THE EVOLUTION OF NUCLEAR STRATEGY by Lawrence Freedman ( 9780333652985 )

Item Details

Title:

THE EVOLUTION OF NUCLEAR STRATEGY

By:

Format:

Hardback

List price:	£107.00
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ISBN 10:

0333652983

ISBN 13:

9780333652985

Publisher:

PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

Pub. date:

8 March, 2003

Edition:

3rd Revised edition

Pages:

585

Description:

This title examines the history of attempts to cope militarily and politically with the destructive power of nuclear weapons. It draws on a range of research, and takes into account the period following the end of the Cold War with arguments about missile defence.

Synopsis:

First published twenty years ago, Lawrence Freedman's Evolution of Nuclear Strategy was immediately acclaimed as a seminal work on the history of attempts to cope militarily and politically with the terrible destructive power of nuclear weapons. This new edition takes the story beyond the end of the cold war, through the Gulf War and new arguments about missile defence and 'rogue states', up to the impact of the events of 11 September 2001. While the removal of the Warsaw Pact from the scene brought to an abrupt end many of the debates that had dominated strategic discourse for the previous four decades, the basic question of whether or not this destructive power could be used for political ends, and how best to stop others trying to do so, remained. In one volume the reader can trace the story of nuclear strategy from its roots in thinking about airpower in the first decades of the Twentieth Century to arguments about how to deal with the possibility of nuclear terrorism in the Twenty-First.There is full coverage of how the west came to rely on nuclear weapons to deter Soviet aggression and the major problems of credibility that soon opened up as the Soviet Union developed its own nuclear capability. The highlights of the ensuing strategic debate are described, and the contributions of the leading figures in these debates are examined. The extent to which the theorising influenced the formation of policy in the major nuclear powers is explored. At all times the wider political context is kept in view, demonstrating the factors which shaped the nuclear legacy with which each new generation must cope.

Illustrations:

biography

Publication:

Imprint:

Palgrave Macmillan

Returns:

Returnable

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