ABSTRACT
The growth of Soviet military power and the development of strategy must be seen in historical, international-political and domestic perspective. As Soviet military capabilities increasingly matched the doctrinal tenets of superiority, and an offensive, war-fighting posture emerged ever more clearly, fears grew that Soviet military strategy equalled political strategy. The drastic expansion of American strategic procurements would have soon made clear the fact that the Soviet Union was fated to hold an inferior position. The Soviet “professional soldier” has developed a comprehensive and consistent military strategy. The Soviet military build-up “across the board” is impressive and has clearly shifted the military balance in its favor. The concept of superiority is rooted in Soviet ideological thinking and is applied to nuclear weapons according to orthodox military norms. Strategic superiority goes hand in hand with the acquisition of war-fighting capabilities, and the ideas continued to hold sway.
