This book discusses how various nations have sought to integrate their political, economic, and military goals into a coherent grand strategy that will preserve their interest in times of war and peace. Edited, and with two chapters written by Paul M. Kennedy, the author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, the book analyzes classic examples of European grand strategies and offers advice on how the United States should be balancing its priorities today. The opening chapter by Kennedy shows how the concept of grand strategy has broadened from battlefield operations to embrace such factors as the management of national resources, diplomacy, and public support. Succeeding chapters analyze British grand strategies in the War of Spanish Succession and the two world wars, then discuss grand strategy in the Roman Empire, imperial Spain, Germany, France, and the Soviet Union. The book concludes with reflections by Kennedy on current American grand strategy. He argues that America must avoid nuclear war, create flexible armed forces, preserve its alliance system and act to reverse the economic and social trends that have weakened its world standing if it is to enter the 21st-century in a strong position.