The Growth of the Strategic Dichotomy

Abstract

The strategic dichotomy dividing America and Europe was evident when the consequences of nuclear war became potentially as serious for the USA as they had been for the USSR since World War II. This increased the USA’s strategic dependence on Western Europe for deterring the Soviet Union and diminished Western Europe’s faith in the reduced credibility of the American nuclear umbrella. The new strategic environment forced a re-alignment of interests within the Western alliance system. States were obliged to choose between the two contending strategies in the circumstances of a delicate balance of terror; that is, between massive retaliation and flexible response. Neither was mutually exclusive, for some degree of massive retaliation is even implicit in the flexible response doctrine.