The Role Of Deterrence In The Cold War

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The practice of deterrence was successful in its major aim; the prevention of nuclear hostilities between the USA and the USSR. The former Secretary General Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev stated: “It is my firm belief that the infinite and uncontrollable fury of nuclear weapons should never be held in the hands of any mere mortal ever again, for any reason. Govrbachev is referring to ‘deterrence’. Deterrence in the Cold War context was a military doctrine that prevented an enemy from using nuclear weapons, since they could be destroyed as a consequence. It was used to intimidate a foe from initiating attack as they would fear the destruction of their own nation. The concept of mutually assured destruction (MAD) constrained the Soviet Union …show more content…

Although both nations acknowledged the role of deterrence in maintaining the status quo, nevertheless both nations attempted to create a stockpile of weapons in excess of the other in order to gain ‘the upper hand”. In this way, deterrence gave a specific shape to the cold war characterized by the term “the arms race”. In 1957 the USSR created the ICBM (Intercontinental ballistic missile) then America also constructed their own ICBM 1959 hereby creating a cycle of the creation of weaponry, or accelerating a nuclear arms race as the term became. The role of deterrence in this case was to create WMD (weapons of mass destruction) to intimidate the opposition until they backed down. However the Soviet Union did not back down, so the nuclear arms race just continued. Classical theorists believe that the US created SNMF (shortage nuclear missiles fighters) with NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization) because they thought the Soviet Union would not have the capability to copy them. This was thought to then slow down the escalation ladder of nuclear weapon and the arms race, because this weaponry would outgun them. Deterrence prevented a hot war during the Cuban Missile crisis – an event that came close to initiating MAD. Therefore, the practice of deterrence was responsible for preventing a hot war, and in doing so created “the arms race” a feature of the Cold War. Furthermore, the need to maintain and expand zones of influence, which could not be achieved by open conflict, led to conflict through proxy wars, yet another feature of the Cold

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