Classic military works greatly inspire military policymakers, commanders and leaders. With brilliant vision and insights, they have produced tremendous influence on military thinking and military development in the world. Even today, the theories in these works continue to have merits as a guide for a country's strategies.

Here, China.org.cn presents the top 10 classic military works in the world.

   The Absolute Weapon: Atomic Power and World Order

 Author: Bernard Brodie

Published: 1946

Notable quote: "The first and most vital step in any American security program for the age of atomic bombs is to take measures to guarantee to ourselves in case of attack the possibility of retaliation in kind."

The Absolute Weapon is one of the United States' first representative works on nuclear strategy. The book, written and edited in 1946 by the pre-eminent U.S. nuclear strategist Bernard Brodie (1910-1978), laid the foundation for the nuclear deterrence strategy. Brodie argued that there was no effective defense against nuclear weapons and that it's also unlikely an effective defense against nuclear weapons could be found. The purpose for a country to develop nuclear weapons is not to use it, but to make the other side avert using such weapons for fear of facing nuclear retaliation. In addition, large-scale nuclear war can never be used to serve political goals as the world will be destroyed in such a scenario. Over the past several decades, there have been numerous treatises on nuclear warfare, but few of them can exceed the book in both depth and scope. The influences of Brodie’s theories are still felt widely in the nuclear arms control treaties reached between different countries.

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