In the context of the Cold War, "full power" referred to a nation's maximum potential to wage war, encompassing its entire military and strategic capabilities. It was a critical concept underpinning the era's geopolitical tensions and strategic doctrines.
Key implications of "full power" included:
- Total Military Mobilization: This meant the readiness to deploy all available forces, including vast conventional armies, navies, air forces, and, most significantly, the entirety of a nation's nuclear arsenal. This included strategic delivery systems like Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs), and long-range bombers.
- Strategic Deterrence: The ability to unleash "full power" was central to the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). The credible threat that either superpower could inflict unacceptable damage on the other, even after absorbing a first strike, was intended to deter an initial attack.
- Escalation Dominance and Risk: The threat of resorting to "full power" represented the ultimate stage of military escalation. While used as a coercive tool in crises, crossing this threshold was understood to lead to catastrophic, potentially civilization-ending, consequences.
- National Resource Commitment: While the speed of potential nuclear conflict was paramount, "full power" also implicitly included the capacity to direct all national resources – economic, industrial, and human – towards the war effort, signifying a total societal commitment.
Therefore, "full power" in the Cold War symbolized the ultimate destructive capacity a state could bring to bear, a constant and defining feature of the superpower rivalry.
