Customer Reviews

Conventional Deterrence (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

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This is a good book that clearly defines three modes of conventional war: 1) limited territiorial engagments for border regions and disputed territiories (e.g. the Franco-German disputes over Alsace-Lorriane); 2) total wars of attrition, in which entire industrial economies are mobilized over an extended front (e.g. WWI); 3) the blitzkrieg, in which supply lines and communications are cut so that the entire structure of an enemy crumbles and can be quickly overrun (e.g. WWII). As far as it goes, this is very interesting and brilliantly described. However, it does not cover la guerre subversive, or guerilla wars, as we saw in Vietnam and are seeing today in Irak with the suicide bombers. While this might be called a war of attrition, it does not really fit into the framework that Mearsheimer presented, as the country is already occupied and there is no front. While I enjoyed the analysis of the three types above, what I was looking for was the uncovered type. Nonethless, this is an excellent book and well worth the read.

Recommended.

About the 1983 first edition hardcover (ISBN 0801415691)...

Cornell University Press, hardcover with dustjacket, cloth over hardback boards with a sewn binding. 296 pp. Indexed. Over 50 pp of bibliographic and narrative End Notes. 17 p Bibliography.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Contentional Deterrence

The Allied Decision Not to Attack Germany, March 1939-May 1940

The German Decision to Attack in the West, 1939-1940

Conventional Deterrence and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Prospects for Contentional Deterrence in Central Europe

Precision-Guided Munitions and Conventional Deterrence

Conclusion

If you are lucky enough to get your hands on this, you'll truly understand what conventional deterrence is from a key thought leader.