During the cold war, what was predicted to happen if one country used tactical nukes inside their own borders.
For example, if they were about to lose a crucial position to a vastly superior force.
What about strategic weapons? If the Soviets took Seattle and the Americans dropped the bomb on their beach head, what would happen? (you can probably guess I’ve just been playing World in Conflict)
I have never heard of any nuclear-armed country contemplating doing that on its own territory. However, had the Soviets invaded Western Europe during the Cold War, everyone knew that NATO would very likely be using tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of a member state, West Germany.
As for the use of non-tactical nuclear weapons on your own territory, see the book and movie Fail-Safe.
Since this requires speculation, it’s probably better suited to IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
South Africa did, as a threat to anti-apartheid forces. Would they have actually pulled the trigger?
I thought South Africa was looking more at Namibia and other hostile bordering states.
The Chinese had (and probably still have) atomic demolition munitions emplaced on their own territory and designed to “close” passes and tunnels between themselves and Russia. (pdf, go to page 6) This should have slowed down the Soviet/Russian advance enough for China to be able to bring its numerical superiority to bear.
Re: NATO use of tactical nuclear weapons. Even though most (all?) of them were developed and built by the U.S. and U.K., weren’t some of them assigned to West German or BeNeLux NATO units? I.E., under the control of soldiers/fliers that would have used them on their own territory? Before one or another arms control treaty got rid of most of them, I had thought that the Luftwaffe had a few tactical nuclear bombs that they’d have used in airstrikes.
For strategic nuclear weapons, I do not know the specifics of how they are targeted, or the procedures for doing so, (Like that could be revealed in a public internet forum anyway.) but it would not surprise me if the weapons were physically incapable of being targeted onto their home countries’ soil. OTOH, maybe it is just as easy as dialing in the required Lat/Long or grid reference, and any one would do? Is there a minimum range that an ICBM must travel; is it possible to launch the thing straight up and have it come straight down?
Correct. See “Nuclear Sharing”: Nuclear sharing - Wikipedia. One of my favorite “little known facts.”
Of course, release of the weapons was/are still under U.S. control (Britain and France didn’t/don’t share their weapons). But once that permission was given, the other countries could use the weapons as they saw fit, at least in theory (in practice, I envision that the SACEUR employment-planning function would still have been dominated by the U.S., although that depends on how bad things got and how quickly, i.e. the FIRST round of battlefield nukes would probably be far more considered than the FIFTH round).
The common Cold War assumption was that World War III would never get to the stage of American and Soviet troops invading each other. If the shooting war were to go past the German battlefield stage (with or without tactical nukes), someone (USSR, USA, UK or France) would push the big red button and Armageddon would follow.
I entered University in the mid-80’s during Reagan’s second term. One of the first electives I took was one called “Nuclear War: Causes and Consequences” in which two professors jointly explored and explained how technology had grown from Nagasaki’s results to the global tensions of the day and how society and politics responded to the ability for either of the Cold Warriors to obliterate the planet 50 times over before renewing their stockpile.
One day we were discussing the Soviet’s unilateral promise to never issue a first strike command and Reagan’s equally compassionate announcement that “The US is determined to keep that option open.”
I wrote in my class journal that night that right-wing spin-doctors had turned that into such an appealing position that we could just as easily have crafted a new policy: We’re repointing all our nukes so that, if the Soviets attack first, we’ll unleash our arsenal on the rest of the world, leaving nothing that could be considered “spoils for the victor.” In fact, anything left would undoubtedly be truly spoiled. I figured a well-paid spin-doctor could make it seem like the best possible solution.
I didn’t realize we had to turn in our journals as part of the mid-term, though I’m not sure I would have censored that essay anyway. In the notes on that entry, one of my professors said he was appalled; the other thought my idea was absolutely brilliant. Both felt I was frighteningly cynical.
—G!
When Black Friday comes
I’m gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it 'til
I satisfy my soul
. --Fagen & Becker (Steely Dan)
. Black Friday
. Katy Lied