A Political-Military Game of Protracted Conventional War in Europe
Information
Date
1990 June
Summary
In 1987 a group of RAND researchers played a political-military game of protracted conventional war between the NATO and Warsaw Pact countries, to take place in 1993. This report discusses such issues as the prospect that strategic nuclear weapons would signal the strength of the U.S. commitment to NATO and re-establish extended deterrence despite obvious risks of escalation; whether ending a NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict would be difficult to achieve, particularly if either side occupies some part of the Federal Republic of Germany; whether attacking ballistic missile submarines would have any impact on the escalation level of the conflict; and whether waging protracted war in Central Europe is possible under some assumptions.