Glossary
ABCD coalition:Coalition formed and led by America in 1940–1 to oppose further
Japanese aggression in East Asia (America, Britain, China, Dutch East Indies).
Atomic weapons:Weapons that derive their energy from the process of nuclear fission.
CBO:The Combined Bomber Offensive conducted by the UK’s RAF Bomber Command
attacking Germany at night, and the US Army Air Forces attacking by day. Agreed
at the Casablanca summit between Roosevelt and Churchill in January 1943.
C^4 ISTAR:Command, control, communications, computing, intelligence, surveillance,
targeting and reconnaissance.
Clausewitz, Carl von (1780–1831):Author of On War(1 8 32), the most widely respected
work on the theory of war ever written.
COIN:Counter-insurgency.
Collective security:The principle that an aggressor state should be opposed by the entire
international community.
Combined-arms warfare:The theory that every military asset fulfils its potential when
employed in combination with other assets.
Concert System:The occasional nineteenth-century practice of summit-level, or
near-summit-level, meetings by great powers, where they would concert efforts to
maintain or restore international order.
Containment:The fundamental concept underpinning US foreign policy towards the
Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Coup d’oeil:An instantaneous, perhaps instinctive, grasp of a complex and confused
military situation.
CT:Counter-terrorism.
Culture:The beliefs, values, attitudes, habits of mind and preferred practices of a
community.
Détente:The relaxation of tensions; a term first popular in the 1970s.
Extended deterrence:The extending of protection by (generally) nuclear deterrence
over distant friends and allies.
First-strike bonus:The predicted military benefit that should accrue to the belligerent
who attacks first with nuclear weapons.
Fleet train:The at-sea logistic fleet provided to support the combat navy.
Geopolitics:The political meaning of geography.
Globalization:The process of ever-greater global interaction among states, communities
and economies.