The whole "first strike" plot line...
Surely the Russians knew if they nuked the UK then America would nuke them back?
shareThat struck me as odd too since by the 70's then MAD was a commonly accepted and understood term.
I don't think that the series is meant to be historically accurate, although the mood of the time is captured very well.
If the opposite of Love is indifference, what's the opposite of Hate?
Yes if they nuked AMERICA,what about one German or Dutch city?
Not a French or British city because they have the bomb.
There is a wikipedia entry called SEVEN DAYS TO THE RIVER RHINE which is about a Soviet plan for a limited war with atomic weapons,with only conventional attacks on Britain and France.
One of the questions during the cold war was how much of europe would America allow to be attacked or bombed before using atomic weapons.
I am enjoying this thing,the period feel is pretty good (I was 10 in 1970 and 20 in 1980).
One detail I question however,they did show public information films about the war threat on tv but not ones that explained the warning system,we saw them as part of documentaries in the early 1980s.
I might be wrong on this,I did not spend my whole life watching tv (although I watched a lot of tv)I think the warning films were to be shown in periods of international tension.
I think this from reading books such as
BENEATH THE CITY STREETS BY PETER LAURIE and WAR PLAN UK BY DUNCAM CAMPBELL and STATE OF EMERGENCY BY PETER HENNESSY.
NATO is the key here.
NATO would have acted immediately if the Soviets had nuked the UK.
It would not have been "America." But NATO.
The extent of NATO forces in Europe in the early '70s was vast. And ready to rumble in a second if Europe was threatened. Back in the day, armed planes sat on Tamacs at the ready with the pilots sitting in them on a "ready 10" position. Meaning they could launch within 10 minutes if the word came down from on high if the Soviets attacked.
But it was controversial....the mother of a friend of mine was an original activist from the famous Greenham Common women's camp. Some folks wanted nukes out of the UK.
Don't fully agree,one of the reasons why the West German peace movement was so popular was because everybody knew,including German generals and politicians,that if there was an actual war there would be several days of fighting during which East and West Germany would get smashed up by conventional warfare and then due to the number disadvantage NATO would use tactical atomic weapons.
Yes NATO but obviously America runs NATO.
So if the strategic threat meant that nobody lobbed ICMBS at each other central Europe would still be screwed.
That was what some people had against cruise missles,did they make a limited war more likely?
But if you believe that it would have gone all the way if it had ever started then Cruise was no worse than anything else.
Everybody used to get excited about the 4 minute warning and the end of the world but more likely was a limited conflict,thankfully obviously none of the nightmares happened.
I have always been fascinated by this sort of stuff and was surprised when I went to college to be surrounded by army officers who had never heard of Ernest Bevin.