Given the recent emotive threads regarding ANZAC day here is the cold and clinical application of mathematics to war and peacetime strategies.
Game theory was originally developed by mathematicians as an application to economics but was adopted by both camps of the Cold War to analyse the potential outcomes of various military strategies.
The use of Game Theory to the Cuban missile crisis led to the adoption of a peaceful solution rather than the onset of World War III.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/game-theory.htm
Regards
Steven