World War 4

Thirty-five years ago, Sir John Hackett published The Third World War, which speculated how WW3 might start and how it would be fought. Since it is now fashionable to call WW3 the Cold War, the time is right to publish a book about WW4, how it might start and most likely be fought.

War planners must envision the unexpected and plan for the improbable, and the 20th century’s theories of total war are going to be rendered obsolete by the 21st century’s nuclear-enforced concept of limited war. In the future, with mutual acceptance of national survival in place, Mutually Assured Survival (MAS) wars can be waged between nuclear powers without introducing nuclear weapons. Author Doug Cohn offers in WW4 nine scenarios for how these might play out.


Douglas Cohn is a 1968 graduate of West Point and was a U.S. army airborne ranger who led a recon platoon in Vietnam. His medals include two Silver Stars and the Purple Heart. He was retired as a captain after convalescing from gunshot wounds to the head, neck, chest, abdomen, leg, and hand. In addition to his twice-weekly syndicated newspaper columns, he is the author of the forthcoming The Presidents’ First Year (Lyons Press, 2015). He and his wife, Kathryn, reside in McLean, Virginia.