An Election Game idea that sets in Protect and Survive Universe I may or may not launch:
When the Wind Blew: a P&S Open Thread
- Thread starter Gen_Patton
- Start date
Not sure if this has been asked, but what is the estimated population of the planet after the war?
I’m not sure if anyone up-thread has thought of this, but…what about one in which the nuclear exchange doesn’t happen, with as late of a POD as seems plausible within the P&S-verse?
An alternate history of an alternate history, if you will. We can call it “The War That Almost Was”. I’ve even come up with an intro - here it is!
Introduction - Friday, February 21, 2014
Today was a normal Friday much like any other Friday, in Washington, DC and Moscow - in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver - in London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Brussels, and Berlin - in Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Sydney - in Omaha, Nebraska; Kassel, Germany; and Newcastle, England - and in thousands of other cities around the world.
People were finishing up another week at work or school, then spending their evenings at concerts, sporting events, movies, or theater performances, or just having dinner with family and friends, gearing up for the weekend - most of them unaware that the world as they know it almost ended 30 years ago.
These days, most people pay little thought - or for those that do think about it, still struggle to fully understand - just how perilously close to nuclear war the world came in those tense months of fall 1983 and winter 1984, especially in February 1984, when the crisis was at its peak. If a few decisions or events had gone the other way, the aforementioned cities and the people in them - and many, many more besides - could have ceased to exist in seconds, having been wiped from the face of the earth in nuclear fire.
I relate this story not only to tell readers like you the facts of the most dangerous period in recent human history - arguably even more so than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 - but also in an attempt to ensure that we never more step as close to the brink as we came 30 years ago. The most recent generation is one too young to have any firsthand knowledge of that tense episode, which makes talking about it now all the more important.
So, without further ado...crank up that 80's music and take a step back in time to late 1983 and early 1984 as I tell you the story of The War That Almost Was.
An alternate history of an alternate history, if you will. We can call it “The War That Almost Was”. I’ve even come up with an intro - here it is!
Introduction - Friday, February 21, 2014
Today was a normal Friday much like any other Friday, in Washington, DC and Moscow - in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver - in London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Brussels, and Berlin - in Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Sydney - in Omaha, Nebraska; Kassel, Germany; and Newcastle, England - and in thousands of other cities around the world.
People were finishing up another week at work or school, then spending their evenings at concerts, sporting events, movies, or theater performances, or just having dinner with family and friends, gearing up for the weekend - most of them unaware that the world as they know it almost ended 30 years ago.
These days, most people pay little thought - or for those that do think about it, still struggle to fully understand - just how perilously close to nuclear war the world came in those tense months of fall 1983 and winter 1984, especially in February 1984, when the crisis was at its peak. If a few decisions or events had gone the other way, the aforementioned cities and the people in them - and many, many more besides - could have ceased to exist in seconds, having been wiped from the face of the earth in nuclear fire.
I relate this story not only to tell readers like you the facts of the most dangerous period in recent human history - arguably even more so than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 - but also in an attempt to ensure that we never more step as close to the brink as we came 30 years ago. The most recent generation is one too young to have any firsthand knowledge of that tense episode, which makes talking about it now all the more important.
So, without further ado...crank up that 80's music and take a step back in time to late 1983 and early 1984 as I tell you the story of The War That Almost Was.
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I hope the Librarian and the Constable still meet and have a set of descendants worthy of their wonderful decency.
In case anyone needs it for another read through, here is the orginal Protect and Survive:
Protect and Survive: A Timeline
I: Nuclear Explosions Explained They are like ordinary explosions, only many times more powerful. It is academic to argue whether the conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact was inevitable. Such geo-political and philosophical arguments are beyond the scope of this study, which attempts...
www.alternatehistory.com
Finished the original timeline and am working my way through the spinoffs. Very impressed so far, this is probably one of the most realistic nuclear war scenarios I've seen. One small nitpick, I find Macragge's target list for Wisconsin really strange. I realize it's supposed to be incomplete/somewhat inaccurate, but as a Wisconsinite myself, it seems really weird that Appleton, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, and Fond du Lac would be hit but not Madison, Green Bay, Racine, or Kenosha. Given that Madison is the state capital I would assume it would get a warhead but of course it could easily have missed or not gotten off the ground in the first place. Green Bay, Racine, and Kenosha are mid-sized industrial cities that may or may not warrant nukes but if cities as small as Fond du Lac (population 36K in 1980) are getting hit it seems weird that all three would survive. Like, of Appleton, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, and Fond du Lac, the only city I can see as being a nuclear target is Oshkosh, which is home to the Oshkosh Corporation factory which manufactures vehicles for the military. I'm from the Appleton area, and I highly doubt that the USSR would feel the need to eradicate our minor paper industry from the face of the earth.