ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the escalation ladder, comprising Rungs 32-44, which deal with central wars. The formal declaration of war could cause either escalation or de-escalation. The chapter describes that the first large attack is mainly on military targets. There may be forces withheld specifically for the possibility of later city attacks, but most or all enemy cities are spared initially—perhaps for use as hostages or pawns for bargaining in the later stages of the war. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara has said that the "principal military objectives, in the event of a nuclear war stemming from a major attack on the Alliance, should be the destruction of the enemy's military forces, not of his civilian population. One of the most important options may be called a constrained disarming attack. Unlike constrained or avoidance attacks, in an unmodified counterforce attack no inhibitions on the counterforce operations are accepted in order to avoid collateral damage.
