The Fog of Peace and War Planning

How do we plan under conditions of uncertainty? The perspective of military planners is a key organizing framework: do they see themselves as preparing to administer a peace, or preparing to fight a future war? Most interwar volumes examine only the 1920s and the 1930s. This new volume goes back, and forward in time, to draw on a greater expanse of history in order to tease out lessons for contemporary planners. These chapters are grouped into four periods: 1815-1856, 1871-1914, 1918-1938, and post-Second World War. They progress from low-tech to high-tech concerns, for example, the first period examines armies, while the second period examines navies, the third asseses navies combined with air forces, and finally for the Kaiser chapter explores nuclear issues and decision-making.

Talbot C. Imlay, Monica Duffy Toft

1. Strategic and Military Planning under the Fog of Peace Talbot Imlay and Monica Duffy Toft 2. Strategic and Military Planning, 1815-1856 Louise Richardson 3. Russian War Planning, 1815-1856 Frederick W. Kagan 4. Austria, Prussia and the German Confederation: The Defense of Central Europe, 1815-1854 Lawrence Sondhaus 5. Strategic and Military Planning, 1871-1914 David Stevenson 6. Command Decision-Making: Imperial Germany, 1871-1914 Holger H. Herwig 7. British Preparation for Global Naval War, 1904-1914 John Tetsuro Sumida 8. Strategic and Military Planning, 1919-1939 Talbot Imlay 9. Catching the Wave: The RAF Pursues a RMA, 1919-1939 John Ferris 10. Transforming to Victory: The US Navy, Carrier Aviation, and Preparing for War in the Pacific Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr. 11. US Objectives and Plans for War with the Soviet Union, 1946-1954 David Kaiser 12. From the Fall of France to the Force de Frappe: The Remaking of French Military Power, 1945-1962 Charles G. Cogan 13. Conclusion: Seven Lessons Learned from the Fog of Peace Talbot Imlay and Monica Duffy Toft