Suffering What They Must: The Shifting Alliances of Romania and Finland in World War II

Abstract

Operational level planners of major powers consider small nation political developments in devising operational approaches and detailed plans, taking into account differences in national objectives and the potential for a small nation to switch sides during a conflict. Romania and Finland in World War II provide examples of small nations caught in conflict between major powers, driving alliances and actions to survive. International relations theories forwarded by Kenneth Waltz and Stephen Walt, describing calculations of balance of power and a resulting tendency to balance against or bandwagon with a threat, help explain small nation behavior. Understanding the agent-structure dynamic within governments is essential for understanding how small nations make such decisions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2015
Accession Number
AD1007886

Entities

People

  • Edward M. Kaspar

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Alliances
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Foreign Policy
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governments
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • International Security
  • Military History
  • National Politics
  • New York
  • Second World War
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • War

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Educational Psychology
  • Systems Analysis and Design