Fifty-Year War: Conflict and Strategy in the Cold War

by Norman Friedman

"To read a comprehensive history of the technical, military and political aspects of the Cold War, based on documents from the two super-powers, written by a scholar who is free of bias, is something I never thought I would be able to do. But in The Fifty-Year War I can. . . . For the men and women who are going to lead the world in the first generation of the Twenty-First Century, this account of how the Cold War was fought and won is indispensable. For those of us who lived through it. . . . Friedman's account is enthralling. Having spent much of my life reading about, studying, worrying about, participating in the Cold War, I thought there was nothing new for me to learn about it. Boy was I wrong. Read The Fifty-Year War and see why." -- Stephen Ambrose

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

640 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

Norman Friedman is a prominent naval analyst and the author of more than thirty books covering a range of naval subjects, from warship histories to contemporary defense issues.

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book, providing a military history centric narrative of the Cold War. The author, noted navalist Norman Friedman, presents a wide ranging assessment of the Cold War, from its pre-beginnings immediately following WWII to its fade out in the 1990s. The book provides an effective and useful reference to the many components of America’s 45-year struggle with Soviet Russia. Friedman brings his usual synthesis of strategy, methods, and technology. His unparalleled ability to explain connections between technical advancements and changes to grand strategic concepts makes any book he writes well worth the time to read. In this work, he easily flits between geopolitical objectives, political efforts, information flows, military considerations, and economic forces. The result is a wide ranging case study for great power competition and its many component considerations. Most interesting was his continual analysis of the allies, partners, and neutrals that so influenced the actions of the two superpowers. Though at times a bit too ready to return to his Hudson Institute roots, Friedman for the most part retains an objectivity in his analysis that is unique in this genre. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to better understand the dynamics of great power conflict across the full range of strategic and tactical methods.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd read a lot about the Cold War, but this's the first book that focuses on its grand strategy - on how the United States and Soviet governments considered and decided their moves in the great game of worldwide war, posturing, politics, and economics. Friedman keeps up this perspective roughly chronologically, from leader to leader, showing the choices before them both as they really were and as they were thought to be (through imperfect intelligence), and then what they actually chose and how the other leaders saw that. It's an engaging view; I can see why this sort of maneuvering was called a Great Game.

Fairly or unfairly, Friedman reads very much in favor of Eisenhower and Reagan, and very much not in favor of Kennedy and Johnson. Kennedy reads here as frankly stupid, forgetting or ignoring important details and causing America to come out much the worse. Reagan he paints as someone whose dynamism and awareness of American economic superiority consciously won the Cold War.

This very much shouldn't be the first book one reads on the Cold War, but it's a good book to help bring things together.

[Ryan Plumley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this book was really good. I got to read about how the soviet union impacted WW2, Also, it talks about how It wasn't really a war, it was more of a race between the U.S.A. and The Soviet Union (now Russia) to see who could keep up with each other economically, and militarily.

I think that this book would be good for anyone who is interested in History.
P.S. Don't use this review in the Library thing, Please and thank you.

[Roy McCullough · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid survey of an incredibly complex era. People sometimes tend to simplify things and forget that the Cold War had its white-hot moments on the periphery. A useful and sobering read.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just recently finished reading The Fifty Year War: Conflict and Strategy in the Cold War by Norman Friedman. Norman Friedman is a strategist who worked during the Cold War at the Hudson Institute, partially as the deputy director of national security studies. He combines a lot of research, as well as first-hand experiences and knowledge in this book.

I wasn't alive for much of the Cold War (was born in 83, so I was 8 at the 'end' of the USSR in 1991), so this book was of additional interest to me given the influences of the Cold War even today, especially with our foreign policy.

The book starts by talking about the origins of the Cold War, and its various roots, starting with the Spanish Civil War, and Stalin's 1937 attempt to control it. It then moves through World War II, and the various decisions and moves made by the powers through the end of the war.

It moves on to discuss the opening moves of the Cold War, from Stalin's military buildup, to the Marshall Plan, to both Tito in Yugoslavia and Mao in China.

The increased tension, the buildup of the two nation's military forces, and the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union are also covered in extensive detail.

For starters, the book is a fantastic resource to anyone who wants to learn about the Cold War as a whole. Not only is there a lot of good information and insight in the book, there's also a very extensive bibliography in the back for further reading about almost any aspect or period of the war.

In addition, the book provides a lot of context for the decisions of the time, as well as gives a great feel for the misinterpretations each country had about one another, as well as how they were exploited. For instance, the "black" (above Top Secret classification) programs towards the end of the war, was used to sop up the Soviet's hard currency in two ways (in addition to the desire to develop some of these projects in secret, of course) - first, because the Americans knew the Soviets wouldn't be able to stop themselves from spending the resources to uncover what those projects were, and second, combined with deceptive leaks to journalists, the US forced the Soviets to spend a ton of money trying to replicate things that even we couldn't do, solely because the Soviet opinion at the time was that the West, particularly the US, could accomplish anything with technology that they wanted.

It also clearly goes into the political, economic, and military decisions that made the US successful during various phases of the war, as well as the decisions made by the USSR that led to their downfall. The book is also very critical of the McNamara era, and the setbacks the period caused on the US's strategy.

The book is EXTREMELY detailed in some places, and I suspect probably more than the average reader will be able to handle, but generally these are contained in only certain areas.

Naturally, if you're interested in the Cold War, this is must-read. Either as an overview, or just to get more information about the 'chess match' played by the two sides, it's a great source.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best piece I've read about the Cold War. It refutes much of the conventional wisdom (JFK was a god, SDI was completely useless, the missile gap was real, etc) through its very extensive use of facts and citations. The Fifty Year War is one of the most well-cited and most accurate books I've read. The book focuses a lot on politics, particularly American politics since it is written by an American, which is not a bad thing since it presents a very intriguing and exciting view of Cold War politics. It also discusses the arms race at length, with at least a paragraph or two per chapter detailing the number of bombs and nuclear weapons delivery systems each side had, and how they planned to get more. This showed me just how real the arms race was, and how urgent it felt to those fighting the Cold War.

Overall: A very intelligent, insightful, and accurate boo.

[Frederick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very outstanding and impressive review of the events of the Cold War. It is highly readable and does not bog down with too much technical or political language. It is a worthwhile addition to any student of American history's understanding of that period after World War II until the fall of the Soviet Empire and I highly recommend it. It is not only a good read but will make an excellent reference book.