Research for Soviet

Soviet military writing are a valuable source of insight into true Soviet beliefs regarding military capabilities and intentions--their own and those of their adversaries. This research contribution lists all the articles published in the Soviet journal, Morskoy sbornik (Naval Digest) from 1970 to 1979. Volume I lists the articles in chronological order, and alphabetical order by author. See Also CRC 563.

Volume II lists the articles alphabetically by key words in the title. See Also CRC 563.

Throughout the last decade, the Soviet politico-military leadership has provided startling evidence of a new Soviet doctrine on nuclear war. Leading Soviet military thinkers have themselves traced the origin of this phenomenon to evolving technological developments in both nuclear and conventional arms. This paper reviews the Soviet politico-military writing since 1977 in order to document these changes, which have grown more and more explicit since General Secretary L.I. Brezhnev's 1977 address at Tula.

When the Soviets accepted 'Mutual Assured Destruction' as a reality in present-day conditions, the Soviet debate on the viability of nuclear war as an instrument of policy was resolved by a consensus: nuclear war is so unpromising and dangerous that it remains an instrument of politics only in theory, an instrument of politics that cannot be used. A growing body of evidence thus indicates that in 1977, coincidentally with Marshal N.V. Ogarkov's elevation to Chief of the General Staff, the Soviets adopted an independent conventional war option as a long-term military development goal. Ogarkov and others now speak of a new revolution in Soviet military affairs that involves changes in Soviet doctrine generated by the so-called emerging technologies and the trend toward new, conventional means. The most prominent Soviet military figures now equate the new conventional means with nuclear weapons in terms of tasks, ranges, and target sets. A review of Soviet military writings in the 1980s further indicates that the new conventional means will be used in a war that involves neither the territories nor the nuclear forces of the superpowers.