Soviet/Warsaw Pact invasion in 1983 of Western Europe

Soviet/Warsaw Pact invasion in 1983 of Western Europe Apr 5, 2019 22:33:56 GMT theravenking and vegalyra like this

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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Apr 5, 2019 22:33:56 GMT

Apr 2, 2019 19:46:56 GMT vegalyra said:

Tensions were at an all time high between the USA and the Soviet Union in 1983. President Reagan had made his "evil empire" speech and the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) was the new nuclear deterrence policy, and KGB agents that were roaming around Western Europe, specifically London and Washington D.C. had increasingly been informing their superiors in the USSR about USA armament buildups and nuclear drills. Premier Andropov in the USSR meanwhile was sickly and relying on reports from his staff about the US and becoming increasingly paranoid about US and NATO intentions. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was continuing. The downing of a South Korean airline by a Soviet jet fighter increased tensions between the West and the Communist bloc. What do you think would be the outcome if Andropov had ordered a massive conventional strike of Western Europe? How do you think NATO and the USA would have responded? Would China have gotten involved and restarted the Korean war? Would it have gone nuclear?

More than likely. NATO (including two other nuclear powers aside from the US) would not have stood for the conquest of West Germany and certainly would not have stood for Warsaw Pact troops crossing the Rhine. NATO probably never stood a chance in a ground war against the Soviets. If you are just talking about airstrikes, there would have been massive retaliatory strikes of eastern Europe and the USSR. Sooner or later, the "tit for tat" conventional strikes would have escalated. Millions of casualties and the devastation of Paris or London, a la Tokyo in 1945, would have certainly ended up with muchroom clouds over everything.

If there could have been a conventional WWIII, the Chinese probably would have sat it out, if humanly possible. The only reason they stuck their noses into Korea is that they didn't want UN troops on the Yalu River. Europe was a long way away. Best bet was to stay neutral and pick up the peices with the "winner" and try to keep it from going nuclear and ending it for all.