1984-US SSSR go to war; What Does Yugoslavia Do?

if the cold war turned hot would a socialist state with good western relations go neutral?

would its neutrality be respected?

was nuking Beograd, Zagreb or Rijeka planed in case of escalation?

what could Yugoslavia do after such a war, especially if its cities and industry are still at least partially intacked?

any other thoughts?
 
if the cold war turned hot would a socialist state with good western relations go neutral?

would its neutrality be respected?

was nuking Beograd, Zagreb or Rijeka planed in case of escalation?

what could Yugoslavia do after such a war, especially if its cities and industry are still at least partially intacked?

any other thoughts?

If I remeber well, Warsaw Pact's plans included Yugoslavia on NATO side: they would probably be invaded and used as a good base to attack Italy and the Mediterranean Allies.
 
If I remeber well, Warsaw Pact's plans included Yugoslavia on NATO side: they would probably be invaded and used as a good base to attack Italy and the Mediterranean Allies.

A cite for this would be nice.

-- Two things. One, Yugoslavia saw itself as neutral in any Cold War turned hot; they had zero intention of joining either the Warsaw Pact in a war on NATO, or vice versa.

Two, for most of its history from 1948 onwards, Yugoslavia was much more worried about the Soviets than about NATO. Makes sense, right? Stalin was very unhappy about Tito's heresy, and made no secret of his desire to fix it by whatever means possible. Then the Yugoslavs saw two of their neighbors invaded by the Warsaw Pact in 1956 and 1968. And of course their Warsaw Pact neighbors Hungary and Bulgaria had also been Axis powers who'd carved off chunks of Yugoslav territory in 1941-44.

This concern was reflected in Yugoslavia's defense policy. While they certainly didn't neglect their borders with Italy, Albania or Greece, both strategically and tactically they were much more oriented towards fighting a defensive war against an invasion by the Pact.


Doug M.
 
thats the problem, Yugoslavia would probbably decide to be neutral, along with most nonaligned, but soviets would most likely plan to go for the adriatic coast, unless both sides get nuked so bad they just call it a day

asuming MAD newer realy hapens, but olnly a limited exchange ocurs, would the soviets realy invade, or would they think twice about fighting the JNA

if they do attack, probbably there would be tactical warheads used by both blocks on yugoslavian land, but would ider side use the big bombs on major cities?
 
Then the Yugoslavs saw two of their neighbors invaded by the Warsaw Pact in 1956 and 1968.

somebody needs to to dust off his atlas, CSSR was not Yugoslav neighbour ;)

Italy had a plan to push into Slovenia and establish lines there then fight back westwards. So if WarPac showed intentions to stir around southern flank Yugoslavia would get involved either way.
 
Yugoslavia being against the USSR is plausible imo, especially comparing that two of its Communist neighbours (Romania and Albania) might also refuse to support the Soviets. If that would happen Bulgaria could be isolated and overrun by Greek-Turkish and other NATO forces from the south so the regional situation might favour Yugoslavia remaining neutral or even supporting NATO. Although i must admit the threat of a an armored Soviet offensive from Hungary might convince the leadership of Yugoslavia to think otherwise.
 
Yugoslavia being against the USSR is plausible imo, especially comparing that two of its Communist neighbours (Romania and Albania) might also refuse to support the Soviets.

In the case of Albania, there's no question: from the early 1950s onward they were actively hostile to the USSR. (And, of course, their ability to actually invade anyone was close to nil.)

In the case of Romania, up until the mid-1960s they were a loyal member of the Warsaw Pact. (Of course, they had Soviet troops occupying them until 1958.) After that they became increasingly "neutral" under Ceausescu. By the late 1970s it was very unlikely that Romania would join a Pact offensive without being forced at gunpoint.

Of course, that might have been an issue! The Soviets installed their Fourth Army in what's now Moldova for exactly this reason -- to keep Ceausescu in line.

Although i must admit the threat of a an armored Soviet offensive from Hungary might convince the leadership of Yugoslavia to think otherwise.

Probably not. Yugoslav defense doctrine basically called for refighting WWII -- that is, retreating to the mountainous interior and unleashing large-scale partisan and guerrilla warfare. They didn't make any secret of this, either... they wanted to make invading Yugoslavia as unattractive as possible. The country had swallowed twenty Axis divisions, after all (even if a lot of them were second and third-rate garrison formations).

Also, note that Soviet resources were not unlimited. As noted above, they had to divert a bunch of divisions just to keep Romania in line. Diverting another army or two in a (probably fruitless) attempt to swing Yugoslavia would leave then noticeably less to work with in Central Europe.

Tito's Yugoslavia had very limited offensive capability, but would have been a PITA to invade and occupy. It's really hard to see why either side would have violated its neutrality.


Doug M.
 
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