What if~The Cold War had actually got Hot?

Ever since the USA dropped Atomic Bombs on Japan which helped it not just become the biggest Superpower in the world, but also a Nuclear Superpower. For years, their rivals, the USSR tried to duplicate that power, and they had in the early 1950's.

Another world war was in the news, either it be Soviet boots and Tanks in Europe.

Or the world ending in a blinding flash of Nuclear Missiles.

Ever since the USA and the USSR built Nuclear Missile Silos dangerously close to their respective home nations, the threat of an all out nuclear war had dominated societies in both nations and even inspired fantasy media.

But what if in an alternate reality, the Cold War had really gone hot, and would the world would be how we depict it in movies and Video Games?

This is what this page will try to cover, but first some historical context, just scroll down to the "What if?" part of this page if you just want to read about the alternate scenario.

## Real History

Ever since the USA created the Atomic Bombs and used them to make Japan wave the white flag, other nations have tried to try to make their very own Nuclear bomb, the USSR was the second nation as they successfully detonated a Nuclear bomb back in the early 1950.

But ever since the USA had constructed Nuclear Missile Silos in Turkey and the USSR discovered about it, they went ahead and constructed Nuclear Missiles of their own, in Cuba, and sparking off the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963. Thankfully, this didn't happen as both nations came to a Happy Medium.

But there was another time (pretty much an anti-climatic event according to historians), it was in 1983 (my birth year) when the Cold War could've gone hot \*clearly\* by accident.

And no, I'm not talking about somebody accidentally falling on the "shiny red button".

It could've began with a satellite glitch.

In 1983, tensions between the USA and the USSR turned sour once again as then President Ronald Reagan said in a press conference that he refers the USSR as an "Empire of Evil."

This (of course) infuriated the Soviet Government and population as they were none too pleased about Reagan's recent statement.

It also didn't help matters much when on September 1 still in 1983 "Korean Airlines Flight 7" was flying from Anchorage to Seoul was shot down.

The Plane was briefly flying over Soviet air space, the Soviets assumed it was a US Spy Plane and Soviet Jet Fighters scrambled to intercept. The plane crashed in the Sea of Japan just 40 miles from the Sakhalin Island, everybody on board the plane died (including a US Senator).

As a response the Soviets have created a Nuclear Missile detecting satellite, but on September 26 it has detected around 5 blinding lights coming from the earth, believing that it was a Nuclear Missile detonation.

But the person that saw the glitch was a man named "Stanislav Petrov". He used his judgement and following common practice that if the USA were to launch at the USSR, it would involve hundreds of missiles instead of 5, Petrov didn't notified his superiors (which is a clear violation of orders).

## What if?

Now, what if the Cold War had actually gone hot?

Now, turning up the heat on the Cold war isn't easy, especially on that day in 1983.

The "Blinding Light" the Soviet Nuclear Missile detecting satellite saw was a mistake, it saw sunlight refracting off of clouds (believing it to be a Nuclear Blast).

But let's say in this alternate reality, Petrov wasn't on call that day and the young Soviet officers see the alarm and they get the order to launch their nukes, as they would be following procedure.

Soviet Nukes are now heading to their targets in the USA.

This also set off the Nuke alarms in the USA, and they also get the order to launch their missiles as well.

So, the American and Soviet Nukes would pass each other in the atmosphere, and people across the world would be scrambling to get to the nearby fallout shelter as warning sirens would split the air.

It;s also easy to imagine that both sides would also use Nuclear Submarines and flying bombers that can drop smaller nukes to target smaller locations.

It's quite difficult to find exactly where the nukes will be launched to since neither the USA nor the USSR made any maps telling us where exactly their nukes will go. But theoretically, primary will be the other's nuclear missile silos, preventing any more being launched. Then, it would be military installations (e.g., Army Camps, Air Bases, Naval Ports). Then it'll be centers of Government, Financial Hubs and even heavy population centers.

Around an hour later, the Soviet Nukes reach their targets in the USA, the entire eastern seaboard and the west coast are scorched in Nuclear flames, around the same time, the US Nukes reach their targets in the USSR.

But this war wouldn't be confined to the United States and the Soviet Union however.

Europe would also get into the act too. If you remember the "Euro Missile Crisis" in the mid to late 1970s which consisted of nukes in both Western and Eastern Europe, well with the USA and the USSR launching their nukes, both sides of Europe would also use nukes either their own or supplied by their respective allies.

The Middle East nations such as Israel and Syria which were having their Proxy War around 1983 and even had their own atomic arsenal (supplied by their Proxy sponsors, of course) and because the USA and the USSR blew themselves up and with their support now gone, this would give both Israel and Syria an excuse to use their nukes against one another too.

The Soviets wouldn't just throw their nuclear arsenal at the Americans, they also had a big enough arsenal to launch some at the far east too, namely China.

Just remember that this is in the year 1983, after the Sino-Soviet Split, plus the Soviets and the Chinese also had a series of border clashes in the time prior to 1983. Though, China going after the Soviets has nothing to do with the United States as the Soviets feared even the Chinese forces would invade if the USSR was busy with a war with the US, so for a security move, the Soviets would also nuke China, and maybe even Korea and Japan.

All of this in a matter of 12 hours, if not a single day. Yeah, things really can come fast.

### Aftermath

What would happen in the times after the Cold War got hot? Well...........

Every major city in the northern hemisphere destroyed, 60-65% of the world population instantly dead, radioactive mud falling down from the sky like rain killing everything that might have survive radiating the ground and the oceans, any form of technology that is considered more advanced than the 19th century steam engine destroyed from the EMPs (Electromagnetic Pulse) from the nukes, making parts of the world re-enter the stone age.

Contrary to what you might have seen in fantasy media however, a "post-apocalyptic world" would not be populated with zombies or mutants, just people, animals or anything else that might have survived now poisoned by radioactive fallout and would die in the coming weeks or months (depending on how exposed they are to radiation).

The Cold War going hot wouldn't mean "The war to end all wars", for those in parts of the southern hemisphere like South America and Africa. They would have to deal with possibly the biggest refugee crisis in human history as those who were lucky enough to survive the war would migrate to the southern hemisphere and create problems for these nations as they'll be fighting for whatever clean food and water is left.

But is it all "doom and gloom"? Not exactly, for those living in and/or near the poles (places like Alaska, Siberia, and parts of Argentina) would have the best chance of surviving the nuclear disaster virtually unblemished, but they would now be stuck in their frozen areas.

It could take decades after the war for everything on Earth (politically, socially, and ecologically) to stabilize enough for humans to try to repair and restore their society, and even longer to return the Earth to how it was before the war. If the radioactive fallout isn't so terrible, nations like Brazil and Australia might begin the stages of returning the Earth to its former state by the mid 21st century.

That is all for this page, what would you think would happen if the Cold War had gotten hot? Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis, until next time this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.