Wars of Revelation : The Transformative Effects of Military Intervention on Grand Strategy

As American foreign policy experts anticipate a new Cold War with China, there is no better time to reflect on the evolution of the United States'' grand strategy during its decades-long contest with Russia. Lissner shows that military interventions in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq were crucibles for American foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century, testing strategic axioms on the battlefield and compelling adjustments to Washington''s conception of its global role. In each case, these wars of revelation provided searing insights into the capabilities and intentions of America''s most dangerous international adversaries - as well as the potential and limits of its own national power. By centering her narrative of post-World War II American foreign relations on these pivotal episodes, Lissner provides an historically rich and theoretically compelling narrative that will interest readers keen to understand the past, present, and future of US grand strategy.

Rich in historical detail and theoretical insight, Wars of Revelation explains why the United States'' military interventions have repeatedly transformed its global role - and what that means for the future of American grand strategy. More than seventy-five years since the end of World War II, military interventions - rather than major wars - have emerged as a defining feature of contemporary geopolitics. Yet, for all the fierce policy debates over interventions and their lessons, scholars have largely ignored the systematic linkages between these smaller-scale wars and transformations in the grand strategies of states that prosecute them. In Wars of Revelation, Rebecca Lissner explains why military interventions can be crucibles of grand strategy, testing strategic axioms on the battlefield and prompting combatant states to reconceive their global roles. Through detailed historical case studies of US involvement in the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars, Lissner shows how each intervention generated searing insights into the capabilities and intentions of America''s international adversaries - as well as the potential and limits of its own national power. By focusing on these three "wars of revelation," Lissner presents a fresh perspective on the origins and evolutions of US grand strategy, from the dawn of the Cold War to its twilight. Persuasively argued and historically illuminating, Wars of Revelation is essential reading for anyone who crafts, studies, or follows international security policy.