Atomic bomb in Korea.

You're pushing it to WW3 if you don't cause WW3.
Attacking North Korea only is one thing; it removes a voodoo on using atomic weapons in war, and while it won't cause all wars to go full on atomic, usage of a select few tactical weapons will become possible for everyone else with them.
Attacking China could cause tensions with the Soviets either through the Sino-Soviet alliance or through making the Korean war bigger by expanding operations into China and starting a snowball effect. The Soviets could see fit to react in kind against the South Koreans or US forces. Then again, I believe Stalin was reluctant to allow North Korea to attack South Korea to begin with, and only allowed it because he thought the US wouldn't make an issue out of defending South Korea. So the Soviets could back out viewing it as not worth it.
 
Probably not all-out nuclear war, actually. The US stockpile in 1950 apparently had just 77MT combined, rising to just 103MT by 1951. The Soviets, on the other hand, had barely any nukes in 1950/1951, due to inefficiencies in production (since they rushed to get their first nuke tested in '49).

On the other hand, Manchuria (of course, given the OP) and Germany (due to 'better dead than Red' and the need to at least try to stop the Soviets before they can conquer France) definitely eat nukes, along with some major Soviet and Chinese cities. Further, strategic bombing raids by both sides will devastate major cities in Europe, North America, and Russia; the East will generally be hit harder, due to inferior aircraft, but the West will still take some hard knocks. Lots of ugly conventional warfare, too; Germany, Korea (duh), the Low Countries, Greece, Turkey, France and Iberia all get to see a brutal hot war, along with possibly Manchuria, Quemoy, Matsu, and maybe even parts of the coastline of China.

I don't see the Soviets not reacting in some way - if the US feels confident about using its nuclear arsenal against China, then the Soviets have to react or the US will attempt atomic rollback.
 
But the bomb in Korea was only for arrest the chinese army offensive or aganist the China cities?

P.S. in 1950 the "voodo on using atomic weapons" was yet established?
 

CalBear

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But the bomb in Korea was only for arrest the chinese army offensive or aganist the China cities?

P.S. in 1950 the "voodo on using atomic weapons" was yet established?


The effective embargo on Nukes didn't exist in 1950, they were still looked upon as weapons. It wasn't until the reality hit that MAD was an actual possibility that Nukes became the Bogey Man.

The main reason to NOT use them in 1950 is that the U.S. and the West was no where near ready to handle the Red Army if the Soviets crossed the inter-German border. By 1953 the Americans had enough of a weapon inventory (less than 300 when the Chinese intervened in 1950, mostly the Mk III "Fat Man" and Mk-4 25-35 KT designs, and over 1,400 in 1953, including about one hundred of the 120Kt Mk 5 weapons) that it could be confident of utterly destroying the USSR, even with likely bomber losses factored into the planning. By 1953, however, all the U.S. wanted was to end the Korean war at Status Quo.

The Soviets lacked both the weapons, AND, much more importantly, the delivery systems to have a credible deterrent. This was still true in 1952, even 1953. What the Soviets did not lack was a ground force that, even in its much reduced from 1945 state, was a massive overmatch for Western ground forces in Europe.
 
The effective embargo on Nukes didn't exist in 1950, they were still looked upon as weapons. It wasn't until the reality hit that MAD was an actual possibility that Nukes became the Bogey Man.
Note that some early post-war fiction, Walter Miller for instance, viewed the break as between Abombs (big bombs) and Hbombs (terror weapons). So, ya, there wasn't really a taboo (which I think was the word desired) against nukes that early.
 
Let's say MAD sets in after nukes helped Truman win the Korean War. I could see LeMays being a lot more prominent. "They saved Korea, after all" :eek:
 
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