The Nature of Escalation

During the Cold War, the subject of escalation attracted great attention from policymakers, strategists, and scholars. Their concerns centered primarily on the possibility of crises between the United States and the Soviet Union escalating into war; of limited, conventional wars escalating into worl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDangerous Thresholds p. 7
Main Authors Forrest E. Morgan, Karl P. Mueller, Evan S. Medeiros, Kevin L. Pollpeter, Roger Cliff
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published RAND Corporation 29.07.2008
Edition1
Subjects
Applied sciences
Armed conflict
Behavioral sciences
Bombings
Cold wars
Command and control
Conflict
Conventional warfare
Human behavior
International disputes
International politics
International relations
Military deterrence
Military doctrines
Military operations
Military science
Military strategy
Nuclear deterrence
Nuclear weapons
Political science
Politics
Social behavior
Social interaction
Technology
War
War conflict
War theaters
Warfare
Weapons
Weapons of mass destruction
World wars
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Summary:During the Cold War, the subject of escalation attracted great attention from policymakers, strategists, and scholars. Their concerns centered primarily on the possibility of crises between the United States and the Soviet Union escalating into war; of limited, conventional wars escalating into world wars; and, especially, the use of nuclear weapons.¹ Escalation was by no means a new problem in international politics, as the July crisis triggering World War I in 1914 demonstrates,² but the nuclear and airpower revolutions greatly increased the possibility that escalation might quickly lead to catastrophic results, even as leaders sought to control it.³ Once under
ISBN:9780833042132
0833042130