THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES

by Bobbitt, Philip

  Despite all this heroic assistance and inspiring aid, I am sorely conscious of the shortcomings that persist in this work, and of my own ignorance. There are many scholars on whose labors I have depended. Yet I have no desire to be a synthesizer or compiler; what I offer is an original, though I hope not idiosyncratic, set of theses with practical and theoretical implications. I do not believe that the study of the past resolves present controversies but I am sure that thinking about the past can illuminate our present problems; that thinking about the past in the context of the future, and vice versa, will be fruitful for new approaches to our current dilemmas. Perhaps this conviction is owed to my unusual personal history; I sometimes think that not only was I supposed to write this book but that I am perhaps one of the few who would. That is because for the last twenty-five years I have led a double life.

  As a teacher, I have divided my life between Texas and England. In the United States, I have taught constitutional law at the University of Texas; in the United Kingdom, I have taught the history of nuclear strategy, first at Oxford and later at Kings College, London. Abroad I have taught only strategy; at home I have taught only law.

  Overlain on this life of teaching and writing has been another life as a public official. I have served in all three branches of the U.S. government and in both Democratic and Republican administrations. At various times I have been associate counsel to the president for intelligence and international security at the White House; the counselor on international law at the State Department; the legal counsel to the Senate Select Committee on the Iran-Contra Affair and author of the Senate Report Covert Action in a Democratic Society. Until returning to academic life in the fall of 1999 I served in a series of senior positions at the National Security Council: director for intelligence; senior director for critical infrastructure; and finally as the senior director for strategic planning.

  No doubt this fragmented and multiple existence accounts for the different voices one encounters on reading this book, but more important, this life has given me an unusual array of vantage points that is rarely found in a single professional career and for which I am grateful to the persons named and to many others unnamed. It is precisely these perspectives—national and international, public and private, strategic and constitutional—that at the beginning of the twenty-first century are coming together in the life of the State, an institution that has hitherto been defined by keeping these perspectives logically and politically distinct.

  This book is the confluence of all these strands—law, history, and strategy—as these have been interwoven with a life in and out of government. It could not really be otherwise. As Valery wrote, “In fact there is no theory that is not a fragment, carefully prepared, of some autobiography.”

  ANNOTATED INDEX

  ABC Problem: should the U.S. structure its forces to deal with peer nations, mid-level developing nations with modern forces and primitive weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or militarily ineffectual but dangerous states and nonstate actors? 299

  Acton, Edward, 27, 832, 889

  Adolphus, Gustavus (1594 – 1632): Swedish king 1611 – 1632 during the Thirty Years' War, 69, 70, 73, 96, 99, 100 – 14, 130, 504, 508, 512, 516 – 17, 837 – 8, 898

  Akashi, Yasushi (1931– ): U.N. administrator in Bosnia; supervised Cambodian peace talks and elections 1993, 445, 459

  Alba, Duke of (also Alva, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo) (1508 – 1583): Spanish commander in Low Countries, 494, 495

  Alexander I (1777 – 1825): Russian tsar (1801 – 1825) represented Russia at Congress of Vienna (1814 – 1815), 150, 162, 869

  Aquinas, Thomas (1225 – 1274): Jesuit philosopher, 77, 87, 491, 877

  Article 2(4): U.N. Charter provision outlawing aggression by one state against another, 473, 863; compare Article 51, a provision recognizing each state's right to defend itself

  Articles 42 and 43 of the U.N. Charter: U.N. Charter provisions authorizing the Security Council to use armed forces to maintain international peace and security, 169, 256, 433, 463, 473 – 4

  Aspin, Les (1938 – 1995): U.S. secretary of defense (1993 – 1994), 298, 850

  Athens: Greek city-state that flourished in the fifth century B.C., 8, 21, 332

  Augustine, St. (354 – 430): Christian philosopher, author of Confessions and The City of God, 77

  Austin, John (1790 – 1859): English jurist, 6, 565 – 7, 585 – 6, 589 – 90, 641, 829, 845 – 6, 852, 889 – 90

  Ayala, Balthazar (1548 – 1584): Spanish military figure and jurist, 489, 494 – 6, 499

  Badinter Commission: E.U. tribunal that establishes criteria for international recognition of states emerging from former Eastern and Central European communist countries, 449, 463

  Baker, James (1930– ): U.S. political figure; White House chief of staff (1981 – 1985, 1992 – 1993); secretary of the treasury (1985 – 1988); secretary of state (1989 – 1992), 280, 431 – 3, 612, 626 – 33, 635, 662, 846, 876, 881

  balance of power, 90, 121, 124, 126, 129 – 33, 153, 155, 162, 169, 171 – 2, 233, 258 – 60, 263 – 65, 271, 278 – 9, 309, 344, 360, 383, 521, 523 – 7, 532, 534, 537, 539 – 40, 543, 550 – 3, 555, 559 – 60, 869, 886

