The Cold War and Nuclear Weapons After 1949 USSR and US both had nuclear weapons Soon all of the big five had nuclear weapons Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMS) Could be launched from anywhere, could land anywhere, couldn’t be stopped Nuclear powered missile submarines Could stay submerged virtually forever Could launch nuclear ICBMS from underwater Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) If WWIII ever broke out between the US and the USSR and nuclear weapons were used each side was guaranteed that it would be destroyed by nuclear weapons Problems with MAD?