In our age where the U.S. and Russia are best of friends,
it's hard to truly imagine when there was a time where they were enemies.
But there was. Shocking, right? The Cold War.
Luckily through the apocalypse prevented actual confrontation
in the fifty-year staring contest before the Soviet Union blinked, a.k.a. collapsed and died.
Imagine if the Cold War if it had gotten hot. Okay, too hot.
Imagine the Cold War if it had gotten hot, but nuclear weapons were not used.
That means we're talking conventional warfare, like World War II.
Troops on the ground, supply routes, territories, you get the idea.
Imagine the U.S. and Soviets actually go to war and somebody gets invaded; in this case, the U.S.
How do average Americans deal with World War III if it'd happen to come to their doorstep?
This is one scenario that plays out in the 1984 movie, "Red Dawn."
No, I'm not talking about the remake. Don't even--no, bad. No.
North Korea can't even feed themselves; how do they invade America?
Anyway, in the movie, a ragtag group of kids in the Rockies get a bunch of guns, become rebels,
and miraculously survive an onslaught of Soviet troops never before seen since the days of Simo Häyhä.
While it wasn't the most realistic film in the world, why can't the Russians just bomb them;
the situation and scenario fleshed out is pretty interesting. So that's why I'm asking.
What if Red Dawn (1984) had occurred? This is just one theory.
"But wait!" You say, scoffing at the very notion.
"It's highly unlikely the Red Dawn scenario would even occur in the first place."
"Soviets invading the U.S.? Inconceivable!"
Yes, it's extremely unlikely. I just want to theorize how the situation would play out
if the events the filmmakers created that led up to the start of the movie actually occurred.
Removing realism for a sec. Okay?
What led up to this situation?
The movie itself does takes place in an alternate timeline.
The Soviets are starving and communist revolutions are popping up across Latin America, making new and powerful foes.
In this alternate timeline, sometime in the late 1980s, a wheat famine strikes Eastern Europe, the worst one since the 1930s.
Poland riots against the communists, spurring an invasion by the USSR.
The communist bloc is in absolute chaos: Latin America erupts into political disarray
and communist nations seize the opportunity to spread the revolution.
Nicaragua and Cuba somehow build up their militaries to incredible heights and invade their neighbors.
Mexico just collapses. (Trump sweats nervously)
For an unexplained reason, NATO just dissolves and the U.S. is left by its lonesome self.
Except for Britain. Thanks, Britain.
There isn't any indication about what causes the war, desperation or not. But it begins.
The USSR declares war on the U.S.
Russian paratroopers jump from commercial airliners across the United States.
Nukes are launched and wipe out major American cities, including Washington, D.C.
This somehow doesn't start a world-ending atomic war which brings on Super Mutants and Ghouls,
explained away as both sides don't want to destroy the world, so conventional warfare is used.
The Russians invade through Alaska, across Canada, and through the north
while teaming up with the Cubans and Nicaraguans, who invade through destroyed Mexico
into the southern border. (Trump sweats MORE nervously)
Soon, Latin Americans have conquered most of the southern Great Plains,
all of this happening without the characters in Colorado even realizing this is occurring.
In a few days, Western Europe basically just surrenders or remains neutral.
...Except for Britain, which is now under attack as well. Britain's a pal.
The U.S. has only two allies: Great Britain and China. Yes, China.
The Sino-Soviet Split flares up, resulting in nuclear bombings across the country.
400 million* Chinese die from atomic fire. (*Yes, it's 400 million. Tanner confirmed that 600 million are "on our side." Double check the script, Cody.)
So, World War III.
Russians from the North and scattered across the western United States;
Latin Americans in the South with over 500,000 troops.
Most of the U.S. is still functional and holding onto territory east of the Mississippi and the west coast.
Progression on all fronts have come to a halt.
Across the United States, occupied or not, American militias take up coordinated resistance against the invaders,
arming themselves, creating an underground front against the Russians. For example, the Wolverines.
So, in this alternate timeline, say all of that actually did happen. Every single event the movie laid out actually occurs.
How would this realistically play out?
Much of this goes into speculation right off the bat because the situation isn't the most realistic.
