WI: Effects of a WWIII in 1962

The Cuban Missile Crisis is said to be when the world was closest to World War III. Lets say that Vasili Arkhipov was to ill to be at his station, and his replacement gave in to the Captain and the Commissar's pressure, and agreed to the nuke-launch, setting off WWIII.

How bad is it likely to be? I've heard some claims that the Earth would have been rendered uninhabitable, and others that even the US, USSR, and the European nations would still have largish habitable areas, and be able to continue as functioning governments, albeit rather reduced ones, with little military effectiveness (and one claim that the USSR would have been unable to hit any/many targets in the continental US), and quite a bit in-between.

How long would the war be likely to have lasted?

How long would it have taken to recover?
 
The Cuban Missile Crisis is said to be when the world was closest to World War III. Lets say that Vasili Arkhipov was to ill to be at his station, and his replacement gave in to the Captain and the Commissar's pressure, and agreed to the nuke-launch, setting off WWIII.

How bad is it likely to be? I've heard some claims that the Earth would have been rendered uninhabitable, and others that even the US, USSR, and the European nations would still have largish habitable areas, and be able to continue as functioning governments, albeit rather reduced ones, with little military effectiveness (and one claim that the USSR would have been unable to hit any/many targets in the continental US), and quite a bit in-between.

How long would the war be likely to have lasted?

How long would it have taken to recover?

Paris being the headquarter of NATO will be destroyed, so a functioning France will be difficult.

Paris is the capital of France but also a large industry region, on the north of Paris you have great refineries / stocks of oil (4 km), a large airforce base at 15 km on the north from Notre-Dame...
 
there is a scenario called the two day war that has a cuban crises goes hot theme

in their story, a soviet sub launches a nuke torpedo at the american carrier randolf, maintaining the quarintine, they also nuke dc, gitmo and marine transports off shore. us default war plans kick in during the confusion and SAC and ICBM's completely obliterate the warsaw pact
 
by now, the world would be very impoverished, and most of the european population would be seeking refuge in north africa
the same with US and mexico


maybe india, brazil, china and australia would be the next super powers
 
Top