The Specter of Munich

Description:

No historical event has exerted more influence on America’s post–World War II use of military force than the Anglo-French appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Informed by the supposed grand lesson of Munich–namely, that capitulating to the demands of aggressive dictatorships invites further aggression and makes inevitable a larger war–American presidents from Harry Truman through George W. Bush have relied on the Munich analogy not only to interpret perceived security threats but also to mobilize public opinion for military action.

In The Specter of Munich, noted defense analyst Jeffrey Record takes an unconventional look at a disastrous chapter in Western diplomatic history. After identifying the complex considerations behind the Anglo-French appeasement of Hitler and the reasons for the policy’s failure, Record disputes the stock thesis that unchecked aggression always invites further aggression. He proceeds to identify other lessons of the 1930s more relevant to meeting today’s U.S. foreign policy and security challenges. Among those lessons are the severe penalties that foreign policy miscalculation can incur, the constraints of public opinion in a modern democracy, and the virtue of consistency in threatening and using force.

The Specter of Munich concludes that though today’s global political, military, and economic environment differs considerably from that of the 1930s, the United States is making some of the same strategic mistakes in its war on terrorism that the British and French made in their attempts to protect themselves against Nazi Germany. Not the least of these mistakes is the continued reliance on the specter of Adolf Hitler to interpret today's foreign security threats.

Reviews/Endorsements:

"I highly recommend this little book to a broad audience. Record's timely re-analysis of the experience at Munich continues to influence U.S. strategic thinking."
-- Military Review, March-April 2008

"The Specter of Munich offers a brilliant and persuasive reinterpretation of the 1930s. Record’s analysis demonstrates the high value for today’s policy makers of the careful use of historical evidence. This is an outstanding study that deserves a wide readership."
-- Prof. Colin S. Gray, University of Reading, and author of Modern Strategy

"Jeffrey Record, one of America’s leading military strategists, has written a classic study that should be required reading at not only war colleges but at all colleges. While it is a fascinating historical analysis of the Munich crisis and its subsequent uses in U.S. foreign policy, The Specter of Munich is at the same time an immediately relevant and urgent critique of the current crisis. If policy makers, present and future, could learn to think as clearly as Record, that in itself would be the beginning of recovery."
-- Sidney Blumenthal, former assistant and senior adviser to President Clinton and senior fellow at the New York University Center on Law and Security

"Jeffrey Record has once again distilled some of the most salient lessons of history for illuminating perplexing contemporary national security challenges and crafting better strategy for assuring America’s future. He is truly a leader among the very small group of national security specialists with sufficient strategic perspective to help us discern the unknown from the unfamiliar."
-- Douglas Lovelace, Jr., senior national security strategist

"This book is a model of how good historical analysis can usefully inform current policy debates. . . . This book should be required reading not only in universities but in the White House as well."
-- Foreign Affairs, May/June 2007

Related Books:

• The Triumph of Internationalism: Franklin D. Roosevelt and a World in Crisis, 1933–1941
• Diplomacy Lessons: Realism for an Unloved Superpower