In 1982, with Soviet hardliners like either Grishin or Romanov replacing the dying Brezhnev, tensions are much worse than OTL. Finally, during the spring of 1985 a major crisis develops between the US and USSR (let's say the Soviet's impose a second blockade of West Berlin and the US, Britain, and France prepare to liberate West Berlin by invading East Germany). The Warsaw Pact, fearful of an imminent attack on East Germany, launches three full-scale attacks (
Seven Days to the River Rhine,
Operation Northern Norway, and an invasion of Greece and Turkey to capture the Turkish Straits) against NATO forces on June 1, 1985. In occupied territories,
Operation Gladio is initiated, resulting in very harsh and brutal Soviet/Warsaw Pact reprisals.
The war lasts roughly two months, long enough that the tide of the war turns. Despite nearly being overwhelmed in the early days of the war by the sheer number of WarPac troops, NATO is able to hold on following a successful last-ditch conventional air campaign (Operation Bloody Nose) which cripples Warsaw Pact
command and control posts (throwing their armies in the field into chaos) and gaining air supremacy over Eastern European airspace after inflicting devastating losses on the Soviet Air Force in the ensuing battle, and NATO is able to liberate Northern Italy, Austria, and East Germany (which reunites with West Germany 5 days after it's surrender, resulting in former GDR forces being placed under a unified German Command). After Germany reunifies, NATO decides to liberate the whole of Europe from Soviet control and launches a full scale invasion of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. NATO is able to hold the Warsaw Pact back into the Greek-Bulgarian borders.
Northern Norway falls to the Soviets, resulting in the Soviet capture of Jan Mayen Island and the Norwegian/Russian mining colony of Spitsbergen, leading to the capture of the NATO held LORAN-C Station near Olokin City. All this leads to a successful capture by the Soviet Spetsnaz of the NATO air station at Keflavík and the near by intelligence gathering post with the goal of eliminating the
SOSUS sonar buoy line in the
GIUK gap which would allow the Soviet Navy to surge its submarines into the Atlantic Ocean without being detected and distribute sea mines in the region. This leads to Soviet ships and submarines going on to engage and destroy NATO shipping in the North Atlantic.
In Central Europe, NATO is pushed back from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, following a Soviet ordered chemical strike, and a stalemate develops in Central Europe. NATO, running out of supplies and reinforcements as a result of Soviet attacks on NATO shipping in the North Atlantic, retreat back the German-Polish, German-Czech, Austro-Czech, and Austro-Hungarian borders in order to fight a defensive war against the Warsaw Pact. Heavily outnumbered by increasing Soviet reinforcements, NATO authorizes an unsuccessful chemical strike against well protected Warsaw Pact forces. Due to the failure of the chemical strikes to stop the Soviet advance, and determined to prevent their defensive line from falling, NATO utilizes tactical nuclear weapons and the Warsaw Pact responds in kind. Fearing a total strategic exchange, the Soviets (from Priluki Air Base in the Ukraine) detonate the Tsar Bomba over above the North Sea as a warning to NATO to end the war. The detonation causes incidences "shakes", "broken windows", which can be felt throughout the UK and northwestern Europe, as well as producing an electromagnetic impulse which damages electrical systems in these regions. The Soviet nuclear blackmail pays off however, and both sides agree to end the war. With the exception of the loss of East Germany (which reunited with West Germany during the war), both sides agree to a status quo and a withdrawal to pre-war lines in Europe (except eastern Germany which is now part of NATO)
End result: Stalemate. Reunification of Germany universally recognised with a ww2 peace treaty, Eastern European communism collapses in mid-1989 with the strain of war proving too much to bear.
With that scenario in mind, try to brainstorm what 90s-present culture looks like in the wake of one of the most devastating conflicts in recent history. It can be as broad as general trends across society or as narrow as what a certain artist might do during and after WW3.
Some of my predictions for American culture:
- The US regards the war much more positively than much of the rest of the rest of the world, due to it being a clear victory and not suffering nearly the same sort of devastation as was wrought upon the border regions of Central Europe. Still, the fall of Iceland and Northern Norway and the failure to completely liberate Eastern Europe from communism weigh heavy on the American psyche.
- Reagan-worship knows no bounds as he is remembered for providing strong leadership throughout the bulk of the war.
- WW3 films and documentaries become all the rage throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. WW2 films and WW1 films less prevalent - films like
Saving Private Ryan might be butterflied away or reworked to fit into a WW3 context.
-Soviet and Warsaw Pact atrocities become common fodder in the Western media for decades to come.
- Technothriller authors scramble to try and find a way to recoup from real life eclipsing their work. Tom Clancy takes a break from writing fiction and instead collaborates with historians and veterans to create a massive non-fiction novel detailing the Third World War through the eyes of soldiers, politicians, and civilians on both sides. Entitled something like
Red Storm Realizedor
The Eagle and the Bear, the work is hailed as Clancy's magnum opus upon it's release in 1993. Meanwhile, Harold Coyle writes a book detailing his personal experiences in the war, comparing his fictional scenario in
Team Yankee with the real thing.
-Western veterans exposed to the Soviet chemical strikes are still affected, including having defects, disabilities, sicknesses, early deaths, etc.
Soviet culture:
- The Soviets also regard this war positively due to the success in defending itself from another attack from the west and not suffering nearly the same sort of devastation and loss of life as was experienced during the Napoleonic Wars, ww1, the 1917 Revolution, the Russian Civil War, and ww2. However, the loss of Eastern Germany and the failure to completely remove the Americans from Europe are a heavy burden on the Soviet psyche.
-The loss of empire with the collapse of Eastern European communism have a negative effect on the Russian mindset as having lost the peace (similar to Britain losing its empire after being victorious in ww2)
-WW3 films and documentaries become rampant in Russia throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.
-Soviets veterans of that war are treated very highly in Russia in a similar way as those veterans from the Great Patriotic War.
-Soviet veterans exposed to NATO chemical strikes are still affected, including having defects, disabilities, sicknesses, early deaths, etc.