From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Revision as of 20:17, 23 August 2019 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff		Current revision Jahsonic (Talk | contribs)
Line 1:		Line 1:
-	{{Template}}	+	#Redirect [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki#Nagasaki]]
-	The phrase "'''balance of terror'''" is usually, but not invariably, used in reference to the [[nuclear arms race]] between the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]] during the [[Cold War]].	+
-		+
-	It describes the tenuous peace that existed between the two countries as a result of both governments being terrified at the prospect of a world-destroying [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]]. The term is usually used for rhetorical purposes, and was probably coined by [[Lester Pearson]] in June 1955 at the 10th anniversary of the signing of the [[UN Charter]]: "the balance of terror has succeeded the balance of power".	+
-		+
-	Some political scientists use this phrase as a means of differentiating the world situation that followed [[World War II]] from that which preceded it. Previously, [[empire]]s had prevented war between each other by maintaining a relative balance of their ability (economic, military, and political) to wage war against each other—the phrase "[[balance of power in international relations|balance of power]]" was often used to describe this kind of tentative peace.	+
-		+
-	The [[atomic bomb]] created a new political reality, in which two [[superpower]]s had the ability to destroy each other and at least gravely damage all of human civilization. The obstacle to war between the [[communism|communists]] and [[capitalism|capitalists]] was no longer the fear that the other side was more powerful, but rather the realization that nuclear arsenals were now large enough and deadly enough that winning would still likely result in the destruction of one's own country and perhaps the rest of the world as well.	+
-		+
-	In this counterintuitive way, the existence of the most powerful weapons ever created actually supported a kind of peace: while many wars were fought around the world during the Cold War, the superpowers never fought each other directly, nor have atomic bombs been dropped in war since the [[atomic bombing of Nagasaki]] in 1945.	+
-		+
-	[[Lawrence Summers]], after the financial meltdown of 2008, adopted the term as appropriate for the situation of a 'financial balance of terror' in global markets.	+
-		+
-	==Uses==	+
-	*[[John F. Kennedy]] used the phrase in his 1961 [[inaugural address]], when he described the U.S. and the Soviet Union, "both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war".	+
-	*[[Albert Wohlstetter]] of the [[RAND Corporation]] wrote a paper entitled "The Delicate Balance of Terror" in 1958.	+
-		+
-	==See also==	+
-	*[[Balance of power (disambiguation)|Balance of power]]	+
-	*[[Balance of power in international relations]]	+
-	*[[Balance of threat]]	+
-	*[[Deterrence theory]]	+
-	*[[Long Peace]]	+
-	*[[Mutual assured destruction]]	+
-	*[[Nuclear peace]]	+
-	*[[Peace through strength]]	+
-	*[[Reagan Doctrine]]	+
-		+
-	{{GFDL}}	+

---

Current revision

1. Redirect Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki#Nagasaki