  Barraclough, Geoffrey, 26, 831, 889

  Bartholomew, Reginald, 457

  Beetham, David, 336, 844, 852

  Berlin, 9, 26, 45 – 6, 50 – 1, 53 – 55, 150, 157, 382 – 3, 386, 389 – 90, 555, 580, 594, 624, 639, 669 – 70, 672 – 5, 834, 845, 855

  Berlin Airlift (1948 – 1949), 51

  Berlin Wall (erected 1961), 55 – 6, 61, 625, 636, 761, 764, 798

  Betts, Richard, 307, 882

  biological warfare, 692 – 3,709, 882

  Bismarck, Otto Eduard Leopold von (1815 – 1898): Prussian prime minister; consolidated German states into empire; first chancellor of German Empire, 25 – 6, 184 – 7, 190 – 202, 204, 207, 225, 280, 567 – 70, 573, 580, 608, 612, 676, 843, 890, 895

  Black, Jeremy, 71 – 3, 101, 141, 173, 336, 835, 837, 839 – 40, 842, 844, 853, 889

  Blair, Tony (1953– ): British politician; prime minister (1997– ); Labor Party leader (1994– ), 222, 287, 339, 667, 845

  Bodin, Jean (1530 – 1596): French political philosopher, 6, 102, 334, 829, 837, 852, 890

  Bogomil: South Slav Christians converted by force to Islam (1463), 417

  Bohlen, Charles (1904 – 1974): U.S. diplomat, 57, 834

  Bolingbroke, Viscount Henry St. John (1678 – 1751): British minister of state (1710 – 1714), 521 – 5, 539, 868

  Bolshevik Revolution: 1917 – 1918 seizure of Russian government by communists, 19, 24, 27, 31

  Bonaparte, Napoleon, see Napoleon I

  Bosnia, 7, 37, 161, 252, 269, 271 – 2, 283, 288, 297 – 8, 311, 313, 316, 325, 365, 411, 413, 415 – 18, 420 – 50, 452 – 66, 468

  Bossuet, Jacques-Benigne (1627 – 1704): French bishop and author, 117, 121

  Boutros-Ghali, Boutros (1922– ): Egyptian diplomat; U.N. secretary-general (1992 – 1996), 451, 459, 462

  Bracken, Paul, 16, 315

  Branch Davidian case, 237

  Bretton Woods (1944): international conference that established currency fixed exchange rates in the wake of World War II, 220 – 1, 316

  Brezhnev Doctrine (1968): asserted Soviet right to intervene in the domestic politics of Eastern European countries in order to prop up communist governments, 166

  Brodie, Bernard (1910 – 1978): U.S. intellectual, author of The Absolute Weapon (1946), 12 – 14, 80

  Brzezinski, Zbigniew Kazimierz (1928– ): U.S. National Security Advisor (1977 – 1981), 257 – 8, 847, 890

  Buchanan, Patrick, 247, 846

  Bull, Hedley: Oxford professor of international relations, 246, 357, 513 – 4, 846, 853, 864, 867, 890, 900

  Burke, Edmund (1729 – 1797): British politician; political philosopher, 177, 334, 503, 852

  Bush, George H. W. (1924- ): U.S. president (1989 – 1993), 10, 243, 248, 280, 428, 431, 612, 626 – 32, 634, 716, 862, 877, 901

/>   Bush, George W. (1946– ): U.S. president (2001– ), 222, 253, 276, 278, 288, 340, 667, 814, 845, 858, 859

  Cable News Network (CNN), 304, 428, 430, 442, 697, 782, 862

  Campbell, Susan, 439

  caracole: Spanish cavalry tactic, 99

  Carrington, Lord (1919– ): British diplomat and politician; British foreign secretary (1979 – 1982); NATO secretary-general (1984 – 1988), 421, 423, 445, 464

  Carter Doctrine (1980): U.S. security guarantee to Persian Gulf oil producing states, 262

  Carter, Ashton, 310, 830, 849 – 51, 890

  Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2nd Viscount (1769 – 1822): English diplomat and politician; represented Britain at Congress of Vienna (1814 – 1815), 160 – 73, 179, 184, 200, 385, 544 – 5, 548 – 9, 551, 553 – 6, 559 – 62, 575, 612, 676, 841 – 2, 869, 889, 894, 900

