Field Marshal Richard Michael Power Carver (1915–2001)

A policy For Peace is an interesting, if dated book that shows the trains of thought that were prevalent in the early 1980’s during the latter years of the Cold War.

Written by Field Marshal Richard Michael Power Carver, Baron Carver, GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC, (24 April 1915 – 9 December 2001) who certainly had all of the qualifications required for this work, we are taken through a series of possibilities in the search for peace in the age of nuclear weapons.

Field Marshal Lord Carver tackles the various thoughts on the subject by others, and then lays his own concepts out in a common sense manner, explaining in layman’s terms why and how his ideas could work.

One line I found rather humorous was his reference to the ‘US Air Force’s long-range bomber force of ancient B-52s’. The Lord could not have imagined that over 30 years after penning those words, those same B-52s would still be on active duty.

This book will appeal to the military historian – especially anyone interested in the Cold War, and although it would be hard to acquire at this point, if you happen to see one in your travels through used book stores; grab it. You won’t be sorry.

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Carver originally planned to write a defence of Ritchie's command of Eighth Army using Ritchie's letters, after being appalled by the way Auchinleck's biographer John Connell and Corelli Barnett had treated Ritchie. Unfortunately there wasn't enough material to produce a book length defence, so Carver instead wrote an overview of Eighth Army's battles from 1940-42. Carver, unsurprisingly given his experience, provides a far more insightful and balanced view than those authors, influenced as they were by Dorman-Smith. It's hard to disagree with his conclusion that "the British commanders...were neither better nor worse than those who succeeded them" and that Ritchie was a competent commander who was the victim of the situation he was placed in.… (más)