Wikipedia gives a summary of the details:
On Saturday, September 16, NATO forces in West Germany invade East Germany through the Helmstedt checkpoint to free Berlin. The Soviets hold the Marienborn corridor and inflict heavy casualties on NATO troops. Two Soviet MiG-25s cross into West German airspace and bomb a NATO munitions storage facility, also striking a school and a hospital. A subsequent radio broadcast states that Moscow is being evacuated. At this point, major U.S. cities begin mass evacuations as well. There soon follow unconfirmed reports that nuclear weapons were used in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. Meanwhile, in the Persian Gulf, naval warfare erupts, as radio reports tell of ship sinkings on both sides.
Eventually, the Soviet Army reaches the Rhine. Seeking to prevent Soviet forces from invading France and causing the rest of Western Europe to fall, NATO halts the Soviet advance by airbursting three low-yield tactical nuclear weapons over advancing Soviet troops. Soviet forces counter by launching a nuclear strike on NATO headquarters in Brussels. In response, the United States Strategic Air Command begins scrambling B-52 bombers.
The Soviet Air Force then destroys a BMEWS station at RAF Fylingdales, England and another at Beale Air Force Base in California. Meanwhile, on board the EC-135 Looking Glass aircraft, the order comes in from the President of the United States for a full nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. Almost simultaneously, an Air Force officer receives a report that a massive Soviet nuclear assault against the United States has been launched, stating "32 targets in track, with 10 impacting points." Another airman receives a report that over 300 Soviet ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) are inbound. It is deliberately unclear in the film whether the Soviet Union or the United States launches the main nuclear attack first.
The first salvo of the Soviet nuclear attack on the central United States (as shown from the point of view of the residents of Kansas and western Missouri) occurs at 3:38 p.m. Central Daylight Time, when a large-yield nuclear weapon air bursts at high altitude over Kansas City, Missouri. This generates an electromagnetic pulse that shuts down the electric power grid to any remaining of nearby Whiteman AFB's operable Minuteman II missile silos and of the surrounding areas. Thirty seconds later, incoming Soviet ICBMs begin to hit military and population targets. Kansas City, Sedalia, and all the way south to El Dorado Springs are blanketed with ground burst nuclear weapons. While the story provides no specifics, it strongly suggests that America's cities, military, and industrial bases are heavily damaged or destroyed. The aftermath depicts the central United States as a blackened wasteland of burned-out cities filled with burn, blast, and radiation victims. Eventually, the U.S. President delivers a radio address in which he declares there is now a ceasefire between the United States and the Soviet Union (which, although not shown, has suffered the same devastating effects) and states there has not been and will not ever be any surrender by the United States.
If there was a ceasefire, as the president stated, the Russians might have stopped launching missiles before countries like Canada or Australia were caught up in the conflict. But even if those countries had been spared, they would feel the effects of the war in other ways.
The Day After didn't deal with nuclear winter, but there is a book about nuclear winter that describes how countries not directly involved in a nuclear attack would fare in the immediate aftermath:
For countries that were not targeted by nuclear bombs, fear, confusion and possibly civil disorder would spread as they lost contact with the target countries. These would increase as the effects of nuclear winter were felt and, within weeks, people would begin to suffer because of the cessation of trade. Imports of food and energy (mostly oil) sustain many of these countries and, with few exceptions, derive from the target areas. Even food exporting countries such as Australia and New Zealand are almost totally dependent on energy imports. Third World countries in Africa, Asia and parts of South America depend heavily on food imports from Europe or North America and, even if their own agriculture were undamaged, their people would face severe food shortages after a nuclear war.
In the longer term, world-wide food shortages together with serious health problems could be the greatest threat. They are the main reason why more people might die of starvation and disease than in the war itself...Nuclear Winter - The Evidence and the Risks p129
Even without nuclear winter it would be bad enough.
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ajp2223
7 years ago
Good post but I think that one piece of information might be slightly incorrect!?
Even food exporting countries such as Australia and New Zealand are almost totally dependent on energy imports.
Australia has large coal and natural gas reserves. True we do import most of the oil we use but coal gas can be used to power cars, trucks and farm machinery.Though I would imagine that life wouldn't be easy! Oddly enough at the time the movie was made, Australia still had a good manufacturing base. During World War I, Australia wasn't able to import many goods so we made our own.
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greg-233
7 years ago
I can't be sure of the accuracy of the information, but the book it came from was published in 1985. There is another book by Dr. A. Barrie Pittock called Beyond Darkness, which specifically describes how Australia and New Zealand could be affected by nuclear winter. This was published in 1987. Assuming Australia and New Zealand had not been targeted in a nuclear attack, the author predicts the following results:
Effects of loss of trade
In Australia shortages would quickly develop in automotive diesel oil, industrial diesel oil, and fuel oil due to the fact that at present the country obtains about 40 per cent of these from imported crude oils. Lubricants would also be in short supply since local crude is deficient in heavy oil fractions. Without rationing, Australia would run out of lubricants in about four months. Priority would have to be given to primary industry.
Several key fertilisers used in Australian agriculture depend on imported raw materials including rock phosphate from Nauru, Florida and Morocco, sulfur from North America, and potash. Local raw materials could be substituted, but at higher cost. In the short term farmers might rely on the accumulation of phosphorous in the soil from previous applications of superphosphate. Local substitutes would eventually be needed.
Most agrochemicals used in Australia and New Zealand are imported and would quickly be in short supply. This would be particularly serious for the 40 per cent of wheat farmers using minimum tillage methods, who rely on herbicides for weed control, especially as broad-leafed weeds would be favoured over wheat by the reduced sunlight.
The bulk of fungicides and insecticides are imported as concentrates from the United Kingdom, West Germany, Sweden and the United States. Veterinary medicines are nearly all imported, except for locally manufactured vaccines.
All these effects of loss of vital imports, combined with the climatic disturbances, would lead to greatly reduced production of most cereals, fruits and vegetables, with higher prices and local shortages. As in most droughts, meat prices would initially fall as farmers reduce stock, but this would lead to shortages the following year.
Perhaps most importantly, however, financial chaos would ensue as farmers and their bankers realise that there will be no export incomes in the years to come. Prices for vital chemicals and machine parts would skyrocket in response to shortages. Emergency rationing, price controls, and government guarantees of loans would be necessary to maintain farm production.
Manufacturing industry would also be heavily affected with shortages of lubricants, machine parts, raw materials and the prospect of complete loss of export markets. Key electronic components would be unavailable as would imported engines and parts for the automotive industry. Rubber tyres would rapidly become scarce.
Vital medicines, medical supplies and parts for diagnostic tools and machines would be in short supply. - Beyond Darkness, pp136-137
In addition to trying to support its own population, Australia may then have to consider what to do with the influx of "nuclear refugees".
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