American Military Strategies And Armament Construction In Cold War Period

America produced a series of strategies to serve its global strategy during the Cold War period, including Containment Strategy and various nuclear strategies such as"Massive Retaliation"Strategy,"Flexible Response"Strategy,"Restrain Injury"Strategy,"Insured destruction"Strategy,"Actual Intimidation"Strategy,"Limited Nuclear Intimidation"Strategy and new"Flexible Response"Strategy. In accordance with this, American armament construction was changed whether on developing regular weaponry or on manufacturing nuclear weapons.America climbed the throne of global overlord after the World War Two. The development of monopolizing capitalism demanded aggression and expansion urgently. But the American position as global overlord was challenged powerfully as the Soviet Union's military strength expanded constantly. Then the two country contested hegemony. In this historical background and international context, America adjusted her military strategies and armament construction continuously.America carried out Containment Strategy which made much of regular weapons during the years between 1954 and 1969. Predominated by this strategy, America headquarters enhanced regular force greatly both on nuclear weaponry and on regular weaponry, ready for fighting a war against the Soviet Union and her allies. During this period, in the aspect of armament construction, America emphasized regular weapons while accelerating the work of manufacturing nuclear weapons. In the process of building regular weaponry, Air Force was paid more attention to than navy, and Air Force became an independent military species. In addition, the right of commanding army was being unified, which solved an problem that beset the American army.America carried out the"intimidating"nuclear strategy which made much of hitting enemy's cities. During this period, America believed if she could build an nuclear force which could ensure that main cities of the Soviet Union be destroyed, she could block the sudden nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. There was"Massive Retaliation"Strategy,"Flexible Response"Strategy, and"Insured destruction"Strategy. Though the name and content of those strategies were different, the goal was identical: intimidation. During this period, America pursued diversified armament construction, however , regular weaponry was central. What's more, land forces were emphasized.In the years between 1970 and 1989, America carried out the"practical"nuclear strategy which made much of beating enemy's military goals. There were"Actual Intimidation"Strategy,"Limited Nuclear Intimidation"Strategy and new"Flexible Response"Strategy. These strategies were in an contradiction: on the one hand, America wanted to keep her nuclear advantage; but on the other hand, she didn't dare to afford a nuclear war. So , actually, the relevant military theories always concerned the regular war. All of this affected the armament construction of America in this period. America paid more attention to regular force when developing nuclear force. At the same time, America carried out a series of resultful reform in the respect of national defence.In a word, the military strategy in Cold War period was the most variable in American history. However, all of these strategies served for American global strategy and using American military force especially nuclear weaponry. The cornerstone of American military strategy was nuclear intimidation. This paper tries to reveal the reasons why America defeated the Soviet Union in Cold War from the view of American military strategy and armament construction in order to make up for some in sufficiency in the research of this field at present.