ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the problem of nuclear sharing, which was instrumental in altering the bi-polar pattern of postwar international politics. It analyses the problem of nuclear sharing and the difficulties that arose within each bloc in regard to the problem. The chapter deals with the problem of nuclear weapons and their impact upon the strategic calculations of the Soviet Union and the United States from the time of the American monopoly to the era of “parity.” A strategic doctrine is much more than the mere selection of a weapons system. Soviet doctrine tried to maximize the deterrent effect of the new missiles after the Sputnik shock by discarding the concept of limited war, so fashionable in the late fifties in the American strategic debate, and stressing instead the inevitability of escalation, at least for the European theatre. Many Europeans had misgivings about the Pentagon’s new “numbers game”, which challenged some of their most deeply entrenched convictions.
