The ideal situation for any state is to experience sharp economic growth while its rivals' economies grow slowly or hardly at all.

The German air offensives against British cities in World Wars I and II not only failed to coerce the United Kingdom to surrender, but Germany also lost both wars.

States have two kinds of power: latent power and military power.

Important benefits often accrue to states that behave in an unexpected way.

States care about relative wealth, because economic might is the foundation of military might.

In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler believed that his great-power rivals would be easy to exploit and isolate because each had little interest in fighting Germany and instead was determined to get someone else to assume the burden. He guessed right.

The ideal situation for any state is to experience sharp economic growth while its rivals' economies grow slowly or hardly at all.