One Second to Midnight: World War III, 1986

So looking through the forum (well, more skimming it) I haven't seen many 'things get hot in the 80's' threads recently, so I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring for at least a concept of a World War III that nearly goes full scale nuclear war towards the end.

Preface

While most would point to the start of World War III being April 12th, 1986 as tanks and men poured across the borders of Western Germany and Austria, the Cold War went hot a good month earlier, in the March 13th Black Sea Incident. The rationale for the decision to send two American warships into the black sea to patrol within waters claimed by the Soviets as part of their territory is still hotly debated between historians, veterans, and politicians to this day. There are several proponents who lay the blame entirely at the feet of the Americans, their Freedom of Transit operation being little more than a thin excuse to try and provoke the USSR into hostile action and allow NATO to be the defender in a conflict. Another theory leaves the blame in the hands of the negotiators and diplomats who were unable to reign in the political ambitions of various officials in both the Warsaw Pact and NATO, and even another throws the blame at the feet of the Soviet fleet for aggressively acting against ships that happened to be in international waters near the Crimean Peninsula. The generally accepted explanation of the incident however, is that it was merely the match that lit the powder keg that had been brewing for four decades as the world’s two Superpowers waged an ideological battle in every medium imaginable. Escalation into full scale conflict was inevitable despite the best efforts and intentions of all involved, especially with unrest building up in the Soviet puppet states formed in the aftermath of the Second World War. Responsibility for the following bloody struggle belongs to no-one.

Whatever the truth behind it, the great tragedy of the Black Sea Incident is how close the entire thing was to never going beyond sailors on both sides simply exchanging hostile glances. As the USS Yorktown and USS Cason sailed on, semi-shadowed by several Soviet border patrol vessels and the Ladny, a Soviet FFG that was in the area. An hour into the tense stare down between the two groups of ships, and six miles off the coast of the Crimea, someone blinked. A junior weapons officer aboard the Ladny conducted a routine check of readiness for the frigate’s Anti-Submarine Weapons, a cluster of SS-N-14 missiles. A one in a trillion malfunction cased his check to launch a pair of the weapons in the direction of the two US vessels, and with that bring the clock a second closer to midnight for the world.

The USS Yorktown, the closer of the US Navy vessels, launched a pair of Harpoon missiles in response to the apparent attack and targeting the Ladny, and unfortunately for the Soviet FFG, both of the missiles got through the attempted defensive countermeasures. The Ladny didn’t even have a chance to respond, the chaff blown out by the frigate rapidly consumed by the fireball it became. Few of the crew survived, the inferno consuming those not killed by the explosion itself. The two Soviet coastguard vessels then opened fire on the Americans, but lacking missile armament they caused very little damage as the two US ships rapidly exited the area.

Tensions that were already in trouble due to the cancellation of the Reykjavik Summit suddenly reached a fever pitch, the Soviet leadership calling for the removal of the commanders of the two ships along with reparations and the men standing trial. The Americans complied with the first of the requests, but staunchly refused to follow through with the others. Along the borders of Europe and across the Atlantic, men were called back into uniform, units prepared to mobilize, and strategies and tactics developed in a vacuum over four decades prepared to be tested. The stage was set for devastation on a scale not seen since the first half of the century.
 
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Interesting. How strong was each side in 1986?
Quite. While there were issues with the reliability of the Soviet puppet states, and the Soviet economy was starting to decline, the forces at the disposal of the Warsaw Pact are arguably at their most formidable in this time frame. NATO also has evaluated that they now have rough parity with Pact forces in Europe, leaving the use of tactical nuclear weapons as a weapon of last utter resort, and now not necessary to defeat a Soviet push into Germany.

On the air side, things are looking better for the NATO forces than the Pact, but this is something that could swing either way depending on how Pact coordination went. However, the naval war was now clearly favoring NATO, as it had from the start. Russian breakout into the Atlantic was less likely in a large scale, but was still going to be a threat to reinforcements from the United States and Canada.

The real wild cards in this scenario at the moment are Yugoslavia and China. While nominally communist, both have good relations with the West, but if push comes to shove, they're going to need to choose sides.
 
So looking through the forum (well, more skimming it) I haven't seen many 'things get hot in the 80's' threads recently, so I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring for at least a concept of a World War III that nearly goes full scale nuclear war towards the end.
Not sure there's much with this PoD, but there has been a fair bit of discussion about Able Archer and Petrov in '83.
 
I'm not promising that there are no nuclear exchanges. Remember, full scale nuclear war. And I never said between who.

Humm... for the record, I really don't think it's possible to avoid a USSR vs USA nuke fight, at the height of the Cold War, if anyone uses nukes. The whole thing would simply escalate...
 
Humm... for the record, I really don't think it's possible to avoid a USSR vs USA nuke fight, at the height of the Cold War, if anyone uses nukes. The whole thing would simply escalate...
Well, unless the US and USSR weren't fighting each other. (As in an India-Pakistan war or India-China war.) But, ja, given this starts with the USSR firing on the US,...
 
How much different are things at this time compared to 1989/1990? ZDF (or another German TV station) made a nice fake-documentary (IIRC called 'Der Dritte Weltkrieg') for a 1989 war, with the Soviets pulling some outrageous things yet still keeping anti-war sentiment in the West kind of high, and still losing even so.

Of course it ends in nukes, so looking forward to if you avoid those, and how.
 
