LIT5: Gray, C. (2012). War, Peace and International Relations (2nd ed., pp.231-245), “Chapter 15: The Cold War, II: The nuclear revolution”.

Question 1

Why are Nuclear (Fusion and Hydrogen) weapons revolutionary? Gray

Answer 1

1. Anti-strategic
   These novel weapons seem to fracture the link between means and ends which
   is the instrumental essence of strategy itself. Nuclear weapons appeared to be,
   indeed may be, too powerful and too destructive, if used, to serve any political
   ends.
2. Antipathetic to the possibility of victory
   If nuclear weapons are held by both sides in a war, they should render decisive
   military victory impossible.
3. Potentially mutually suicidal
   A nuclear-armed state can defeat an enemy without first defeating its armed
   forces, but if that enemy also was nuclear armed the net result would be
   bilateral defeat.
4. Encouraging of super-cautious behavior by nuclear-armed rivals
   Nuclear weapons raise the threshold for the resort to force.
5. Promoting geopolitical immobility
   Nuclear weapons have the effect of freezing conditions of political confrontation.