By the end of 1955 the nuclear balance between the United States and the Soviet Union was unstable, in the sense discussed above. A stable relationship of mutual deterrence, based on the possession by both sides of assured retaliatory capabilities, would not be firmly established for another ten years. Nevertheless, a kind of existential deterrence had come into being. The Soviet leaders and the leaders of the United States understood how terrible a nuclear war would be, and each side believed that the other understood this too. On this basis they shared the conviction that neither would start
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