If the Cold War'd've come to blows, who'd've won?

Question

I don't know, but I've been reading about it, and it seems to me that the U.S.S.R. would've won...

Answer 1

Assuming a non-nuclear conflict, and a relatively short war, the Soviet Union.

The USSR not only had the numbers, they had the American Codes.

From 1968 to 1985 John Anthony Walker was passing the Soviets the Ameircan and NATO codes. The Soviets even staged the "Pueblo Incident" in order to get a hold of an American Code machine on which to use the codes. http://www.usspueblo.org/   The Americans knew the Russians got a code machine when the Russians got the Pueblo, but without the codes themselves the machine wasn't  much use, and they didn't know that Walker was giving the Russians the codes.

This means the Russians, had they attacked, would not just have had military superiority, they would have excellent intelligence on where the NATO forces were and what their plans were.  It is very unlikely that we could have stopped the Warsaw Pact east of the Rhine...and once they cossed the Rhine we may not have been able to stop them East of the Pyrenees, at least not without using nukes.

In a LONG, non-nuclear war, I'm talking something that would have lasted the better part of a decade, NATO, if it had the political will to hold together, would almost certianly have been able to beat the Warsaw Pact, simply due to its superior economic and technological strength.  However this assumes that NATO would have been willing to continue the fight to liberate occupied Europe...and given the level of support Communisim had in the world that is unlikely.  The Baby boomers were screaming "h**l no, we won't go" over the prospect of being drafted and having to serve a year in Vietnam...I think it is a pretty safe bet to say they don't have what it takes to land on a beach in France and fight their way to Moscow.

So I'd have to go with you...NATO would have lost.

Answer 2

Early in the Cold War, Soviet and Warsaw pact forces would win. Especially with DDR troops spearheading an assault.

Later in the war, the US and NATO would win. As Allied Air Superiority solidified so thoroughly, it negated the numeric advantages of Warsaw Pact ground forces.

Midway through, it would be anyone's game, but I'd bet on Warsaw Pact.

If the war was nuclear, Mutually Assured Destruction would win. There'd be nothing but cockroaches and twinkies.

Answer 3

With nuclear weapons being used,no one would have won.  

Answer 4

Russia, they had the US outgunned outmisseled outshipped .. but dont worry n.korea & china are ganging up on us right now, soon you'll all be harvesting rice in the paddies with hop sing!

Answer 5

You mean if the Us and the USSR actually fought?

In a conventional war, the US could easily launch a land invasion right away, through NATO allies in Europe.  Russia's armies would be large, but scattered; and therefore difficult to focus on one point.  So if it came to a conventional war, the US would win - Probably, Moscow would be conquered; and they'd fight a guerilla war for a few decades to pacify eastern Russia, past the Urals.

If a nuclear war, again the US would win.  She had nuclear missiles posted all along the Soviet border; the USSR had no equivalent to this.

But strangely enough, the Russians actually believed they could survive a nuclear war, just given the vast geographical size of the country....So if it came to world-wide destruction, the USSR might win the long-term event.

Answer 6

cockroaches and scorpions, the only beings who can survive a nuclear fallout.

The USA and the USSR had enough nuclear heads to overwhelm the defenses of the other country and wipe it out from the map. There could be no winner. They both knew it which is why they never came to blow.

Answer 7

It did in vary places around the world.

Korea,so far a draw, it is still only a ceasefire not a peace.

Malaya, the British won.

Vietnam, the US lost.

Cuba, the Russians backed down.