War Concepts and Strategies
War Concepts and Strategies
Mankind has witnessed so many wars throughout history. So many people, including combatants, have lost their lives in those wars. The destructiveness of war has made it an important factor in defining the relationship between nations and has become a subject in studying world politics and security strategy.
The concepts of massive retaliation and limited war, preemptiveand preventive war, and flexible response were discussed when nuclear strategy was an important factor in the United States-Soviet relationship.
Massive retaliation was defined as making a potential aggressorfeel, in no doubt, that it would suffer damages, outweighing any possible gains from the aggression. One example is when the U.S. made sure that the Soviets would not even think of attacking the Western Europe by making them believe that the price they would pay for such a provocative action would indeed be great.
The limited war concept came from Captain Basil Liddell Hart. He insisted that total war with indiscriminate means that can lead to horrible devastation is undesirable. Rather, it should be conducted in a more controlled manner that would not cause huge devastation and inflict too much suffering. Naturally, he stood against nuclear warfare especially after the bombing of Hiroshima. It could be said that he tried to impose humane aspects into warfare, thereby inviting criticism.
Preventive and preemptive wars, which were explained as forms of defensive use of force, were also mentioned in relation to nuclear strategy regarding Soviet Union.
Preemptive war happens when war is believed to be imminent. Like when Israel attacked Egypt in June 1967 and when the U.S. attacked Iraq in 2003, it happens when a state believes that there is an evident threat to itself and the timing is a matter of now or never.
Preventive war happens when it is better to go to war sooner rather than later. An example is Germany’s decision-making process in 1914. They believed that it was the right time to go to war against Russia before the Russians get too strong by 1916.
In relevance to the U.S.-Soviet relations, preemptive war was linked with imminent and specific Soviet threat, while preventive war was linked with the U.S. which had absolute superiority over Soviet nuclear power; bearing in mind that it would be better to strike first when the U.S. enjoyed monopoly, rather than wait with a risk of losing power afterwards.
Lastly, with the concept of massive retaliation severely criticized in Europe, NATO adopted the strategy of flexible response in 1967. It sought balance of conventional and nuclear means, and laid emphasis on deterring aggression with forward defense.
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