Archive Report
Archive Report
Revision of Britain's Defense Strategy
The free world's increasing reliance on nuclear weapons to prevent or combat aggression was signalized last month by Great Britain's clear-cut decision to concentrate on atomic arms at the expense of conventional military force. The shift in military concepts was emphasized again early in May when the North Atlantic Council firmly adhered, in the face of Russian threats, to its plan to utilize nuclear weapons in the defense of Western Europe. Both actions bore out changes in military thinking that have been going on in the world since advent of the atomic age.
Startling advances in military technology, existence of a nuclear stalemate between East and West, and the astronomical costs of simultaneously maintaining both conventional and air-atomic defenses have combined ...