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Tell that to the NATO and Warsaw Pact armies and all of the plans, materials, and infrastructure they built around fighting the Next Big European/Asian war. Hug

by ufmace 11y ago

Tell that to the NATO and Warsaw Pact armies and all of the plans, materials, and infrastructure they built around fighting the Next Big European/Asian war. Huge amounts of money and piles of weapon systems were developed by both sides with an eye towards fighting that war. It's easy to say that in hindsight, but given all of the tension around the Iron Curtain and all of the times the US and USSR came very close indeed to going to war despite how likely total nuclear destruction was, it seems short-sighted to just brush off the idea of that war actually happening if neither side had any nuclear weapons.

TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
I think it was more luck than judgement that we escaped annihilation. There were any number of times where a wrong call would have meant Game Over. And the probability would have been much higher if someone other than Gorbachev had been the last Soviet president. History isn't over yet. The risk is probably higher now than at any time since it peaked in the mid-80s.
notahacker 11y ago
Depends, personally I'd see the number of times the US and USSR nearly went to war (or actually did, but indirectly) despite having nuclear weapons as pretty good indication that lack of any feasible strategy for inflicting a decisive military defeat on the other party was a much more significant factor in the Cold War not turning hot than any nuke-induced desire for peace Ultimately, one naval officer's minority vote[1] prevented a Soviet sub from launching a tactical nuclear weapon at US shipping. Several thousand miles of ocean prevented the Soviet Union from feasibly achieving decisive military victory against the United States. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov
- ufmace 11y ago
  It's true that an invasion of the US mainland was never in the cards, given the situation during the cold war. Pretty much nobody was seriously worried about that. What NATO was very worried about was a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, which is a very reasonable worry considering the number and detail of Soviet plans for doing just that. For their part, the Soviets were very worried about a combined NATO invasion, which seems quite reasonable considering that Germany alone, while also fighting/occupying most of the rest of Europe, managed to get to the suburbs of Moscow, and kill millions of Russians along the way. Now if the Soviets did manage to invade and conquer Western Europe and maintain control over it, then they might be in a rather better position to consider direct attacks against the US. Which is a good part of the reason why the US invested so much in keeping them out of Western Europe.

by ufmace 11y ago

TheOtherHobbes 11y ago

I think it was more luck than judgement that we escaped annihilation. There were any number of times where a wrong call would have meant Game Over. And the probability would have been much higher if someone other than Gorbachev had been the last Soviet president. History isn't over yet. The risk is probably higher now than at any time since it peaked in the mid-80s.

notahacker 11y ago

Depends, personally I'd see the number of times the US and USSR nearly went to war (or actually did, but indirectly) despite having nuclear weapons as pretty good indication that lack of any feasible strategy for inflicting a decisive military defeat on the other party was a much more significant factor in the Cold War not turning hot than any nuke-induced desire for peace Ultimately, one naval officer's minority vote[1] prevented a Soviet sub from launching a tactical nuclear weapon at US shipping. Several thousand miles of ocean prevented the Soviet Union from feasibly achieving decisive military victory against the United States. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov

ufmace 11y ago
It's true that an invasion of the US mainland was never in the cards, given the situation during the cold war. Pretty much nobody was seriously worried about that. What NATO was very worried about was a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, which is a very reasonable worry considering the number and detail of Soviet plans for doing just that. For their part, the Soviets were very worried about a combined NATO invasion, which seems quite reasonable considering that Germany alone, while also fighting/occupying most of the rest of Europe, managed to get to the suburbs of Moscow, and kill millions of Russians along the way. Now if the Soviets did manage to invade and conquer Western Europe and maintain control over it, then they might be in a rather better position to consider direct attacks against the US. Which is a good part of the reason why the US invested so much in keeping them out of Western Europe.