Emergency War Plan: The American Doomsday Machine, 1945–1960
Autor Sean M. Maloneyen Limba Engleză Hardback – feb 2021
Emergency War Plan examines the theory and practice of American nuclear deterrence and its evolution during the Cold War. Previous examinations of nuclear strategy during this time have, for the most part, categorized American efforts as “massive retaliation” and “mutually assured destruction,” blunt instruments to be casually dismissed in favor of more flexible approaches or summed up in inflammatory and judgmental terms like “MAD.” These descriptors evolved into slogans, and any nuanced discussion of the efficacy of the actual strategies withered due to a variety of political and social factors.
Drawing on newly released weapons effects information along with new information about Soviet capabilities as well as risky and covert espionage missions, Emergency War Plan provides a completely new examination of American nuclear deterrence strategy during the first fifteen years of the Cold War, the first such study since the 1980s. Ultimately what emerges is a picture of a gargantuan and potentially devastating enterprise that was understood at the time by the public in only the vaguest terms but that was not as out of control as has been alleged and was more nuanced than previously understood.
Preț: 369.50 lei
Nou
Puncte Express: 554
Preț estimativ în valută:
70.74€ • 73.53$ • 58.65£
70.74€ • 73.53$ • 58.65£
Carte tipărită la comandă
Livrare economică 06-20 februarie 25
Preluare comenzi: 021 569.72.76
Specificații
ISBN-13: 9781640122345
ISBN-10: 1640122346
Pagini: 552
Ilustrații: 18 photographs, 38 maps, 6 tables, 2 appendixes, index
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 40 mm
Greutate: 0.91 kg
Editura: Potomac Books Inc
Colecția Potomac Books
Locul publicării:United States
ISBN-10: 1640122346
Pagini: 552
Ilustrații: 18 photographs, 38 maps, 6 tables, 2 appendixes, index
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 40 mm
Greutate: 0.91 kg
Editura: Potomac Books Inc
Colecția Potomac Books
Locul publicării:United States
Notă biografică
Sean M. Maloney is a professor of history at the Royal Military College of Canada and served as the Canadian Army’s historian for the war in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2014. He is the author of several books, including Learning to Love the Bomb: Canada’s Nuclear Weapons during the Cold War (Potomac Books, 2007) and Deconstructing Dr. Strangelove: The Secret History of Nuclear War Films (Potomac Books, 2020). For more information about the author visit seanmmaloney.com.
Cuprins
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Kami no itte: Nuclear Targeting and Japan, 1945
2. Per Ardua ad Atomica: Ur-Nuclear Targeting, 1946–49
3. Imminence of War I: Targeting the Soviet Union, 1950–53
4. Imminence of War II: Targeting Europe and the Far East, 1950–53
5. Four Horsemen I: Targeting the Soviet Union, 1954–56
6. Four Horsemen II: Targeting Europe and the Far East, 1954–56
7. Increasing the Deterrent Margin: Strategic Air Command and the Soviet Union, 1956–58
8. Prosteishiy Sputnik: Midcourse Corrections, 1957–59
9. Coming Together: The Basic War Plan, 1958–60
10. Megadeath Musings: Alternative Undertaking and Deterrence, 1958–60
11. The Acme of Skill: The Basic War Plan, the General Emergency Operations Plan, and the Far East, 1957–60
Conclusion
Appendix A: SAC Emergency War Plan 1-49 and 1-51 Targets
Appendix B: Soviet Cities and Population, 1960 Estimates
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Kami no itte: Nuclear Targeting and Japan, 1945
2. Per Ardua ad Atomica: Ur-Nuclear Targeting, 1946–49
3. Imminence of War I: Targeting the Soviet Union, 1950–53
4. Imminence of War II: Targeting Europe and the Far East, 1950–53
5. Four Horsemen I: Targeting the Soviet Union, 1954–56
6. Four Horsemen II: Targeting Europe and the Far East, 1954–56
7. Increasing the Deterrent Margin: Strategic Air Command and the Soviet Union, 1956–58
8. Prosteishiy Sputnik: Midcourse Corrections, 1957–59
9. Coming Together: The Basic War Plan, 1958–60
10. Megadeath Musings: Alternative Undertaking and Deterrence, 1958–60
11. The Acme of Skill: The Basic War Plan, the General Emergency Operations Plan, and the Far East, 1957–60
Conclusion
Appendix A: SAC Emergency War Plan 1-49 and 1-51 Targets
Appendix B: Soviet Cities and Population, 1960 Estimates
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Recenzii
"Emergency War Plan is an important and much-needed book. . . . The author has done yeoman service with the book, and it deserves a place on the scholar's shelf next to Richard Rhodes's outstanding works on the development of nuclear weapons."—John M. Curatola, Journal of Military History
“This is an outstanding book. Sean Maloney has written an extremely detailed, prodigiously researched, and highly readable account of the U.S. nuclear war plans of the 1950s. . . . [Maloney] offers the term ‘massive deterrence’ to describe the effect of these [nuclear] forces, their demonstrated ability to deliver their weapons on target, and the iron will of American leaders to respond to a Soviet or Chinese attack if necessary. Deterrence worked. This is a definitive work on a complicated and arcane subject.”—Phillip S. Meilinger, former dean of the School of Advanced Airpower Studies at Air University
“[This] is the Rosetta Stone compendium and most comprehensive body of work I have ever read on the development of the United States’ nuclear war plan. In exacting detail this book unravels the mystery behind the planning and operations of America’s nascent nuclear capability during the early years of the Cold War.”—Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein, USAF (Ret.), former commander of the Twentieth Air Force and former deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration at the Pentagon
“It might seem quaint today, but that distant ‘air atomic age’ of Truman and Eisenhower’s day planted and sprouted the seeds of the nuclear reign of terror. Sean Maloney renders an exhaustive account of how atomic penury morphed into nuclear plenty, and how war plans—including British offensive and Soviet defensive ones—changed in response. Along the way, Emergency War Plan presents a fresh picture of bombs, bombers, and groups matched to prospective targets, in a much more sophisticated fashion than in our received history of ‘massive retaliation.’ This book helps us understand Cold War history in a new way.”—John Prados, author of The Soviet Estimate
Descriere
Using strategic plans, intelligence analysis, and other materials that have only recently been declassified, Emergency War Plan examines the theory and practice of nuclear deterrence during the 1945–1960 period of the Cold War.