Cold War Gone Hot

[Fly Navy]

Scenario:

The Cold War has just gone hot. Soviet tanks are rolling across Europe and a global world war between the USA and Soviet Union has begun. For the sake of argument, it has not gone nuclear (i.e. Red Storm Rising)... yet.

So, would the public be behind this war? A war that would most likely stagnate into a war of attrition, maybe even go nuclear? The death toll would most likely be staggering on both sides. Especially in the civilian side of things.

So, if it was the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and crap, let's pretend it happened today (i.e. the Berlin Wall never fell, etc). What do you think?

 

[Fly Navy]

Yes, The Public would be behind it...The USSR represented a real threat that was played out by the media and the government. It was not a borderless enemy like the ones we have today.

What about the countless pro-Communist elements that got entrenched in society in the 60s and 70s?

Germany would be actively engaged (its their border), and we know the UK would be as well. It was ingrained in our minds back then not to trust the USSR and Communism...we had 40 years of anti-Communist, anti-Russian Catechism in this country. We were waiting for it to happen.

What about France?

It is a hard scenario to guess today, though, becuase the world today is the way it is because the Soiviet Union broke up. There have been so many changes and our fears have changed...nobody in the US is afraid of some country rolling through another country with tanks. We are afraid of an individual, raised in America, who will plant a dirty bomb on a subway.

Yeah, I know. The world is very much shaped the way it is because the USSR fell. Just felt like asking hypothetical due to the way our country thinks today.

 

[Fly Navy]

France is a hard sell...Russia invading would represent an imminent cultural change in Europe, France would not like that...as most of old Europe would not...But I think do to the fact that it does not border Russia they may not get involved until later...but again alliances are different now...if it happened in today's current world, Germany and France might be allies with Russia.

Mmm I can see that. France did pull out of the mutual support portion of NATO. Probably wouldn't do much until Soviet tanks were rolling over their border.

 

[Pags]

I think the public would be behind the war, but there will always be factions that are against it. Many would see it as a European war that america shouldn't get involved in. There were similar sentiments for neutrality before America got into both World Wars.

I don't think a lot of western European countries, despite the pinko stance a times, would react very well to an invasion by a foreign power. If this is still the USSR we are talking about, I would find it very hard to believe that any western european country would ally with Russia. There Western countries have never been big fans of Russia in any of it's numerous guises.

 

[nittany03]

Given the hair-trigger our forces were under then, would it really matter? I think we'd be up to our eyeballs in alligators in a matter of days, if not hours. By then, it would be a matter of finishing what we'd started, especially if we weren't the ones whose tanks came crashing through the Fulda Gap.