eBook

To Kill Nations

Kaplan, Edward

2015

Overview

Between 1945 and 1950, the United States had a global nuclear monopoly. The A-bomb transformed the nation's strategic airpower and saw the Air Force displace the Navy at the front line of American defense. InTo 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. The shift to mutually assured destruction (MAD) via general nuclear exchange steadily took precedence in strategic thinking and budget allocations. Soon American nuclear-armed airborne bomber fleets shaped for conventionally defined-if implausible, then impossible-victory were supplanted by missile-based forces designed to survive and punish. The Air Force receded from the forefront of American security policy. 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.

• Publisher: Cornell University Press,Cornell University
• Subject: 20th century / Air Force / Air power / Air power -- United States -- Philosophy -- History -- 20th century / Air warfare / Air warfare -- Government policy -- United States -- History -- 20th century / air-atomic strategy / american history / american nuclear history / American strategic airpower / American strategic bombing strategy / books about military strategy / books about the cold war / books for military studies / Cold War / Cold War nuclear strategy / cold war politics / early air-atomic era / eisenhower national defense / Eisenhower's New Look security policy / Eisenhower's nuclear diplomacy / Eisenhower's nuclear policy / Eisenhower's nuclear strategy / finite deterrence / Government policy / HISTORY / HISTORY / Military / Nuclear Warfare / HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century / Cold War / history of air-atomic strategy / jkf national defense / kennedy administration history / Military / MILITARY HISTORY / Military policy / military strategy / military strategy history / military studies / mutually assured destruction / mutually assured destruction strategy / national defense after world war II / national defense history / national security strategy / nuclear deterrence scholar / nuclear war / Nuclear warfare / Nuclear warfare -- Government policy -- United States -- History -- 20th century / nuclear warfare history / nuclear weapon history / Nuclear weapons / Nuclear weapons -- Government policy -- United States -- History -- 20th century / nuclear weapons studies / Philosophy / POLITICAL SCIENCE / POLITICAL SCIENCE & POLITICAL HISTORY / POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations / Arms Control / political science theory / POLITICAL SCIENCE / Security (National & International) / Robert McNamara / Security (National & International) / soviet union mutually assured destruction / Strategic Air Command / Strategic Air Command history / strategic doctrine of mutually assured destruction / Strategic forces / Strategic forces -- United States -- History -- 20th century / Strategy / Strategy -- History -- 20th century / studies of weapons development / the rise of mutually assured destruction / U.S. HISTORY / U.S. nuclear war planning / United States / United States -- Military policy / United States. Air Force / United States. Air Force -- History -- 20th century / United States. Air Force. Strategic Air Command / United States. Air Force. Strategic Air Command -- History -- 20th century / US nuclear strategy / War Studies / war with the soviet union
• ISBN: 0801452481, 9780801452482, 0801455502, 9780801455506, 1501752049, 9781501752049