The Four Horsemen: the Nuclear Apocalypse of 1962

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DakotaTimeTraveler

DakotaTimeTraveler

I am wondering of the long term effects of this nuclear war.

Some survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki from WW2 didn't develop sickness until years later. Remember Threads, the UK film and response to the infamous American anti-nuke film the Day After? We saw survivors of the nuclear holocaust slowly suffering from radiation sickness in the same way (years later) and a lot of the children being born afterwards implied to be mentally and/or physically disabled as a result of the nuclear fallout.

Is this what awaits humanity in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s?
 

Alhistnerd

NORGCO said:
At the risk of sounding inhumanly callous, it is how much of the US that is still intact that stands out. Five or ten years later the ICBM and SLBM based warhead counts would have been enormously higher.

What has happened is the greatest disaster in human history. Post-MIRV it would have been the END of human history. Large numbers of the more reliable solid-fueled missiles, each with three (land-based) or ten (sub-launched) warheads, plus the bombers and IRBM's in Europe...

That there was a civilisation around to publish and read JFK's book in the 1980s shows this is not as bad as we who were children when this story is set were taught to believe.
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Oh god. Is there a post 1980 timeline on this forum too? Even this world seems so depressing I just want to see how humanity could even reemerge from a total nuclear war
 

Ficboy

Banned
Pop culture and various celebrities are undeniably going to be altered drastically by World War III in The Four Horsemen: The Nuclear Apocalypse of 1962. Especially American and Soviet.
 
SuperZtar64

SuperZtar64

Banned
I'm not sure the Soviet Union is gonna be having much of any culture for a long long while. But you're correct about the US.

Just to think... my grandparents would be 13 and 12 respectively at this time, living in a small town in central Iowa. They could've lived in this timeline.
 

marktaha

Banned
Hope you write about the aftermath. Exactly which cities destroyed in US and West, how many dead, what was the recovery like? What became of sport and culture?
 
Lisowczycy

Lisowczycy

Man all those nuke explosions might had look epic in space. Shame their be no moon landing or much interest in space for decades.

I wonder how the minutemen felt as they unleash the might of the free world on those commies.
 
GrahamB

GrahamB

KuboCaskett said:
I highly doubt both sides on the ground would stop shooting at each other
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I imagine that is going to depend highly on how willing individual soldiers are to fight without purpose. They're not all going to be consumed with an insatiable lust for vengeance and I can readily see mass surrenders once the command structure has been removed via the world's loudest firecrackers.
 

nbcman

Donor
KuboCaskett said:
...or did it? Even with the nuclear attacks that has occurred, I highly doubt both sides on the ground would stop shooting at each other, even if they would break up into many factions for post-nuclear reasons.
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Both sides would be more concerned about safe food and water plus a clean area to decon than ideology.
 
juanml82

juanml82

Interesting, but would the British PM risk the nuclear destruction of the UK because of the loss of Hamburg? If it comes to it, a Soviet conventional victory still leaves the surviving Soviet tanks at the other side of the channel. So why continuing to escalate? The loss of Hamburg sucks for the defense of continental Europe, but the UK isn't in the continent.
 

Finbarr the Fair

juanml82 said:
Interesting, but would the British PM risk the nuclear destruction of the UK because of the loss of Hamburg? If it comes to it, a Soviet conventional victory still leaves the surviving Soviet tanks at the other side of the channel. So why continuing to escalate? The loss of Hamburg sucks for the defense of continental Europe, but the UK isn't in the continent.
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That's a good point. But British thinking between 1957 and the late 1960s was dominated by the idea that the conventional forces in Germany were just a trip wire. And that the defence of Western Europe and the UK lay in using nuclear weapons tactically while the strategic nuclear forces of the US (& UK) deterred an all out response by the Soviets. A British version of Kahn's doctrine.

Sadly, the Soviet Union almost certainly didn't see things the same way.

Would Macmillan have been prepared to authorise a British use of tactical nuclear weapons even against US wishes? He'd have hesitated for sure. But the Soviets have made the first use and Macmillan was a WW1 field officer. After the slaughter in the trenches he who would not want to expend soldiers lives when there was an alternative.

So, it's plausible if not certain that he'd take the nuclear option.
 

altwere

I'm hoping that the bomb for Boston didn't arrive, as I we were living just west of there and I had just started the 2nd grade. I remember the a -bomb drills.
 
DakotaTimeTraveler

DakotaTimeTraveler

SuperZtar64 said:
Numb.
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Probably it was like this exchange from the 1983 movie the Day After with Airman Bill McCoy; I'll bet my classic video games that conversations like this probably happen ITTL both before and/or after the nukes hit:

Airman : [missiles from both sides are still en route] You know what that means, don't you? Either we fired first and they're going to try to hit what's left, or they fired first and we just got our missiles out of the ground in time. Either way, we're going to get hit.

Airman Billy McCoy : So what are we still standing around here for?

Sergeant : Where do you want to go?

Airman Billy McCoy : Well, how about out of here for starters? I've got to get my wife and my kid!

Sergeant : We're still on alert, Billy! No one leaves this facility. Not until the choppers get here to take us back to Whiteman and to the shelters...

Airman Billy McCoy : [cutting him off] Are you kidding me, man? The bombs will be here before the choppers will! Listen to me.

Airman : Damn!

Airman Billy McCoy : Listen to me, man. The war is over! It's over. We've done our job. So what are you still guarding? Huh? Some cotton-pickin' hole in the ground all dressed up and nowhere to go?
 
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Amir

The US at least had plans to fight on post exchange. It’s a bet that USAFE and the NATO nuclear forces would be mostly “expended“ tearing holes for SAC and the V bomber force. However, the surviving forces would be organized and trained to fight on.

Western planners allowed for heavy casualties in the initial phases of an exchange. The heavy weight of firepower and emphasis on speed was a way of landing a “Sunday Punch” against Soviet strike systems and centres of gravity. This initial strike and any Soviet response would cause heavy casualties, especially in tactical strike forces and forward deployed forces. Once that was done though, there were clearly plans and infrastructure to fight on. Airbase Post-Attack recovery, rapid air-reinforcement, and the pentomic organization were all tailored to operations in a nuclear environment. Equally important, Post Attack command and communications structures were also established already, from the JCS at Ravenrock Mountain down to EMP resistant communications and training protocols.

While initial losses would have been heavy, and logistical and morale conditions would be tenuous, it seems like a reasonable assessment that follow on operations would have continued until conflict aims were reached. There seems to be no indication that the West was inclined to treat a general exchange as a pretext for ending hostilities.

Some of my references mentioned in the article:
www.c-span.org

<em>Nuclear Attack Preparedness Procedures, Survive to Fight</em>

This 1968 U.S. Air Force training film dramatizes activities at a military base following a nuclear attack. This Cold War film outlines procedures for assessing damage, stabilizing and securing the base and communications, and offering medical treatment for radiation exposure.
www.c-span.org www.c-span.org

Victor Alert | Air & Space Forces Magazine

For decades, airmen across Europe stood ready to launch their nuclear-armed fighters against Warsaw Pa
www.airforcemag.com www.airforcemag.com

 
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