RainbowDoubleDash
Banned
Well, I have this account so I might as well make use of it. I'm reading Red Storm Rising for the first time right now, so that's put me in a distinctly Communist mood.
The Cuban Missile Crisis, we all know, ended with the Soviet Union publically removing the missiles and bombers and so on that it was building/already had in Cuba, in exchange for the USA publically promising to never invade Cuba, and secretly agreeing to dismantle and remove its Thors and Jupiters in Italy and Turkey.
Now having perused Cracked.com an awful lot, I can't say that this was the closest that we've ever come to WWIII, but it certainly was damn close, that's for sure. Nuclear or non-nuclear, it would have been a war, and that would not have been fun for anybody.
But what I'm wondering about is alternate peaceful resolutions, as well as an alternate start and what that would have done.
Alternate Start
On October 14, 1962, a United States Air Force U-2 plane on a photoreconnaissance mission captured photographic proof of Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba.
What if it hadn't? What if the Soviet Maskirovka was a success? Specifically, what if, by the time the United States learned about the missiles and bombers being built in Cuba, the facilities were already complete? I admit I don't know exactly how many bombers and bases, etc., Khrushchev intended to put in Cuba, but let's say that everyting is, like, 95%+ done. Cuba is on-line and can launch whenever orders from Moscow come in.
Alternate Ends
To the main timeline, not the possibility posted above. I'm interested in two:
Scenario 1. The Turkey/Italy missile removal isn't secret.
Scenario 2. The US backs down from the blockade rather than risking nuclear war. Cuba goes on-line as essentially Khrushchev's counterpoint for Italy and Turkey (this is probably extraordinarily unlikely, but I'm interested).
So...um, yeah. Thoughts?
The Cuban Missile Crisis, we all know, ended with the Soviet Union publically removing the missiles and bombers and so on that it was building/already had in Cuba, in exchange for the USA publically promising to never invade Cuba, and secretly agreeing to dismantle and remove its Thors and Jupiters in Italy and Turkey.
Now having perused Cracked.com an awful lot, I can't say that this was the closest that we've ever come to WWIII, but it certainly was damn close, that's for sure. Nuclear or non-nuclear, it would have been a war, and that would not have been fun for anybody.
But what I'm wondering about is alternate peaceful resolutions, as well as an alternate start and what that would have done.
Alternate Start
On October 14, 1962, a United States Air Force U-2 plane on a photoreconnaissance mission captured photographic proof of Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba.
What if it hadn't? What if the Soviet Maskirovka was a success? Specifically, what if, by the time the United States learned about the missiles and bombers being built in Cuba, the facilities were already complete? I admit I don't know exactly how many bombers and bases, etc., Khrushchev intended to put in Cuba, but let's say that everyting is, like, 95%+ done. Cuba is on-line and can launch whenever orders from Moscow come in.
Alternate Ends
To the main timeline, not the possibility posted above. I'm interested in two:
Scenario 1. The Turkey/Italy missile removal isn't secret.
Scenario 2. The US backs down from the blockade rather than risking nuclear war. Cuba goes on-line as essentially Khrushchev's counterpoint for Italy and Turkey (this is probably extraordinarily unlikely, but I'm interested).
So...um, yeah. Thoughts?
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