Author: Pat Ware, Hardbound, 156 Pages, H6053, ISBN: 9781785210532 , First Published, July, 2016

For more than 50 years after the Second World War the nations of the earth stood on the edge of the nuclear precipice, with few doubting that should the Cold War turn hot, neither side could emerge victorious.

The awful consequences of a nuclear confrontation were hinted at by Albert Einstein: 'if the next world war is fought with nuclear weapons, the war after that will be fought with bows and arrows,' he warned.

Pat Ware describes the background to the Cold War, the East-West arms race, the insanity of 'mutual assured destruction' (MAD), preparations taken by Western governments against the real possibility of nuclear war, and the complete lack of any credible civil defence measures.

He also examines the massive infrastructure and organisation required to maintain a credible Cold War stance.

Supported by more than 270 archive photographs and illustrations, the Haynes Cold ,War Operations Manual describes the West's offensive and defensive infrastructures and demonstrates just how close the world has come to a nuclear Armageddon on several occasions.

Author

Pat Ware was the founding editor of Classic Military Vehicle magazine, and is a recognised authority on military vehicles, as well as being the author of several Haynes manuals. 

His long-time interest in the British military vehicles of the 1950s led, inevitably, to a wider interest in the Cold War period, and his growing collection of Cold War documentation, both official and unofficial, gave rise to a horrified fascination with the contradictions of nuclear war.

He lives in Norfolk.