Major Sides and Theaters of a Conventional WWIII in the 1980s

Say that WWIII breaks out at some point in the early 1980s and manages to stay mostly conventional. Bare minimum, you're going to see the United States, United Kingdom, and the rest of NATO on one side and the USSR and the rest of the Warsaw Pact on the other, with fighting in Central Europe. But where else might major fighting take place, and who else would join each side?

In Europe, Yugoslavia is officially non-aligned. Would they stay neutral, or would they likely be sucked into the conflict - and on whose side?

China would be another potentially big player. The Sino-Soviet split had long since occurred by this point, but would they actively join the Americans in fighting the Soviets? And so long as we're discussing East Asia, what about Korea? Could there be renewed fighting there?

The Middle East? The Iran-Iraq War was happening at this time - would it be absorbed into the larger conflict?

Any significant fighting in South Asia?

Anywhere else to be noted?
 

nbcman

Donor
One big area to be noted - the Atlantic Ocean where the Soviets would be trying to prevent US and Canadian ground forces from getting to Europe by air and sea to link up with equipment at POMCUS sites to reinforce the NATO forces in Germany. An example of what would be coming over can be seen from this document which describes REFORGER 1983 where about 16k personnel were involved in the exercise from CONUS. The plan was to send 6+ divisions over in 3 corps to reinforce the 2 US Corps that were stationed in West Germany.

The Med would be a location where fighting could happen between NATO and Soviets plus client states such as Libya, Algeria, and Syria.

Finally, there would probably be fighting in the Caribbean between the US and Cuba if the Cuban government decided to support the Soviets instead of keeping their head down.
 
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Yugoslavia was, IIRC, tenatively Western-aligned during this time. It may very well be the spark - it was steadily falling apart in the 1980s, and both NATO and the Warsaw Pact might make moves if it collapses earlier than OTL or tries to swing too hard to the West (this was the scenario used for the ABLE ARCHER exercise in ‘83, as well as in Sir John Hackett’s The Third World War). If that occurs, from what little I know I think that Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia would probably side with NATO while the Serbs might side with the Soviets

The Middle East would probably get sucked in as well, and could also have been the flashpoint. I could see the Soviets urging WARPACT-aligned Arab States to attack Israel and US-friendly Arab regimes. Iran-Iraq will probably be sucked in, but it would be weird. The Iraqis would have enormous pressure from both NATO and WARPACT to throw down on their side, as they got significant support from both sides but were also sort seen as a potential threat by both sides as well. The Iranians were hated by both the US and the USSR, but depending on how the war goes they might wind up aligning with one side or another. If the Russians invade or increase support for communist guerillas in Iran, some faction of the Iranian government/military might be persuaded to accept US help. On the other hand, many of the USSR’s client states (Libya, Syria, North Korea) seemed to prefer Iran to Iraq, and the Soviets did try and make overtures to the Iranians early in the Revolution to try and keep the US out of the Persian Gulf, so you might see some kind of deal with the devil where the USSR aids Iran against the US to shut them out of the Mideast. As the above poster said, the Med and the Black Sea will likely be a bloodbath. The WARPACT may even invade Turkey to neutralize NATO on it’s borders and gain access to the ever-important Straits.

South Asia, China may or may not get involved. Both sides will be pressuring the PRC heavily - the US will want to open another front while the USSR wants them to remain neutral. I doubt that they would invade the USSR proper again for fear of provoking a nuclear response. They may be willing to attack Vietnam again - the USSR did not retaliate in 1979, but if Russian air and naval bases in Vietnam are threatened by the Chinese this time around something might happen.

The Koreas will almost certainly fight again. The USSR would probably see it as another theater to bog down US troops, while Kim-il Sung would probably see the US being preoccupied in Europe as the perfect excuse to swoop in on the South.

As the above poster said, the Carribean and Central America might see fighting between the US vs Cuba and other LACOMs if Cuba throws in with the USSR, or if the US considers them a significant enough threat to attack first

Southern Africa would probably be another theater - the communist aligned Front Line States invading NATO-aligned Apartheid South Africa
 
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