Book Review: Atomic Weapons and East-West Relations
| Published date | 01 September 1957 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205701200309 |
| Author | G. O. Baines |
| Date | 01 September 1957 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
230
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
of
Historians."
Il
a
omis
les
d6tails
que
r'auteur
donne
sur
ses
inspirations
depuis
1'6poque
ofi
on
le
poussait
dans
sa
voiture
d'enfant.
II
a
supprim6
les
"Acknowledgements
and
Thanks,"
fantastiques, et
sa
litanie
des
"saints,"
plus
fantastique
encore.
II
a
retranch6
cette
note
invraisemblable:
"Finis.
London,
1951,
June
15,
6.25
p.m.,
after
looking
once
more,
this
afternoon,
at
Fra
Angelico's
picture
of
the
Beatific Vision."
II
a
pass6
sous
silence
la
vision
que
rapporte
l'6crivain:
"In
London
in
the
south-
ern
section
of
the
Buckingham
Palace
Road,
walking
southward
along
the
pavement
skirting
the
west
wall
of
Victoria
Station,
the
writer,
once,
one
afternoon
not
long
after
the
end
of
the
First
World
War-he
had
failed
to
record
the
exact
date-had
found
himself
in
communion,
not
just
with
this
or
that
episode
in
History,
but
with
all
that
had
been,
and
was,
and
was
to
come."
Ces
suppressions
ne
sont
pas
les
services
les
moins
importants
que
M.
Somervell
s'est
trouv6
rendre
A
l'auteur
d'A
Study
of
History.
Universitd
de
Montr6al
GuY
FRF9GAULT
ATOMIC
WEAPONS
AND
EAST-WEST
RELATIONS.
By
P.
M.
S.
Blackett.
1956.
(Toronto:
Macmillan.
vi,
107pp.
$1.75.)
In
the
three
chapters
of
this
book,
which
follows
closely
three
lectures
given
at
Cambridge
in
the
spring
of
1956,
Pro-
fessor
Blackett
endeavours
to
make
a
contribution
to
the
develop-
ment
of
a
rational
defence
policy
in
a
world
dominated by
atomic
weapons.
His analysis
of
the
policy
of
the
Western
powers
in
the
decade
from
1945
to
1955
shows
how
the
situation
has
changed
from
that
in
which
the
atomic
bomb
was
thought
to
be
a
decisive
weapon
capable
of
dealing
a
knock-out
blow
to a
major
power.
To-day
between
the
East
and
West
there
is
a
position
of
atomic
stalemate
and
consequential
relaxation
of
international
tension,
with
each
possessing both
atom
and
hydrogen
bombs
and
both
sides equally
vulnerable.
In
establishing
the
existence
of
this
stalemate,
Professor
Blackett
deals
not
only
with
the
relative
stockpiles
of
weapons,
but
also
with
their
methods
of
delivery,
by
aircraft
and
ballistic
missiles.
While
the
threat
of
strategic
air
power
has
abolished
global
war,
the
remaining
problem is
to
keep
it
abolished
and
to
minimize
small
wars.
The
tactical
use
of
atomic
weapons
is
now
the
more
important
one,
though
in
this
respect
too
they
may
remain
only
a
threat.
In
developing
his
thesis,
Blackett
touches
on
many
of
the
significant
events
of
the
past
atomic
decade,
notably
the
abortive
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