Russia in Global Affairs

Understanding the irreversibility of mobilization, established by military theory in the 1920s, could be useful for assessing the risks of nuclear escalation now that strategic deterrence is regaining importance. Mobilization races can be considered a pre-nuclear form of escalation dominance. Unlike nuclear crises, which, fortunately, have never led to Armageddon, the mobilization crisis of 1914 eventually escalated into war.