Anne Healy, Emma Miller, Maddie Williams, (“Diana Milkey”)February 6th, 2015F Block

How did the concept of ‘deterrence’ influence the development of Soviet-American nuclear strategy from the early 1960s?

What is deterrence?● Mutually Assured Destruction- if either the USSR or USA utilizes nuclear weaponry, the

entire world will suffer● Utilizing nuclear weaponry would be a zero-sum game- nobody wins● Deterrence is a preventative policy: you want to prevent your enemy from using their

weapons○ Foreign policy○ Defense policy○ Preventative policy

When did the concept of M.A.D. start, and what influenced its inception?● After the confrontational Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962

○ May 1962: The USSR announces that they are supplying Cuba with nuclear arms, which worries the American government

○ September 1962: JFK would prevent “by any means necessary” Cuba from becoming a military base

○ October 1962: The crisis begins when the USA discovers that the USSR is building a base on Cuba anyways

■ Blockade of Cuba■ Negotiations between JFK and Khrushchev occur■ The USSR eventually withdraws from Cuba■ Cuba ends up staying communist, but didn’t have any nuclear weapons

○ Helped to thaw Cold War relations● The United States and the Soviet Union understood the danger of mutually assured

destruction after the Cuban Missile crisis given the similar nature of their arms programmes.

● Both superpowers felt that the stockpiling of nuclear weapons was necessary to their own survival, and for competing for superiority against the other.

● The superpowers both understood the dangers of nuclear weapons○ “Atomic bombs can hardly be used without spelling the end of the world” - Stalin

● By 1969 the USSR and the US had nearly equal nuclear power.

Extra Evidence:● Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972- banned defences against long range missiles● Test-ban Treaty in 1968- stopped nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere● Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968- which required “nations possessing nuclear

weapons to not pass information or technology on to non-nuclear countries”● Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) in 1972- “restricted the number of land and

sea based ballistic missiles”● "Open skies"- satellite reconnaissance is allowed to minimise the possibility of surprise

attack