1983: The Brink of Apocalypse 5/8

The Soviet elite saw an aggressor in the anti-communist American leader Ronald Regan. A series of incidents including the infamous Evil Empire speech lead to 1983 when the world came to the brink of World War III and the West didn't even know it.

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Category:

Education

Tags:

• brink
• apocalypse
• 1983
• USA
• USSR
• Soviet
• Russia
• cold war
• Reagan
• Andropov
• evil empire
• Able Archer
• NATO
• KGB
• CIA
• nuclear
• atomic

[djlagomorph]

@vvsignin1

I disagree, in my opinion the Soviets could have beaten the western Allies by a Blitzkrieg-style surprise attack. Maybe a few weeks after the end of the war, when the Americans were already pulling out some troops. At that time it took quite a while to assemble a nuclear bomb (and its delivery relied on air supremacy), so as a defensive weapon it wouldn't be of so much value. But of course I agree with you in that as soon as both sides had the bomb, MAD was the only posible outcome.

[vvsignin1]

@djlagomorph The Soviets could never have pushed the Allies, later known as NATO, out of continental Europe. By the time the Soviets got to Berlin the US had developed the atomic bomb. The US didn't want to kick the Soviets out of Europe as the American public was over being at war. Then later both sides had nuclear weapons and all that could have happened was Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD).

[djlagomorph]

@vvsignin1

Just like the Soviets could have marched to the Atlantic with their vast conventional forces. I don't understand why the US and the USSR allowed such a thing as the cold war to develop. Either had the ability to knock their soon to be opponents out of Europe. Was it fear or a lack of willpower? Maybe the former for the Soviets and the latter for the Americans...

[vvsignin1]

@djlagomorph Certainly could have used them in a tactical environment to kick them out of Germany and the Slavic countries.

[djlagomorph]

@vvsignin1

If for whatever reason you want that, you should have done it in 1945 when the Soviets couldn't retaliate with nukes yet.

[vvsignin1]

We should have nuked the Sovs and put them out of their damn misery. I mean...listen to these fuckers!

[lsnows]

@hrdknox2000 Yes, indeed. What you say about Reagan is as true as it is hard to understand. It's very easy to hate Reagan for being (supposedly) a Right-wing 'warmonger.' It's just as easy to admire him for being a patriot. What is really hard is to understand the man himself.  THAT requires some effort. He hated nuclear weapons, yet ordered them built in record numbers.

[lsnows]

@hrdknox2000 Yes, indeed. What you say about Reagan is as true as it is hard to understand. It's very easy to hate Reagan for being (supposedly) a Right-wing 'warmonger.' It's just as easy to admire him for being a patriot. What is really hard is to understand the man himself. THAT requires some effort. He hated nuclear weapons, yet ordered them built in record numbers.

[hrdknox2000]

Who's face is that @ 7:40?

[hrdknox2000]

What's also interesting is the fact that Regan took as long as he did before he ever began to look at the military's nuclear options and procedures for launching a nuclear strike. While he was seen as hawkish by many he was really quite a pacifist...at least in the nuclear arena.