Conventional Deterrence: The Memoir of a Nineteenth-Century Parish Priest

by John J. Mearsheimer

Book Overview

Conventional Deterrence is a book about the origins of war. Why do nations faced with the prospect of large-scale conventional war opt for or against an offensive strategy? John J. Mearsheimer examines a number of crises that led to major conventional wars to explain why deterrence failed. He focuses first on Allied and German decision making in the years 1939-1940, analyzing why the Allies did not strike first against Germany after declaring...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801493463
• ISBN13: 9780801493461
• Release Date: August 1985
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

About This Book (and Table of Contents)

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

very good definition of conventional war strategies

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.

Mearsheimer is the master

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