"How did the war start?"

"Goodbyeee". Private Baldrick asks Captain Blackadder in roundabout terms how the Great War began. After a display of anti-German propaganda by George, Blackadder explains that the Entente Powers and the Central Powers were ideally supposed to act as each others' deterrents in what amounted to "mutually assured destruction" (long before the term had actually been coined). Unfortunately, as they say, the problem with MAD is that it only takes one madman to screw it up.

Example of:
Mutually Assured Destruction