REDEFINITION OF SUPER POWERS' MILITARY STRATEGY

This article examines the profound redefinition of military strategy by the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War. It analyzes the shift away from the grand strategies of containment and global ideological struggle towards new doctrines focused on regional contingencies, crisis management, and smaller-scale interventions. The study explores the key drivers of this change, including the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, the declining Soviet threat, and domestic pressures for a "peace dividend." The research assesses the emerging new strategic concepts, such as the US focus on regional powers and the Soviet Union's turn towards a more defensive military posture. The paper concludes by speculating on the long-term implications of this strategic transformation for global stability and the future of warfare.

The end of the Cold War in 1989-90 rendered the military doctrines that had defined international security for over four decades obsolete. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategic redefinition undertaken by both the United States and the Soviet Union in this new era. The analysis begins by outlining the core tenets of Cold War military strategy, such as nuclear deterrence, forward deployment, and the global network of alliances, to establish a baseline for the subsequent changes. The core of the study is a comparative examination of the new strategic thinking emerging in Washington and Moscow. For the United States, it analyzes the shift from a singular focus on the Soviet threat to a more complex strategy designed to address a wider range of regional threats, as articulated in the concept of a "Base Force." For the Soviet Union, it examines the dramatic doctrinal shift under Gorbachev, from the Brezhnev Doctrine to the principles of "reasonable sufficiency" and a defensive military posture, driven by economic crisis and a desire to de-escalate tensions with the West. The findings suggest that both superpowers were grappling with a fundamentally new security environment, one characterized by greater uncertainty and a different set of challenges. The paper concludes that this period of redefinition marked the end of the bipolar military order and the beginning of a more fluid and unpredictable international security landscape.