02476cam a2200409 i 4500 rnd000000000047422 RAND 920212s1985 cauab b 000 0 eng d 85012305 0833006614 (pbk.) RAND/R-3281-NA (Sirsi) a188538 $35.00 CstmoR CstmoR ew----- UA646 .J24 1985 Jacobsen, Mark, 1950- author. Contingency plans for war in Western Europe, 1920-1940 / Mark Jacobsen, Robert Levine, William Schwabe. Santa Monica, CA : RAND, 1985. xxi, 190 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia unmediated n rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier volume nc rdacarrier "A report from the RAND Strategy Assessment Center." "June 1985." Includes bibliographical references (p. 188-190). In an attempt to determine the effects of war planning on the behavior of countries in crises and wars, this report analyzes the national-level planning that preceded and shaped the German invasion of the Low Countries and northern France in 1940. As a study of war planning in the 1930s by France, Britain, Belgium, and Germany, it sheds considerable light on the way in which political, financial, and manpower constraints guide the military planning process: Threat assessment played a comparatively minor part in planning. Instead, available resources were the single most important determinant of plans. The situation of a totalitarian nation bent on changing the European status quo opposed by a coalition of democracies offers obvious analogies with present-day NATO. The authors discuss the similarities and differences in the historical and current situations, and draw three types of parallels: conceptual parallels, planning process comparisons, and direct similarities. Also available on the internet via WWW in PDF format. Description based on print version record. Military planning Europe History 20th century. Europe Defenses. Rand Strategy Assessment Center. Rand Corporation. United States. Department of Defense. Director of Net Assessment. Online Access http://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R3281/ 597402 597402