The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy / Edition 3

by L. Freedman

Overview

First published twenty years ago, Lawrence Freedman's Evolution of Nuclear Strategy was immediately acclaimed as the standard work on the history of attempts to cope militarily and politically with the terrible destructive power of nuclear weapons. It has now been rewritten, drawing on a wide range of new research, and updated to take account of the period following the end of the cold war, taking the story to contemporary arguments about missile defence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333652985
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	10/03/2003
Edition description:	3rd ed. 2003
Pages:	566
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.05(d)

About the Author

Lawrence Freedman is Professor and Head of Department of War Studies, King's College, London.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Third Edition Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: FIRST AND SECOND THOUGHTS The Arrival of the Bomb Offence and Defence Aggression and Retaliation PART II: TOWARDS A POLICY OF DETERRENCE Strategy for an Atomic Monopoly Strategy for an Atomic Stalemate Massive Retaliation PART III: LIMITED WAR Limited Objectives Limited Means PART IV: THE FEAR OF SUPRISE ATTACK The Importance of Being First Sputniks and the Soviet Threat The Technological Arms Race PART V: THE STRATEGY OF STABLE CONFLICT The Formal Strategists Arms Control Bargaining and Escalation PART VI: FROM COUNTER-FORCE TO ASSURED DESTRUCTION City-Avoidance Assured Destruction The Soviet Approach to Deterrence The Chinese Connection PART VII: THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION A Conventional Defence for Europe The European Nuclear Option (i) Anglo-Saxon Views The European Nuclear Option (ii) French and German Views PART VIII: RETREAT FROM ASSURED DESTRUCTION Military-Industrial Complexities The Consensus Undermined Parity Selective Options The Reagan Administration and the Great Nuclear Debate PART IX: AFTER THE COLD WAR The Threat Evaporates Rogues and Rebels The Threat Evaporates The Second Nuclear Age Can There be a Nuclear Strategy? Notes Bibliography Subject Index Name Index

Editorial Reviews

Ever since the destruction of Hiroshima in August, 1945, defense strategies have confronted the problem of preventing the use of nuclear weapons while exploiting the same weapons for national security purposes. Freedman describes the impact of nuclear weapons on strategic thought, with particular emphasis on Western reliance on nuclear weapons to deter Soviet aggression. The strategic debate throughout the postwar period is examined and linked to the formation of policy in each of the nuclear powers. This new edition is current through the Reagan Administration. Acidic paper. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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