Imagine the United States and Soviets fighting a conventional war for survival when they have massive nuclear arsenals.
You can't, because the idea of a land war in North America isn't really feasible.
Nobody wants to fight a land war, especially in a non-strategic area with no true purpose. (Sorry, Iowa.)
The movie plays this off as both countries not wanting to mutually destroy the world,
but it's already too late to go back.
By the time the decision to not nuke each other happened,
the U.S. already lost dozens of cities to bombings.
In a very realistic scenario, as soon as one missile would have been launched,
Earth would have resembled Venus in a matter of days.
In our timeline, if anything was going to have a conventional war,
it was going to be in Europe, not in the heartland of the U.S.
The concept was so unrealistic to American strategists,
it wasn't even really considered in the battle plans.
If war happened. It was going to be nuclear.
So let's just remove the nukes, like the movie said.
In this alternative timeline, this non-nuclear total war on American soil is brutal and fast.
Hitler and Napoleon shouldn't have fought a land war in Asia.
Well, in this case, Russia shouldn't fight a land war in Kansas.
The United States is BIG. For perspective, the continental United States is roughly the length of Europe.
Just this couple state occupation by the communists is larger than all of central Europe.
Not only would invading forces need to secure this territory,
they'd need to fight off a still largely intact U.S. military thousands of miles from home,
surrounded by enemies and slow supplies, facing a homegrown insurrection movement.
As I said before, movements like the Wolverines pop up and aid people across occupied America.
This situation is very similar to what the Soviets faced in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Bombings, assassination attempts, guerrilla warfare from American militias.
While not enough to cause catastrophic damage,
these attacks weaken the Soviets' will to fight.
Cities are burned that are not valuable;
a scorched-earth policy is implemented in some areas.
Militias wouldn't directly fight the Soviets in major battles;
instead, they'd act as scouts to the military and aid civilians in times of danger or evacuation.
The Soviets had over five million in their armed forces in the mid 1980s.
The U.S. had less than half of that with two million and with 1.7 million in reserves.
But while the Soviets would have the number advantage,
the U.S. would have the military and technological advantage.
Air power determines modern war and the U.S. would certainly control the skies.
The Soviets would be already spread thin as they're fighting the UK, United States, Canada, and 600 million* Chinese, to quote the movie.
The war in the east would be far larger than the conflict in the U.S.
It's almost impossible to win a conventional war against China by itself,
but to have forces across three continents AND attack the Chinese?
Not a recipe for success.
Not only that, but the Soviets were dealing with a crippling wheat famine as well as a looming economic crisis,
which we know always leads to stability.
Speaking of instability, Latin America.
Ever since their independence from Spain,
the United States has always had influence over Nicaragua and Cuba.
If both countries invaded the U.S. through the south,
the Americans could just push them back from technological advancement alone,
even with a few nukes to the face.
In our timeline, Iraq had the fifth largest military in the world.
Just six years after 1984, Iraqi soldiers invaded Kuwait.
The Americans responded. The air campaign lasted two weeks.
The ground campaign, liberation of Kuwait and all, lasted only FOUR DAYS.
10,000 Iraqis died; the United states only lost 150.
The reason I say this is that if Iraq could lose a war so quickly by a power halfway across the globe,
how could Cuba and Nicaragua even ATTEMPT to control land in the U.S. homeland?
While Cuba was the most prominent military power in Latin America in the 1980s, even with Soviet support,
the Latin communist allies would've been destroyed within a matter of days in a home war against the U.S.
If either country truly went to war, it would have been nuclear.
You would never get to fight the Russians; you'd just be dead.
If it had been only a limited nuclear exchange,
the war would've been won through money, technology, and home advantage alone,
as the strategy to invade through Alaska isn't the most solid idea in the first place,
especially without securing the west coast.
A land invasion by either Americans or Russians would've been a pointless and bloody endeavor
Nukes are a simple, clean-cut solution.
The Wolverines probably wouldn't let out a war cry as the flash would incinerate them before they yelled.
What a happy note to end on!
Of course, this is just one scenario.
There are countless possibilities and we'll never truly know a hundred percent.
What do you think would have happened had Red Dawn occurred?
Say in the comments.
This is Cody of Alternate History Hub!