The+Cold+War+WN

=__**The Cold War** __=

**Eisenhower's Policy of Massive Retailation: **
====**﻿In 1954, President Eisenhower adopted a foreign policy of "massive retailation." After the Korean War, Eisenhower was convinced that the United States could not contain communism while fighting small wars. These wars were unpopular and too expensive. Wars had to be prevented from happening in the first place, and the best way to do that is to threaten to use nuclear weapons. The policy came to be called Massive Retailation, and it enabled Eisenhower to cut military spending from $50 billion to $34 billion. He also increased the U.S. nuclear arsenal from about 1,000 bombs in 1953 to about 18,000 bombs in 1961. After both sides had gained enough nuclear weapons and missles to deliver them, both sides realized they could wipe each other out, and basically it became a balance game, which explains why the US and USSR fought smaller wars. We assumed they would be initiators, and if that happened we would fight back with everything we had. **==== ====**Brinkmanship** ﻿**is the act of pushing a situation to the verge of war, in order to threaten one's opponent to back down.** ====