Essay --

Clarence Mai Mrs. Chaid ERWC 12 February, 2014 Peace Through Strength No matter how oxymoronic it seems, I strongly agree with the phrase â€Å"The only way to prepare for peace is to be prepared for war.†I feel that this relates back to the adage that â€Å"the best defense is a good offense†. For me, I view the Cold War as proof that the weapons of war can also be used as instruments of peace. To start off, one of the key ideas behind the tense, yet somewhat stable peace between the Soviet Union and United States during the second half of the 20th century was the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD. As both of the world’s superpowers attempted to outstrip each other in a nuclear arms race, it grew increasingly apparent that should one nation attempt to strike the other or its allies with nuclear weapons, the consequences from the secondary strike would cause an unacceptable loss of life and likely the extinction of the human race. Consider the Cuban Missile Crisis, for instance. There were multiple times where all out nuclear war between the East and the West ca...