In late 1940s, many pundits believed that World War 2 would be the last large-scale military conflict. With the clarion call of “never again”, it was hoped that the world had entered a phase of long-term peace. Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Gaza by General David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts puts this hypothesis to a severe test. The authors show that not only did conflict not go away but evolved in surprising ways.
After nukes were added to arsenals, with multiple countries testing their own nuclear weapons, the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) came to dominate military-strategic discourse. However, MAD only put an upper limit to warfare, per the authors. It opened up a whole range of conflict situations and military tactics that could be carried out below that nuclear threshold. These evolved in stages over multiple conflict theatres.
