ABSTRACT
Dr Quester’s valuable study of theories of deterrence in the pre-nuclear age was not written, and should not be read, as a critique or amplification of the theories which have been developed since 1945; but it does equip us with a perspective and a certain amount of data by which these theories can be evaluated. The idea of using strategic air power to bring direct influence to bear on the adversary’s will is, as he shows, as old as the century. At the beginning of the First World War such British writers as Lanchester and Spaight were discussing the respective merits of counter-force and counter-value strategies. This study makes many interesting points, some of them strikingly original. It properly emphasizes the remarkable absence of serious analysis lying behind the assumption that civilian populations subjected to aerial bombardment would demand an end to the war.
