Publication

It has been almost sixty-five years since the only battlefield uses of nuclear weapons. With each passing year, the tradition of non-use has become stronger, and the battlefield use of nuclear weapons seems increasingly unlikely. But threats to use nuclear weapons continue. They were a significant feature of the Cold War competition between the Western and Soviet blocs. Despite the end of the Cold War as the driving force of international relations, threats to use nuclear weapons have remained a significant feature of the post-Cold War era. This essay analyzes threats to use nuclear weapons to gain leverage in a crisis or in war over a forty year period.