Blueprints for Battle ─ Planning for War in Central Europe, 1948-1968

While scholarship abounds on the diplomatic and security aspects of the Cold War, very little attention has been paid to military planning at the operational level. In Blueprints for Battle, experts from Russia, the United States, and Europe address this dearth by closely examining the military planning of NATO and Warsaw Pact member nations from the end of World War II to the beginning of detente. Informed by material from recently opened archives, this collection investigates the perceptions and actions of the rival coalitions, exploring the challenges presented by nuclear technology, examining how military commanders' perceptions changed from the 1950s to the 1960s, and discussing logistical coordination among allied states. The result is a detailed study that offers much-needed new perspectives on the military aspects of the early Cold War.

Jan Hoffenaar is head of the research division at the Netherlands Institute of Military History, The Hague, and professor of military history at Utrecht University. He is coeditor of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency: Irregular Warfare from 1800 to the Present.

Dieter Kruger is associate professor (privatdozent) of contemporary history at the Martin Luther University of Halle--Wittenberg and historian at the Military History Research Institute (MGFA), Potsdam.

Major General David T. Zabecki, AUS (Ret.), is the author of The German 1918 Offensives: A Case Study in the Operational Level of War and editor emeritus of Vietnam magazine. He holds the Shifrin Distinguished Chair in Military and Naval History at the United States Naval Academy and is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the War Studies Programme at the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom).