1. Massive Retaliation: A History
By Daniel Milward

2. A Policy Is Born
In the 1950’s, we started
to realize that the Soviets
were becoming too
powerful for us to be able
to contain them with
conventional forces.
The US realized that in order to make sure
that the USSR did not attack one of our
allies, they needed a drastic deterrence
strategy.

3. Collective Security
The North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, or NATO, was drawn
up to provide collective security
against the Soviet Union.
The United States was, and still is, NATO’s
most important and powerful member.

4. Problems…
Unfortunately for Europe, but
fortunately for the US in times of war,
we are separated from the European
powers by the vast Atlantic Ocean.
This means that fighting a conventional
ground war against the Soviets would be a
logistical nightmare.

5. Problem Solved!
To avoid this problem, we began to
come up with a plan that would
guarantee the security of our allies.
The security of our allies would lie in the
threat of nuclear retaliation against an
aggressor.

6. The Speech
On January 12, 1954, my Secretary of
State, John F. Dulles, gave a speech which
would change US foreign policy for the
rest of the Cold War.
In this speech, Mr. Dulles introduced a
doctrine called Massive Retaliation, where if
an aggressor attacked the US or its allies, the
US would respond with an all-out nuclear
retaliatory strike.

7. In the 1950’s after the Korean War, the UN
did not want to fight another
conventional war.
The United States had a vast amount of
nuclear weapons during this time, and a large
bomber fleet with which to deliver them.

8. The chief fear in the US military
establishment was that the Soviets
would launch a ground attack west
into Europe with their vastly superior
numbers.
If this were to occur, the West would be
forced to try to even the odds with a
nuclear attack on the advancing Soviet
armies, sparking a nuclear exchange.

9. In order to circumvent that
possibility, it was imperative that the
Soviets believe that we would
retaliate against such an attack with
overwhelming force.
Thus the idea of an attack against the West
would ultimately be a suicidal act.

10. Success
Ultimately the idea of Massive
Retaliation was a huge factor in
keeping the Cold War from becoming
World War Three.
Brilliant!
Thank you.

11. Bibliography
• Hill, Fiji. (2006). Dulles Announces Policy of Massive
Retaliation. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-
news/1556858/posts
• Krieger, D., Wayman, R. (2011) Massive Retaliation.
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/about-us/contact-
us.htm
• B-52 photo retrieved from http://www.psywarrior.com
• Ike photo retrieved from http://gal.darkervision.com
• Wikipedia photo retrieved from
http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu