Overview

Study of the Cold War all too often shows us the war that wasn't fought. The reality, of course, is that many 'hot' conflicts did occur, some with the great powers' weapons and approval, others without. It is this reality, and this period of quasi-war and semiconflict, that Jonathan M. House plumbs in A Military History of the Cold War, 1962-1991, a complex case study in the Clausewitzian relationship of policy and military force during a time of global upheaval and political realignment. This volume opens a new perspective on three fraught decades of Cold War history, revealing how the realities of time, distance, resources, and military culture often constrained and diverted the inclinations or policies of world leaders. In addition to the Vietnam War and nuclear confrontations between the USSR and the United States, this period saw dozens of regional wars and insurgencies fought throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Cuba, Pakistan, Indonesia, Israel, Egypt, and South Africa pursued their own independent goals in ways that drew the superpowers into regional disputes. Even clashes ostensibly unrelated to the politics of East-West confrontation, such as the Nigerian-Biafran conflict, the Falklands/Malvinas War, and the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, involved armed forces, weapons, and tactics developed for the larger conflict, and thus come under House's scrutiny. His study also takes up nontraditional or specialized aspects of the period, including weapons of mass destruction, civil-military relations, civil defense, and control of domestic disorders. The result is a single, integrated survey and analysis of a complex period of semi- and wholesale warfare, which fills a significant gap in our knowledge of the organization, logistics, operations, and tactics involved in conflict throughout the Cold War.

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Reviews

In the final volume of a two-part effort, Jonathan House brings readers another excellent work on the military history of the Cold War. Released by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2013, the first examined the global conflict from 1944-1962 and left off with the Cuban Missile Crisis. This new volume analyzes the last three decades of the Cold War, from the unstable stalemate at many levels of the 1960s through to the Soviet Union's final curtain call in 1991 and the end of the superpower competition. An international history of the Cold War and the global antagonism between East and West, House has carefully chosen a number of case studies - from regional conflicts and civil wars to superpower competition - that allow him to be as comprehensive as one can be with a topic this broad. Through a study of military policy, forces, and campaigns, the author provides important context for issues of strategy and diplomacy in an era of global change and political realignment. In the main, this book is an excellent follow-up to the author's first study of the Cold War's military history. Readers unfamiliar with the conflict's operational and institutional aspects will find both volumes in tandem to be an ideal introduction to the subjects and the literature. --U.S. Military History Review House's scholarship is excellent. The volume offers measured appraisals drawing on up-to-date sources detailing the action from both sides. This is the work of an accomplished historian. --Army Magazine

House's scholarship is excellent. The volume offers measured appraisals drawing on up-to-date sources detailing the action from both sides. This is the work of an accomplished historian. --Army Magazine

Author Information

Jonathan M. House is Professor Emeritus at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Leavenworth, Kansas. He is author of Combined Arms Warfare in the Twentieth Century and Military Intelligence, 1870-1991 and coauthor, with David M. Glantz, of several studies of the Soviet-German conflict during World War II.

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