Article: Military Escalation

The emergence of nuclear weapons has produced the greatest increase in potential destruction and violence that the world has ever known. It seemed, in the 1950s and 1960s, that the top rung of the escalation ladder had been reached with the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads. It now appeared that further developments in destructive power or range and accuracy of vehicles could only serve to emphasize this fact.

Historically, conflict tended to escalate rapidly and often to the maximum level of violence that belligerents could employ and which they deemed advantageous. This was the result of a combination of two factors.

One factor was the natural tendency of human beings to engage in violent behavior as soon as they become involved in a conflict. The other was the rapid and almost inevitable ratcheting up of the intensity of the conflict as it progressed through a series of escalatory steps that brought about increasing demands on resources, morale, and the lives of civilian populations.

National security professionals should remember that escalation is a tool that can perform a variety of important functions, including communicating stake and will, demonstrating capability, and deterring aggression. The key is to understand a nation’s stakes, limits, and objectives and what post-conflict status quo will best fulfill those objectives, and then to employ what tools are required to achieve that outcome. In many cases, military escalation may be the necessary tool to prevent a conflict from spiraling out of control.