The thread below this got me thinking, what would it take, with a POD after the start of the Cold War and before Gorbachev's ascension to power, to get the United States and Soviet Union to put aside their differences and fight together in a war against a common enemy, how could this come about, how would it effect the US and USSR internally knowing they have to work with their ideological enemy? what would this do for the relationship between the US and USSR, how would it affect the Cold War and the future?
US and USSR fight alongside each other in a war, Post World War II
- Thread starter Kaiser K
- Start date
Hmmm...
A joint invasion of Islamic Republic of Iran?
Or possibly no Sino-American Rapprochement, which leads to China provoking a war with both the Soviet Union and the USA?
A joint invasion of Islamic Republic of Iran?
Or possibly no Sino-American Rapprochement, which leads to China provoking a war with both the Soviet Union and the USA?
Like I said in the other thread, you'd need somebody really bad to get the US and the USSR to set aside their differences and team up to fight a war together. Something like Nazi Germany, a country that's an obvious existential threat to both of them that requires their combined efforts to defeat.
Now, you could see one fight a war with the material support of the other (I can think of a few ways to have the US support the Soviets in a hypothetical USSR/PRC war), but it's tough to get them on the same side.
Now, you could see one fight a war with the material support of the other (I can think of a few ways to have the US support the Soviets in a hypothetical USSR/PRC war), but it's tough to get them on the same side.
I believe that they were both pretty hostile to Revolutionary Iran in the late 70s/early 80s.
Mind you, I think that if one of them had actually attacked Iran with troops, the other would have seen it as an act of aggression, and sided with Iran, at least on paper and possibly via proxy armies.
Not sure what would have happened if the USSR had moved on Iran during the hostage crisis. It might have been good for the hostages(assuming Iran didn't just go into a desperate panic and shoot them all), but that would be counterbalanced, from the American perspective, by the perception of the Soviets grabbing more(oil-rich) territory.
I also know that some time in the 80s, the Americans gave the Iranians a list of Soviet moles, whom the Iranians proceeded to shoot en masse. So the superpower rivalry might render any alliance against Iran ASB.
EDIT: Cross posted with Lapsed Pacifist.
Mind you, I think that if one of them had actually attacked Iran with troops, the other would have seen it as an act of aggression, and sided with Iran, at least on paper and possibly via proxy armies.
Not sure what would have happened if the USSR had moved on Iran during the hostage crisis. It might have been good for the hostages(assuming Iran didn't just go into a desperate panic and shoot them all), but that would be counterbalanced, from the American perspective, by the perception of the Soviets grabbing more(oil-rich) territory.
I also know that some time in the 80s, the Americans gave the Iranians a list of Soviet moles, whom the Iranians proceeded to shoot en masse. So the superpower rivalry might render any alliance against Iran ASB.
EDIT: Cross posted with Lapsed Pacifist.
A bit more than diplomatic support: the Coalition also got technical intelligence on weapon and control systems of Soviet origin used by the Iraqis. The French were less obliging.
The decision was made unilaterally by Shevardnadze, Gorbachev just had to roll with it.
Wasn't there somewhere in Africa where, because of oil interests, the US and the Soviets ended up supporting the same side in a conflict for a while?
I think there was a bit of bed-hopping in the Angolan conflict, with the US, China and South Africa aligning back and forth against one another, but that the US was always on whatever side was opposite the Soviets. But for some reason, I think there was another conflict with a US-Soviet alliance, albeit only through proxies.
I think there was a bit of bed-hopping in the Angolan conflict, with the US, China and South Africa aligning back and forth against one another, but that the US was always on whatever side was opposite the Soviets. But for some reason, I think there was another conflict with a US-Soviet alliance, albeit only through proxies.
Do you have any further information or a link for that? It ties in with something I heard back in the very early 1990s.
The PDF below is really hard to read. Nevertheless, as far as I can make out, the relevant info is on Page 71.
http://tinyurl.com/nzgkvtj
Basically, in '82, a Soviet diplomat named Vladimir Kuzichkin defected to the UK with a list of Soviet agents working in Iran. The list was given to the Iranians(it doesn't say by whom, but presumbaly the US or UK), who then "detained" the alleged spies. Unlike what I had heard, the article does not say they were killed, though we can probably assume they had a pretty rough time of it.
FWIW, the article above is by two professors at Tehran Univerisity.
The poorly-sourced wikipedia article about Vladimir Kuzichkin states that the accused spies were killed.
The poorly-sourced wikipedia article about Vladimir Kuzichkin states that the accused spies were killed.
Could they take the same side in the Arab-Israeli conflict?
What if some kind of fascist resurgence took place in Germany? Even if it doesn't get very far, the superpowers might team up to demonstrate a united front.
What about a timeline where Britain and France form an "imperialism" block?
What if some kind of fascist resurgence took place in Germany? Even if it doesn't get very far, the superpowers might team up to demonstrate a united front.
What about a timeline where Britain and France form an "imperialism" block?
MarshalBraginsky
Banned
There was that TL where the Iranian Hostage Crisis had gone FUBAR, leading the US to declare the Cold War over and formed an alliance with the USSR to combat Islamic fundamentalism.
You're thinking of Jesus Walks, and it's pretty freaking great.
Last updated involved Dick Marcinko and Vladimir Putin joining a US/USSR Rainbox Six expy called "Counter Strike".
Well, possibly, they could collaborate in opposing a French-UK-Israeli fight against Egypt. Let's say by USA threatening to crush the French and UK economy while USSR threatens more direct measures, which USA lets France and UK government know it will not oppose. Let's say in 56, maybe?