  Catalonia: region of Spain, including Barcelona, 120, 470, 750

  Cavour, Camillo Benso, Conte di (1810 – 1861): Italian politician of Risorgimento movement; prime minister of Sardinia (1852 – 1859, 1860 – 1861); first Italian prime minister (1861), 182 – 3, 676

  central deterrence: relationship between powers that protects a national homeland by targeting an adversary's homeland, 14, 328, 620

  Chace, James, 256, 847, 891

  Charles V (1500 – 1558): Habsburg ruler; king of Spain 1516 – 1556 as Charles I; Holy Roman Emperor (1519 – 1556), 103 – 6, 109, 126, 128 – 9, 155, 279, 487, 489, 491, 494

  Charles VIII (1470 – 1498): king of France (1483 – 1498), 80, 96 – 7, 107, 346,486

  Charter of Paris (1990): great power treaty recognizing free elections and democracy as the criteria for statehood and state responsibility for preserving human rights, 61, 449, 620, 635 – 8, 676, 877

  Charter of the United Nations (1945), 449, 635, 893

  Chaumont, Treaty of (1814): restored the Bourbons in France to pre-war borders and perpetuated the defensive alliance between Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, 160 – 1, 164, 166, 545, 556, 564

  Chetniks: Serbian partisans in World War II, 417 – 8, 439

  Chiang Kai-shek (1887 – 1975): Chinese general and politician; national president of China (1928 – 1929); president of Taiwan (1943 – 1949, 1950 – 1975), 51

  China, 9, 40 – 2, 51 – 2, 58 – 60, 76, 146, 214, 218, 224, 260 – 1, 280, 290 – 3, 307, 309, 311 – 12, 320, 329, 357, 469 – 70,476, 480, 579, 606, 610, 627, 670, 677, 683 – 4, 686 – 9, 693, 704, 723 – 7, 730, 732 – 3, 736 – 9,745, 747 – 8, 756, 758 – 60,766, 773, 779 – 81, 788, 825, 882

  Christina (1626 – 1689): queen of Sweden during Peace of Westphalia, 503, 866

  Christopher, Warren Minor (1925– ): U.S. lawyer and diplomat; secretary of state (1993 – 1997), 423 – 4, 444, 455, 457, 460, 464

  Churchill, Winston Spencer (1874 – 1965): British politician and author; prime minister (1940 – 1945, 1951 – 1955); British defense secretary (1940 – 1945, 1951 – 1952), 33, 43, 46, 52, 128, 199, 217, 685, 695, 833, 843, 882, 891, 897

  civil war, 6, 19, 22, 24, 29 – 31, 39 – 40, 51, 59, 89, 106 – 8, 122, 177, 188, 196, 203, 205, 216, 271, 290 – 1, 335, 359, 368 – 9, 375, 380, 406, 424, 431 – 4, 438, 449, 466

  Civitas Maxima: Wolff's “Great State,” composed of what the individual state ought to and would agree to, as well as what states have actually agreed to either by custom or treaty, 530, 534 – 5

  Clark, Champ (1850 – 1921): U.S. politician, Speaker of the House (1911 – 1919), 372 – 3

  Clausewitz, Karl von (1780 – 1831): German army officer and strategist; wrote On War (1833), 7, 53, 62 – 3, 140, 151, 185, 224, 355, 538 – 9, 835, 853, 869, 891

  Clemenceau, Georges (1841 – 1929): French politician; prime minister (1906 – 1909, 1917 – 1920); war minister (1917 – 1920), 216 – 17, 391, 400, 402, 406 – 7, 409, 576 – 7, 608, 844, 872, 891

  Clinton, William Jefferson (1946– ): U.S. president (1993 – 2001), 10, 64, 249, 265, 268–99, 271 – 2, 278, 280, 288, 296 – 8, 306, 316 – 17, 329, 339 – 340, 416, 423 – 6, 453 – 5, 458, 631, 667, 686, 716, 784, 845, 848, 851, 853, 855, 858, 859, 862, 886, 901

  CNN effect, 428, 697

  coalitions of the willing, 268, 310

  Cohen, Eliot, 305, 307, 849 – 50, 852

  Colbert, Jean Baptiste (1619 – 1683): French statesman; made important treasury reforms, established French navy, 121, 123 – 4

