Revolution in military affairs (RMA):A radical change in the character of warfare.
SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks):Soviet–American arms-control process from
1969 to 1979. A SALT I package in 1972 included an interim agreement on offensive
arms and the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. It led to a SALT II treaty in 1979,
which was politically infeasible as the political context deteriorated sharply.
Schlieffen Plan:The German plan to defeat France in a six-week campaign. It was
implemented as the Schlieffen–Moltke Plan (having been amended by Moltke the
younger, Schlieffen’s successor) in August–September 1914. It failed.
Sea lines of communication:Imaginary lines at sea which mark the most important
maritime routes.
Special forces:Small elite units trained to undertake tasks beyond the scope of normal
military competence.
Stability:A much-favoured quality in security politics. It refers to an absence of
potentially dangerous change. Cold War strategic theory recognized crisis stability,
deterrence stability and arms-race stability.
Strategic history:The history of the influence of the use, and threat of use, of politically
motivated force.
Strategic moment:A particular short period of extraordinary strategic importance and
opportunity.
Strategy:The use made of force and the threat of force for the ends of policy. It is the
bridge that connects policy with military power.
Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs):Missiles deployed under the sea that
are effectively invulnerable to detection.
Tactics:The use of armed forces in combat.
Terrorism:The use of violence to induce fear for political ends.
Total war:War waged by all the resources of belligerent societies.
Triad:The strategic forces triad comprises ICBMs, SLBMs and manned bombers. Each
‘leg’ of the triad has distinctive tactical features.
Ungoverned space:Contemporary euphemism for ‘bandit country’, or territory that is
not subject to effective governance.
Waffen SS:The ‘fighting’ SS, the private army of the Nazi regime, eventually thirty-six
divisions strong.
War:Organized violence waged for political purposes.
Warfare:The waging of war; the fighting.
Weapons of mass destruction (WMD):These can be nuclear, radiological, chemical or
biological.
284 Glossary