ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book focuses on a series of the most important elements of contemporary Soviet military affairs and establishes their relevance to the experience of the Great Patriotic War. It presents the intentionally inter—locking issues of historiography, risk assessment, mobilization, the defense industry, wartime decision making and control, the organization and structure of the General Staff, and conventional and strategic military theory. The book then examines that the experience of the war left the Soviets with a realistic sense that the “costs of war and its unpredictability made peace a necessity” and thus made them reluctant to use force in the postwar era. It also focuses on the costs and methods of the economic and military preparations for going to war. The book details transition from peacetime to wartime command and the increased need for flexibility and speed within this process.
