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Nuclear Arsenals

Definition

Nuclear arsenals refer to the collection of nuclear weapons that a country possesses. These are weapons of mass destruction that use nuclear reactions to cause an explosion.

Analogy

Think of nuclear arsenals like a high-stakes poker game. Each player (country) has their own set of cards (nuclear weapons). The more powerful your hand (the larger your arsenal), the more influence you have at the table. But if someone decides to go all in and lose (use their weapons), everyone at the table loses.

Related terms

Atomic Bomb: A weapon with great explosive power that results from the sudden release of energy upon the splitting, or fission, of the nuclei of heavy elements such as plutonium or uranium.

Cold War: A period of geopolitical tension between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others) after World War II.

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD): A doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both attacker and defender.