Massive Retaliation strategy
E40879
The Massive Retaliation strategy was a Cold War U.S. military doctrine that threatened overwhelming nuclear response to any act of aggression, aiming to deter Soviet expansion while limiting conventional military commitments.
Aliases (1)
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Cold War doctrine
→
military doctrine → nuclear deterrence strategy → |
| aimedAt |
containing costs of defense spending
→
deterring Soviet Union → deterring communist expansion → reducing U.S. conventional military commitments → |
| alsoKnownAs |
New Look strategy of massive retaliation
→
massive retaliation → |
| announcedBy |
John Foster Dulles
→
|
| announcedIn |
1954
→
|
| appliedBy |
U.S. Department of Defense
→
U.S. national security establishment → United States government → |
| appliedInAlliance |
NATO
→
|
| associatedWith |
Dwight D. Eisenhower administration
→
|
| associatedWithConcept |
brinkmanship
→
deterrence theory → |
| assumes |
any aggression could trigger full-scale nuclear response
→
|
| contrastedWith |
flexible response
→
limited war doctrine → |
| corePrinciple |
threat of overwhelming nuclear response to aggression
→
use of strategic nuclear weapons as primary deterrent → |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
→
|
| criticizedFor |
encouraging arms race in nuclear weapons
→
inflexibility in crisis management → lack of credibility in response to minor provocations → risk of rapid escalation to general nuclear war → |
| focusesOn |
strategic nuclear retaliation rather than conventional defense
→
|
| formulatedIn |
1950s
→
|
| geopoliticalContext |
U.S.–Soviet rivalry
→
bipolar international system → |
| influenced |
U.S. nuclear force structure in the 1950s
→
early Cold War NATO war plans → |
| influencedBy |
Korean War experience
→
U.S. nuclear monopoly and early superiority → desire to avoid large standing army → |
| intendedEffect |
raise potential cost of aggression to unacceptable level
→
|
| partOf |
Eisenhower New Look policy
→
|
| reliesOn |
intercontinental ballistic missiles
→
long-range bombers → nuclear superiority → strategic air power → |
| replacedBy |
NATO flexible response doctrine
→
flexible response strategy → |
| replacedInPracticeDuring |
1960s
→
|
| securityDomain |
grand strategy
→
nuclear strategy → |
| timePeriod |
Cold War
→
|
Referenced by (2)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
United States rocket program
("Cold War strategic deterrence")
→
|
contributedTo |
|
Eisenhower Doctrine
→
|
follows |