Generalized War and the National Security Doctrine. German Military Thought in Latin America during the last third of the 20 th century.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the concept of generalized war, which played a key role in the development of the National Security Doctrine –implemented in Latin America during the last third of the twentieth century–. The interpretation of generalized war by theorists of National Security Doctrine mixed different previous ideas: absolute war –from Von Clausewitz-, total war –from Ludendorff- and atomic war -from Cold War times-. The confusing nature of such concepts could have distorted the development of the very concept of generalised war. And it is likely that the influence of two relevant German authors -Von Clausewitz and Ludendorff- in building the concept this study focuses on was more important than what can be thought at first sight. The theoretical misconceptions, along with the excessive enthusiasm that war generated amo ng classical theorists and the forced interpretation of political and social realities, gave way to a justification of the excesses of the National Security regimes.