VIDEO DESCRIPTION

Today's video will be on Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.); a military strategy which was brought about during the Cold War to act as a deterrent to the outbreak of a nuclear war.

Though the Soviet Union and its allies were testing plenty of nuclear weapons during the Cold War, with one of the famous ones being the massive 50 megatonne Tsar Bomba which made the atom bombs of 1945 look like raindrops in a puddle, it was nothing in comparison to how many weapons of mass destruction the United States was constructing and testing.

With the formation of NATO by the West in 1949 to push the Eastern Bloc to war, the Socialist camp of nations had to adapt to this and build up their defences, as they had officially been forced into the arms race. This is how Mutually Assured Destruction came about, as in the 1960s in particular, the United States and the Soviet Union both had the nuclear capabilities to threaten the very existence of humanity.

The premise of Mutually Assured Destruction is as follows: whoever presses the big red button to send those nukes flying, will also be met with a retaliatory strike. Hence the reason why I made the comparison with you and your opponent living your lives with guns pointed at your heads. One side is armed to the teeth, and the only saving grace is that you also have weapons pointed at them. So, MAD is definitely a suitable acronym.

In the video, I'll be covering:

- the atomic bombs that were dropped by the US onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945

- the BBC docu-drama from the 1980s called "Threads"

- the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962

- the false alarm incidents involving Vasili Arkhipov in 1962 and Stanislav Petrov in 1983

- my position on non-discriminant nuclear disarmament

--- SOME GOOD RESOURCES ---

The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan, Stalin Did - Jason Unruhe: https://youtu.be/Qgy4DxHJzE4

"Tsar Bomba | Soviet thermonuclear bomb | Britannica" https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tsar-Bomba

"The monster atomic bomb that was too big to use - BBC Future" https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170816-the-monster-atomic-bomb-that-was-too-big-to-use

Estimating Deaths In A Nuclear War - Neil Halloran: https://youtu.be/bIAF7kBbGKk

"Threads 1984 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive" https://archive.org/details/threads_201712

"The Day After ( 1983 Full, Original 1751 Aspect Ratio) : Remember Radio : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive" https://archive.org/details/the-day-after-1983-full-original-1751-aspect-ratio

The Cuban Missile Crisis In A Nutshell - Danov: https://youtu.be/s_Q1i_hkkLE

The Truth About The Cuban Missile Crisis - Spooky Scary Socialist: https://youtu.be/adrQweOX5c4

Stopping A Nuclear Torpedo - Video About Vasili Arkhipov: https://youtu.be/Y8cmgwe6I8k

"Soviet submarine officer who averted nuclear war honoured with prize | Science prizes | The Guardian" https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/27/vasili-arkhipov-soviet-submarine-captain-who-averted-nuclear-war-awarded-future-of-life-prize

The Man Who Saved The World - Docu-Drama About Stanislav Petrov: https://youtu.be/2loVMw894jA

Stanislav Petrov, The Man Who Saved The World - History: https://youtu.be/L9RrTzcDcw0