the nuclear age and the cold war essay

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3 The First Nuclear Age

• Published: January 2009
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The Cold War, nuclear overkill, and mutual assured destruction defined the first nuclear age. Nuclear negotiations naturally became a field of superpower rivalry. The existential facts of nuclear overkill and national vulnerability did not preclude offending risk taking during the Cold War. Nuclear deterrence during the first nuclear age became established on annihilation threats. An essential precaution against a well-armed adversary became the limited nuclear options, but they were hardly reassuring. During the first nuclear age, the leisurely pace of proliferation was essential due to the major powers, neighbors, and international institutions it allowed to adapt to unwelcome change. The nuclear arms race attained unanticipated heights during this age. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev won the battle of exposing the back of the nuclear arms race. Until the end of the first nuclear age, technological developments in support of deterrence surpassed arms control when Reagan and Gorbachev reversed the nuclear arms race.

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