Book ID: CBB328020999

To Kill Nations: American Strategy in the Air-Atomic Age and the Rise of Mutually Assured Destruction (2020)

unapi

Edward Kaplan (Author)


Cornell University Press


Publication Date: 2020
Physical Details: 276
Language: English

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.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB328020999/

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Authors & Contributors
Edward Kaplan
Michael W. Hankins
Frank L. Smith
Krzysztof Dabrowski
Michael Napier
Taylor, William
Concepts
Technology and war; technology and the military
Nuclear weapons; atomic weapons
Aircraft; airplanes
Air warfare
Military technology
Cold War
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century
20th century, early
Places
United States
Soviet Union
Kuwait
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Ghana
Institutions
United States Air Force (USAF)
United States National Security Council
United States. Department of Defense
United States. Army
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