Soviet World War 3 Plans For Europe

[Bootie]

http://i.imgur.com/CNywwHP.jpg

The map above shows how the Soviet Union thought World War 3 might play out in Europe.

The red mushroom clouds represent planned nuclear strikes on cities and targets in central Europe and the blue mushroom clouds represent the anticipated NATO response.


The map was smuggled out by the Polish and delivered to the Americans during the Cold War. It’s based on the premise that NATO ground forces strike first and that the USSR would use its nuclear arsenal to halt, or at least slow their advance.

Thankfully this scenario never happened, but it’s a reminder just how close Europe and the World were to total nuclear annihilation, just one generation ago.

 

[Floki]

You have to wonder if were not for the nuclear deterrent if one side would have pulled the trigger?

 

[Nathangun]

Thankfully it never came to pass.

 

[Badger73]

You have to wonder if were not for the nuclear deterrent if one side would have pulled the trigger?

The Cold War strategy of MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction. One thing US Secretary of Defense Robert S McNamara and his whiz kids seem to have gotten right.

Thankfully it never came to pass.

Thank Heavens indeed!

 

[Richtig]

I am a little suprised you speak of it as something in the past. At least in the 70s and 80s we could fool ourselves that our armed forces could still hold up an attack, and avoid ultimate destruction. I am 58 and in my lifetime the world has never been less stable than it is now.

 

[Badger73]

I am a little suprised you speak of it as something in the past. At least in the 70s and 80s we could fool ourselves that our armed forces could still hold up an attack, and avoid ultimate destruction. I am 58 and in my lifetime the world has never been less stable than it is now.

Well, the USSR no longer exists as such any more, so the "Soviet" WW3 plans for Europe are a thing of the past. We will likely never see the map @Bootie posted unfold as drawn. To your point about world (that is, global) stability, I'm inclined to agree. To split hairs though, I'm not sure that the world is any less stable (because the Cold War masked most Third World contentions) but I'm strongly inclined to be more pessimistic about foreseeable futures today than I was decades ago myself. I suspect that to be a function of age and a privilege of geezer-hood!