Ficton vs Reality...if conflict in Berlin occurs is all-out nuclear war inevitable?

The 1983 TV movie "The Day After" depicts a mounting conflict in Berlin..the Soviet army preparing to invade West Berlin.

The movie ends in unknown millions dying from radiation.

Suppose a conflict did occur, surely NATO and the Soviets could find a solution without escorting to all-out armageddon.

And what does a crisis in Berlin have to do with the US risking over 80% of their population into oblivion?
 
The 1983 TV movie "The Day After" depicts a mounting conflict in Berlin..the Soviet army preparing to invade West Berlin.

The movie ends in unknown millions dying from radiation.

Suppose a conflict did occur, surely NATO and the Soviets could find a solution without escorting to all-out armageddon.

And what does a crisis in Berlin have to do with the US risking over 80% of their population into oblivion?


I have that movie on DVD. It caused a big stir back in the 80s. And no, I don't think an attack on Berlin would inevitably spiral into a nuclear war Now a Soviet invasion of West Germany using Chemical weapons might escalate out of control in a hurry.
 
Well as I recall, in the movie it didn't simply escalate immediately from fighting in Berlin to all out nuclear war. First it was conventional warfare, then NATO airburst tactical nukes over advancing Warpac troops. And then that's when things got hairy. The conflict starts out as a conventional one then escalates nuclear, neither side wanted to use nukes, but things just got out of hand. Also the movie leaves it ambiguous as to who launches first, so it's hard to say whether the US government would actually go through with it. At the time the movie came out Reagan was president, so I could very easily see events playing out like that, he'd wanna play tough with the Russians, so escalation is very likely.
 
Kennedy was convinced the world was on the brink during the Berlin crisis of 1961. That, and not the Cuban Missile crisis was his adimistration's first nuclear war scare (though the Bay of Pigs could have been one if he'd sent US forces to Cuban soil.)

Of course there is always the Berlin airlift going sour, but that would see a war with only one side armed with atomic weapons.

A border conflict in the eighties over Berlin is harder, what with the wall being such a good quarantine. The Soviets would have to cut off all land traffic from the rest of West Germany to heighten tensions badly enough.
 
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They (ABC) did a town-hall discussion following the movie. Found it on Youtube. Opening the discussion Ted Koppel really thought nuclear war was a strong possibility.

Good debates between famed astronomer and author Carl Sagan, National Review's William Buckley and former defence sec. Robert McNamara....
 
Over just Berlin never. Berlin would be "the spark that lit the fuse", causing Soviet and American forces to escalate the conventional war in a series of worldwide conflicts, ending in a Nuke exchange. I actually prefer the Fallout series when it comes to post-apocaliptic scenarios than a USSR-USA war. The latter always kind of reminds me of Tanya and Yuri.
 
I must say that, it's very hard to say. But the premise of the "The Day after" of a conflict occuring over Berlin in 1980s is very unlikely, in my opinion. I'm with Magniac there that the situation was already pretty "settled in" in the 80s. I don't see why the Soviets would have suddenly decided "ooh, let's grab West Berlin".
 
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