ABSTRACT
The discovery of the powers of the atom has had a profound effect on the world. Historically, military force has sought to fulfill at least two purposes: the first was to deter war; the second was to win war if it broke out. The central reality of nuclear weapons is also the origin of the unavoidable dilemmas that underpin contemporary debates. The debate about nuclear weapons in Europe is different than the freeze debate in the United States. Michael Howard has rightly pointed out that stability derives both from being able to deter the Soviet Union and from being able to reassure people's allies that deterrence is in fact in effect. To deter the Soviet Union means not only deterrence of nuclear attack but also deterrence of conventional attack. The principal obstacle to the reduction of nuclear arms in Western Europe, therefore, is the lack of a conventional military balance.
