Lethbridge-Stewart: Mutually Assured Domination - Nick Walters - Fresh Article

Description:

"Edward Kaplan’s To Kill Nations is a fascinating work that packs a thermonuclear punch of ideas and arguments… The work is suitable for anyone from advanced undergraduates to experts in the field."
â• Strategy Bridge
In To Kill Nations, Edward Kaplan traces the evolution of American strategic airpower and preparation for nuclear war from this early air-atomic era to a later period (1950-1965) in which the Soviet Union’s atomic capability, accelerated by thermonuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, made American strategic assets vulnerable and gradually undermined air-atomic strategy.
Kaplan throws into question both the inevitability and preferability of the strategic doctrine of MAD. He looks at the process by which cultural, institutional, and strategic ideas about MAD took shape and makes insightful use of the comparison between generals who thought they could win a nuclear war and the cold institutional logic of the suicide pact that was MAD. Kaplan also offers a reappraisal of Eisenhower’s nuclear strategy and diplomacy to make a case for the marginal viability of air-atomic military power even in an era of ballistic missiles.

Category:History, Current Affairs & Politics, Transportation, United States History, Military History, Diplomacy & International Relations, Russian & Soviet History, United States Politics & Government, Aviation, 20th Century United States History – 1945 to 2000, United States Armed Forces, Strategy & Weapons of War, 1917-1991 (Soviet Union) – History, U.S. Politics – General & Miscellaneous, Military Policy, Aviation – Military, 20th Century American History – Cold War, Air Force – United States Armed Forces, International Relations – General & Miscellaneous, Military – Strategy, Military – Weapons – Nuclear Weapons, Soviet History – Political Aspects, United States – Military Policy, United States Military Aviation – General & Miscellaneous

AusFile