Military escalation is the act of increasing the intensity and geographic scope of a conflict. It is a vital tool that performs several important functions, from communicating stake and will to deterring an adversary. Escalation can make a conflict worse, but it also offers a way to end a conflict sooner by convincing adversaries that they have miscalculated and undervalued your commitment and stakes.
While discussions of escalation often focus on nuclear weapons, this is far from the only type of escalation that exists. For example, using information confrontation and gray zone activities in competition and crisis to erode an adversary’s perception of its own interests and capabilities may help to defuse lower-level provocations that would otherwise escalate into potentially great conflicts.
Moreover, technological escalation has been the most consistent force driving escalation throughout history. Although there have been periods of technical regression, weapon technology has generally improved over time, and the firepower and destructiveness of military forces has continued to grow.
As a result, the use of tactical escalation-the injection of more troops, guns, and tanks into a battle-normally leads to more casualties almost immediately after it takes place. But long-term escalatory actions, such as establishing a new defense development program or launching unrestricted submarine warfare, are more remote in time and space from the battlefield, and their effects may take much longer to materialize. These escalatory activities can still play an important role in the strategic calculus, though they may not be as immediate as tactical escalation and more difficult to measure.