From Hitler's Germany to Saddam's Iraq (eBook)

The Enduring False Promise of Preventive War

Scott A. Silverstone (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018
336 Seiten
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Verlag)
978-1-4422-7446-4 (ISBN)

Infos

This book boldly challenges conventional wisdom about the value of preventive war, beginning with the rise of Hitler’s Germany through the disastrous invasion of Iraq. Silverstone argues that the Rhineland crisis leading up to WWII presents a critical case for studying power shifts among states—and the preventive war temptation that results.

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This book boldly challenges conventional wisdom about the value of preventive war. Beginning with the rise of German power and the French and British response to the Rhineland crisis leading to World War II, Scott Silverstone overturns the common impulse to point an accusing finger at British leadership for its alleged naivete, willful blindness, or outright cowardice. Arguing against the belief that Britain could have contained Germany and avoided war if it had used force when Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland, the author uses this dramatic event to wrestle with a general strategic problem that has broad relevance for our current foreign policy dilemmas. Silverstone argues that the Rhineland crisis is a critical case for studying a central dynamic of world history-power shifts among states-and the preventive war temptation that power shifts frequently produce. There has been surging interest in the idea of preventive war, an interest stimulated by the Bush administration's articulation of the "e;preemption doctrine"e; in 2002 and the disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003, and by frustration over the difficulty of preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons by such states as North Korea and Iran. Clarifying the way we think about preventive war, the author analyzes the enduring strategic flaws in preventive war that must inform how political leaders and the public think about this option as a means of dealing with shifting threats in the modern world. Offering a radically conservative argument for when to wage war, this persuasive book will be essential reading for policy makers and concerned citizens alike.

Autor

Scott A. Silverstone is an ASU Future of War Fellow at New America and a professor of international relations at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Pennsylvania and has had an extensive military career. His books include Divided Union: The Politics of War in the Early American Republic and Preventive War and American Democracy.

Inhalt

Acknowledgments 1 The False Promise of Lost Opportunities 2 Another Fait Accompli 3 The Preventive War Temptation Meets the Preventive War Paradox 4 Haunted by the Preventive War Paradox 5 The Roots of a Bitter Peace 6 The Ruhr War 7 Sowing Dragon’s Teeth 8 No Heroes, No Goats 9 Searching for a Silver Bullet Notes Selected Bibliography Index About the Author

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.12.2018
• Zusatzinfo: 7 Illustrations including: - 7 Maps.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► 1918 bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Schlagworte: Germany • Hitler • Military • Rhineland Crisis • Strategy • World War II
• ISBN-10: 1-4422-7446-8 / 1442274468
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4422-7446-4 / 9781442274464