ARMS RACE

 An arms race occurs when two or more countries increase the size and quality of military
resources to gain military and political superiority over one another. The Cold War between the
United States and the Soviet Union is perhaps the largest and most expensive arms race in
history; however, others have occurred, often with dire consequences. Whether an arms race
increases or decreases the risk of war remains debatable: some analysts agree with Sir
Edward Grey, Britain's foreign secretary at the start of World War I, who stated "The moral is
obvious; it is that great armaments lead inevitably to war."
 The nuclear arms race was an arms race competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare
between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War.
 An arms race is essentially a competition in which two or more enemy nations each try to
outdo the others to produce the largest possible arsenal of weapons. There are essentially four
main elements to this definition. First, there's desire and need from all sides. If one is going to
do this, the other probably will too. Second, it's an accelerated process involving a focused
effort from a nation. Many resources are dedicated to an arms race. Next, there are competing
sides. It wouldn't make sense to stockpile weapons if no one else does. Finally, quantity is
important. A nation wants to have more than their competitors of course.
 an “arms race” is defined as a competitive, reciprocal, peacetime increase or improvement in
armaments by two states perceiving themselves to be in an adversarial relationship. Early
scholars of arms race theory hypothesized that an arms race is animated by a security
dilemma in which a state’s pursuit of security decreases the real or perceived security of its
adversary, producing an “action-reaction cycle” in which one state reacts to the other’s current
or anticipated military and political behavior, and vice versa.

Mutual Assured Destruction

 One of the major factors in the Cold War was termed Mutual Assured Destruction or MAD.
This meant that both countries could destroy the other country in the case of attack. It wouldn't
matter how successful the first strike was, the other side could still retaliate and destroy the
country which first attacked. For this reason, neither side ever used nuclear weapons. The cost
was too high.
 Mutual 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.
 By the end of the 1950’s the US and USSR had enough nuclear warheads to destroy the entire
planet. A new concept in warfare emerged, that of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). In
some ways this acted as a deterrent: both sides knew that if they fired a nuclear weapon in
anger, it would result in their own country being destroyed. However as neither side were
totally sure about the capabilities of the other it also led to further weapon development in a bid
to create more powerful, faster, missiles and improved defensive mechanisms.
 Mutually assured destruction — or MAD, as it’s commonly known — is when each side in a
nuclear standoff knows that the other could destroy it if things went wrong. This “balance of
terror” forms the basis of nuclear deterrence. Each side is incentivized to avoid pushing the
other too far, since doing so could lead to war. And if they do go to war — even a small war —
the possibility that it could escalate to a nuclear war is too great to risk.
https://www.ducksters.com/history/cold_war/arms_race.php
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/arms-race

https://www.britannica.com/topic/mutual-assured-destruction

https://schoolshistory.org.uk/topics/world-history/cold-war-1945-1972/mad-mutually-assured-destruction/

Dalton, T., & Tandler, J. (2012). Understanding The Arms "Race" in South Asia. The Carnegie Papers.

https://www.cnas.org/publications/commentary/we-need-mutually-assured-destruction

An “arms race” is defined as a competitive, reciprocal, peacetime increase or improvement in armaments by

two states perceiving themselves to be in an adversarial relationship. The Cold War between the United States
and the Soviet Union is perhaps the largest and most expensive arms race in history; however, others have
occurred, often with dire consequences. By the end of the 1950’s the two superpowers had enough nuclear
warheads to destroy the entire planet. With this, a new concept in warfare emerged, the Mutually Assured
Destruction (MAD), which acted as a deterrent: both sides knew that if they fired a nuclear weapon in anger, it
would result in their own country being destroyed. Nonetheless as neither side were totally sure about the
capabilities of the other it also led to further weapon development in a bid to create more powerful, faster,
missiles and improved defensive mechanisms.

An “arms race” can be defined as a competitive, mutual, cease-fire increase or improvement in armaments by
two states seeing themselves to be in a hostile relationship. The Cold War between the United States and the
Soviet Union is probably the largest and most expensive arms race in history. By the end of the 1950’s the two
superpowers had enough nuclear weaponry to destroy the entire planet. With this, a new concept in warfare
emerged, the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), which acted as a deterrent: both states knew that if they
fired a nuclear weapon in anger, it would result in their own country’s destruction. Nonetheless as neither side
were totally sure about the capabilities of the other it also led to an increase in weapon development in a bid to
create much improved defensive mechanisms through more powerful and faster missiles.

Reference: Dalton, T., & Tandler, J. (2012). Understanding the Arms "Race" in South Asia. The Carnegie
Papers.