Nuclear Strategies - Mutual Assured Destruction, Nuclear Utilization Target Selection, Nuclear Strategy, First Strike, Minimal Deterrence (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 44. Chapters: Mutual assured destruction, Nuclear utilization target selection, Nuclear strategy, First strike, Minimal deterrence, Nuclear blackmail, No first use, Fail-deadly, Escalation, Single Integrated Operational Plan, Deterrence theory, Dead Hand, Nuclear triad, Counterforce, Massive retaliation, Launch on warning, Nuclear peace, Brinkmanship, Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations, Madman theory, Decapitation strike, Countervalue, Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence, Second strike, Balance of terror, Limited first strike, Operation Dropshot, Minimum Credible Deterrence, Nuclear deterrent, Cost-exchange ratio, Plan Totality. Excerpt: In nuclear strategy, a first strike is a preemptive surprise attack employing overwhelming force. First strike capability is a country's ability to defeat another nuclear power by destroying its arsenal to the point where the attacking country can survive the weakened retaliation while the opposing side is left unable to continue war. The preferred methodology is to attack the opponent's launch facilities and storage depots first. The strategy is called counterforce. During the Cold War period, both superpowers, NATO and the Soviet Bloc, built massive nuclear arsenals, aimed, to a large extent, at each other. However, they were never used, as after a time, leaders on both sides of the Iron Curtain realized that global thermonuclear war would not be in either power's interest, as it would probably lead to the destruction of both sides, and possibly nuclear winter or other extinction level events. Therefore, at times, both sides refrained from deploying systems capable of unanswerable nuclear strikes against either side. However, in both nations, there were interests that benefited from the development and maintenance of first-strike weapons systems-what U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower terme...