Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) is a military strategy where two or more opposing sides possess enough nuclear weapons to destroy each other completely if they go to war. The idea is that the threat of total annihilation discourages any side from initiating conflict, because doing so would lead to their own destruction as well. This creates a status quo of deterrence, where stability is maintained through the fear of mutual ruin, preventing large-scale nuclear war.