Armageddon Insurance

Armageddon Insurance PDF Author: Edward M. Geist
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469645262
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
The dangerous, decades-long arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War begged a fundamental question: how did these superpowers actually plan to survive a nuclear strike? In Armageddon Insurance, the first historical account of Soviet civil defense and a pioneering reappraisal of its American counterpart, Edward M. Geist compares how the two superpowers tried, and mostly failed, to reinforce their societies to withstand the ultimate catastrophe. Drawing on previously unexamined documents from archives in America, Russia, and Ukraine, Geist places these civil defense programs in their political and cultural contexts, demonstrating how each country's efforts reflected its cultural preoccupations and blind spots and revealing how American and Soviet civil defense related to profound issues of nuclear strategy and national values. This work challenges prevailing historical assumptions and unearths the ways Moscow and Washington developed nuclear weapons policies based not on rational strategic or technical considerations but in power struggles between different institutions pursuing their own narrow self-interests.

Armageddon Insurance

Armageddon Insurance PDF Author: Edward M. Geist
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469645262
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

Get Book Here

Book Description
The dangerous, decades-long arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War begged a fundamental question: how did these superpowers actually plan to survive a nuclear strike? In Armageddon Insurance, the first historical account of Soviet civil defense and a pioneering reappraisal of its American counterpart, Edward M. Geist compares how the two superpowers tried, and mostly failed, to reinforce their societies to withstand the ultimate catastrophe. Drawing on previously unexamined documents from archives in America, Russia, and Ukraine, Geist places these civil defense programs in their political and cultural contexts, demonstrating how each country's efforts reflected its cultural preoccupations and blind spots and revealing how American and Soviet civil defense related to profound issues of nuclear strategy and national values. This work challenges prevailing historical assumptions and unearths the ways Moscow and Washington developed nuclear weapons policies based not on rational strategic or technical considerations but in power struggles between different institutions pursuing their own narrow self-interests.

United States and Soviet Civil Defense Programs

United States and Soviet Civil Defense Programs PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. Subcommittee on Arms Control, Oceans, International Operations, and Environment
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civil defense
Languages : en
Pages : 138

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Book Description


Stages of Emergency

Stages of Emergency PDF Author: Tracy C. Davis
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822389630
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
In an era defined by the threat of nuclear annihilation, Western nations attempted to prepare civilian populations for atomic attack through staged drills, evacuations, and field exercises. In Stages of Emergency the distinguished performance historian Tracy C. Davis investigates the fundamentally theatrical nature of these Cold War civil defense exercises. Asking what it meant for civilians to be rehearsing nuclear war, she provides a comparative study of the civil defense maneuvers conducted by three NATO allies—the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom—during the 1950s and 1960s. Delving deep into the three countries’ archives, she analyzes public exercises involving private citizens—Boy Scouts serving as mock casualties, housewives arranging home protection, clergy training to be shelter managers—as well as covert exercises undertaken by civil servants. Stages of Emergency covers public education campaigns and school programs—such as the ubiquitous “duck and cover” drills—meant to heighten awareness of the dangers of a possible attack, the occupancy tests in which people stayed sequestered for up to two weeks to simulate post-attack living conditions as well as the effects of confinement on interpersonal dynamics, and the British first-aid training in which participants acted out psychological and physical trauma requiring immediate treatment. Davis also brings to light unpublicized government exercises aimed at anticipating the global effects of nuclear war. Her comparative analysis shows how the differing priorities, contingencies, and social policies of the three countries influenced their rehearsals of nuclear catastrophe. When the Cold War ended, so did these exercises, but, as Davis points out in her perceptive afterword, they have been revived—with strikingly similar recommendations—in response to twenty-first-century fears of terrorists, dirty bombs, and rogue states.

Terrorism: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Improving Responses

Terrorism: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Improving Responses PDF Author: Russian Academy of Sciences
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309166233
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
This book is devoted primarily to papers prepared by American and Russian specialists on cyber terrorism and urban terrorism. It also includes papers on biological and radiological terrorism from the American and Russian perspectives. Of particular interest are the discussions of the hostage situation at Dubrovko in Moscow, the damge inflicted in New York during the attacks on 9/11, and Russian priorities in addressing cyber terrorism.

United States/Soviet Strategic Options

United States/Soviet Strategic Options PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description


Fallout Shelter

Fallout Shelter PDF Author: David Monteyne
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 0816669759
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
Tracing the partnership between architects and American civil defense officials during the Cold War.

Soviet Civil Defense

Soviet Civil Defense PDF Author: United States. Department of State. Office of Public Communication
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civil defense
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description


Soviet Civil Defense

Soviet Civil Defense PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civil defense
Languages : en
Pages : 22

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Book Description


Defense Department Authorization and Oversight

Defense Department Authorization and Oversight PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 952

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Book Description


Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description