Publisher's Synopsis
The Cold War followed a cyclical pattern, with periods of relative calm and Soviet moderation alternating with periods of tension and Soviet aggressiveness. A re-examination of the three periods of greatest danger in US-Soviet relations leads to the conclusion that the Soviets were most likely to commence and continue on a course of expansion when the credibility of US efforts at deterrence had been damaged by the inability or unwillingness of the United States to meet previous communist challenges.;Based on the author's assessment of 20 cases of US-Soviet conflict, the much maligned "domino theory" appears to provide a reasonably accurate explanation for the history of the Cold War.