  Cold War, 9, 13, 15, 19, 24, 43 – 4, 46, 48 – 52, 62 – 3, 110, 161, 215, 249, 251, 253, 262, 268, 270 – 1, 275 – 7, 292 – 3, 298, 307, 310, 321, 328 – 9, 335, 420, 475, 626, 629, 640, 649, 655, 662, 681, 683, 698, 701 – 2, 717, 733, 761,778, 786

  collective goods: things of benefit to a society as a whole; to the society of states, such things as mutual security, public health, stable environmental and economic relations, 283, 293, 305, 309 – 10, 328, 337, 814, 821

  collective security: a system wherein a state pledges its national forces to defend the peace of an international (though not usually a universal) order, 155, 161, 163, 168 – 9, 172, 183, 200, 233, 253 – 4, 257 – 8, 260, 262, 265, 271, 279, 286 – 7, 360, 383, 475, 477, 504, 517, 523, 525, 540, 546, 551

  communism, 9, 24, 27, 29, 31, 37, 39, 42 – 3, 56 – 9, 215, 244, 260, 332, 379, 384, 446, 571, 607 – 8, 610 – 12, 614, 622 – 3, 626, 630, 655, 673, 675, 678, 698, 702, 781, 875 – 6

  compellance, 11, 13 – 14

  Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (1996): international treaty banning underground and atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons; signed by President Clinton, but never ratified by U.S. Senate, 312

  Concert of Great Powers, 164, 166

  condottiere (pl. condottieri): leader of a mercenary force, 82 – 3, 86, 148, 190 – 1, 836

  Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), 61, 431, 446, 455, 621, 635, 877

  Congress of Vienna: reorganized Europe after the Napoleonic Wars, 24, 161, 164, 170, 172, 175 – 6, 334, 344, 360

  conscription (the drafting of soldiers), 42, 100, 112, 114, 134, 151, 157, 175, 177, 182, 185, 242, 304, 307, 347, 538, 545, 569, 670, 825

  constitutional order: historic categorization of the state; determined by its unique basis for legitimacy, 10, 16, 17, 23 – 4, 34, 41, 44, 61, 67, 73, 83, 103, 107, 115, 132, 136 – 7, 145, 153, 176, 178, 186, 197, 206 – 7, 209, 211, 213 – 4, 228 – 9, 233 – 5, 240 – 2, 278, 288, 301, 304 – 5, 321, 324, 331 – 2, 334 – 5, 339 – 41, 344, 346 – 7, 358, 362 – 5, 385, 387, 400, 448, 470, 479, 481 – 3, 502, 523, 541, 564, 568, 594, 609, 613, 633, 638, 640, 657, 660, 715, 721, 777, 778 – 9, 784, 796, 804, 811, 813 – 5, 826, 852, 854, 866, 873

  Contact Group: concert of great powers convened to settle Bosnia-Serbia dispute, 424 – 5, 455, 465

  containment: U.S. doctrine for defeating communism in the Cold War, 48, 56 – 9, 64, 244, 275 – 7, 281, 293, 310, 628, 653 – 4, 698, 802

  Cooper, Jeffrey, 295, 303, 849 – 50, 891

  Corfu Declaration (1917), 452

  Council of Blood, special Spanish tribunal in the Low Countries during Thirty Years' War, 495

  Covenant of the League of Nations (1919): the League of Nations charter; unrati-fied by U.S. Senate, 400, 408, 471

  covert action: those actions by a state that are intended to influence the politics and policies of a target state without the hand of the acting state being disclosed, 235, 318, 321 – 4, 903

  Creveld, Martin van, 17, 237, 685, 815, 830, 844, 882, 888

  critical infrastructures: those infrastructures supporting and connecting telecommunications, energy, banking and finance, transportation, government service without which contemporary developed states would be unsustainable, 11, 296, 690, 725 – 6, 778, 782, 787, 792 – 4, 813, 903, 905

  Cuba, 9, 55 – 6, 299, 320, 882

  Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): nuclear confrontation between U.S. and Soviet Union precipitated by presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, 51, 55, 57

  cuius regio eius religio: ruler's religious preference binds his subjects (doctrine of treaties of
Augsburg and Westphalia), 105, 120, 279, 487 – 8, 506, 866

  Cyprus, 447

  D‘Annunzio, Gabriele (1863 – 1938): Italian poet and revolutionary, 37

  Darley, John, 413 – 5, 427, 444, 452, 454 – 5, 458, 460,466

  de Gaulle, Charles Andre Joseph Marie (1890 – 1970): French general and politician; led Free French in World War II; French provisional president (1945 – 1946); prime minister (1958 – 1959); president (1959 – 1969), 251, 630, 730, 871

  Desert Storm: U.S. war plan in Gulf War (1991), 249, 295, 793

  deterrence: a strategy, often pertaining to nuclear weapons, intended to dissuade an opponent from certain actions through threats, 11 – 5, 48 – 9, 52, 235, 244, 310, 328 – 9, 400, 620, 680 – 3, 686, 689 – 91, 713, 726, 759, 788, 812 – 4, 820 – 1