I hope the Nationale volksarmee have some success in this scenario
I have a bit of a soft spot for the NVA honestly; they have such colorful recruiting posters and the most overcomplicated roundel imaginable. They're a lot like the chinese knockoff of the West Germans in a variety of ways, have the funkiest helmets, and of course speak German (the world's angriest language). They played a large role in many of the Pact and NATO plans.

How much different are things at this time compared to 1989/1990?
For one thing, the utter collapse of the Pact and the issues that would cripple the Soviets and their puppet states is just getting started. For another, Afghanistan is still going strong, and 1985 was the bloodiest year of the Soviet involvement. There's a good 100,000 Soviets tied down in that quagmire, and even with a month to get things rolling and prepared, most of those troops probably won't get to the front to see the start of hostilities in Europe. Even in decline though, the Soviets are still a force to be reckoned with, and if they can hit hard enough, they can win.

The US has also introduced the M1A1 in sufficient numbers to affect things in Europe. Pretty much every major NATO nation has armor in the field that can defensively deal with Soviet T-72's. So yeah, things are much more up in the air

Humm... for the record, I really don't think it's possible to avoid a USSR vs USA nuke fight, at the height of the Cold War, if anyone uses nukes. The whole thing would simply escalate...
Well, I can see certain tactical nuclear weapons being used at sea, but you're quite right in that. But you have to remember that by this point in time, NATO has figured that they have sufficient conventional forces that they can withstand a Soviet Assault, at least in the initial stages. Neither side truly wishes to use tactical nuclear weaponry in any situation, because they know that this could lead to nuclear armageddon.

Except for the French, but that's because the French are totally willing to end the world simply because of national pride.
 
I have a bit of a soft spot for the NVA honestly; they have such colorful recruiting posters and the most overcomplicated roundel imaginable. They're a lot like the chinese knockoff of the West Germans in a variety of ways, have the funkiest helmets, and of course speak German (the world's angriest language). They played a large role in many of the Pact and NATO plans.

Plus they were the last german looking army, I'm part of the 0,0001% of the world population that like the stahlhelm M56

another video I made:
 
[QUOTE="Arch-Magos, post: 12808937, member: 96281]
Well, I can see certain tactical nuclear weapons being used at sea, but you're quite right in that. But you have to remember that by this point in time, NATO has figured that they have sufficient conventional forces that they can withstand a Soviet Assault, at least in the initial stages. Neither side truly wishes to use tactical nuclear weaponry in any situation, because they know that this could lead to nuclear armageddon.
[/QUOTE]

It's not NATO that worries me. Soviet paranoia, mixed with the need to win that comes with having to control such a massive population (and military) would, I think, force them to try, at the very least, nuclear blackmail... then what?...
 

Quebec_Dave

Banned

I hope the Nationale volksarmee have some success in this scenario

I have to give a like for the song and not it of hope for success of the NVA.

Why do totalitarian states have to have ALL the good marches (except for Sousa)? It seems that the more democratic a nation is, the more boring its martial music becomes!
 
It seems that the more democratic a nation is, the more boring its martial music becomes!

That is kinda true

There is also a curiosity behind the NVA marches, the german empire and the third reich marches were strong, powerfull, imperialistic, it could make Frederick Der Grosse proud, because of that the NVA tried to move in the other direction, their marches were happy, peacefull, and catchy
 

Quebec_Dave

Banned
That is kinda true

There is also a curiosity behind the NVA marches, the german empire and the third reich marches were strong, powerfull, imperialistic, it could make Frederick Der Grosse proud, because of that the NVA tried to move in the other direction, their marches were happy, peacefull, and catchy

I kind of like the NVA marches and the imperial and Third Reich marches myself. I love the imperial Koeniggratzer march (forgive me if I have butchered the spelling) as well as the Luftwaffe March and the Lied der Panzer as well.

I also love a lot of the North Korean marches as well. When the North Korean regime collapses, the United States should hire the writers of those marches to compose some new ones for the United States because all the non-Sousa marches suck and people are getting tired of the Sousa marches. It pisses me off when they use them in commercials as well.

I also love some Soviet marches as well. My favourites are Farewell to Slavianka and Army is My Family.
 
I kind of like the NVA marches and the imperial and Third Reich marches myself. I love the imperial Koeniggratzer march (forgive me if I have butchered the spelling) as well as the Luftwaffe March and the Lied der Panzer as well.

I also love a lot of the North Korean marches as well. When the North Korean regime collapses, the United States should hire the writers of those marches to compose some new ones for the United States because all the non-Sousa marches suck and people are getting tired of the Sousa marches. It pisses me off when they use them in commercials as well.

I also love some Soviet marches as well. My favourites are Farewell to Slavianka and Army is My Family.

Yes yes, there is no way to match the ones from ze kaiserreich, but at least the NVA marsches where not americanized like the bundeswehr ones

here another one, I didn't made a clip of it yet, but when I do I'm going to send it private for you:
It says that the companie was marching, when they saw a beautifull girl, they looked at it but the officer noticed and replied AUGE GRADE-AUS (Eyes to the front)
 

Quebec_Dave

Banned
Yes yes, there is no way to match the ones from ze kaiserreich, but at least the NVA marsches where not americanized like the bundeswehr ones

here another one, I didn't made a clip of it yet, but when I do I'm going to send it private for you:
It says that the companie was marching, when they saw a beautifull girl, they looked at it but the officer noticed and replied AUGE GRADE-AUS (Eyes to the front)

I love this song! I never had the opportunity to hear it before so I am happy you shared it! :)
 
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