If it weren't for nuclear weapons, would the U.S. and Soviet

Just like they do it now in Syria, they would fight in Europe or somewhere else, but not in their own country.

>>1971261
Probably not; you had more conventional methods of deterrence. "The West" had more overall money and manpower, but " the East" would have been enormously difficult, bloody, and expensive to do. Nukes raise the cost of the conflict, but don't change the fundamental equation.


What would almost certainly happen is peacetime drafts and a large conventional military buildup in Europe, and a consequently lower standard of living in the Western world; nukes are much cheaper than colossal armies.

Soviets had 10x as many tanks as the us did.

>>1971297
But the U.S. could have built far more tanks than they did. That they did not was because they had a nuclear deterrent to rely upon. Sans nuclear weapons, they almost certainly would have built more conventional forces.

>>1971285
>>1971306


.t retard

>>1972149
not an argument

>>1972176

Relying on alt history to prove a historical point is retarded. Defending such probably means you're retarded too.

>>1972184
Not him, but calling people names isn't going to make your point sound any more elucidating.

Back up your assertions with facts and stop relying on ridicule to make your point

>>1971261
Hard to gauge honestly, because so much of what happened in the cold war centered on the bomb. But the bomb only become the ultimate deterrent around the end of Ikes administration so I think the peace would have lasted that long. Maybe if the Cuban missile crisis still happened that could turn into a war but still its not easy to know what would happen. Honestly it would be difficult for the Russians and Americans fight in conventional warfare both sidea would have trouble fighting any sort of offensive outside of Europe. I will say if this is post Chinese Russian split I can't see the soviets instigating it.

>>1971306
Not unless they told the American public to go fuck themselves with their demands for cars. Part of the reason usa started building more and more nukes is because they knew they couldn't keep up with Soviet tank production. When the Soviets caught up to them in nuclear capabilities they started doing shit like SDI.

It's possible. Neither, however, could have meaningfully invaded the other directly, and so what probably would have happened was yet another proxy slugfest that left Europe a truly devastated wasteland. Think post ww2 Germany plus modern Congo. If war did break out after some initial squabble, the US would likely eventually lose out in most of Europe due to the longer supply lines and thus ultimately 'lose' the conflict as the iron curtain pushed West to the Atlantic, bUT aside from the drain on resources and possibly red8ced standard of living, they would be basically invulnerable to any direct attack from the USSR due to the distance and their command of the season. Even Britain should be relatively safe, as a new Blitz might happen but the Soviets never had the sea power for an amphibious invasion plus dealing with multiple hostile fleets. The Soviets would 'win' but would rule over the rubble of Europe, and with their economy already far weaker than the USA's the economic damages plus the massive loss of life in the war might actually hasten them losing the Cold War as a whole. That's not to mention the damage that might be done to population and infrastructure if the US and western allies managed a spearhead into European Russia before being inevitably repulsed. (The US would probably also use its command of the Pacific to invade Siberia, but the absolute madness of trying to invade the eastern European heartland of the USSR from their means it can basically be ignored and it doesn't matter how it goes, although it might be more economic damage and denial of resources.)

In short, the USSR would 'win' and rule over the ashes of Europe, but the economic and human losses would be horrendous, and the USSR is in a worse position to absorb them. The US, meanwhile, can merely shrug safe across the ocean and attempt to rectify the damage such massive military spending has done to its economy. You now have 2 truly continental superpowers opposed to each other.