaign and the film Godzilla.

What was the Cuban missile crisis?

The Cuban missile crisis (October 1962) brought the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara responded with a dramatic shift in U.S. nuclear doctrine. McNamara had previously promoted a counterforce or “no cities” strategy that targeted Soviet military units and installations.

What was the primary delivery vehicle for nuclear weapons in this era?

The primary delivery vehicle for nuclear weapons in this era was the heavy bomber, and, to retain its superiority in the atomic field, the U.S. gave defense priority to building a massive bomber fleet, the Strategic Air Command (SAC).

Did the Soviet Union have an antiballistic missile defense system?

The Soviets did indeed attempt to pursue their own antiballistic missile defense system for a time, but shrinking military budgets and, finally, the collapse of the Soviet Union spelled the end of the superpower model that had enabled the mutual assured destruction doctrine.

Growing Realization

Developing A Mad Strategy

Based on Fear and Cynicism

The End of Mad

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