Cold War Hot: Alternate Decisions of the Cold WarPeter Tsouras It was in the Third World that the ambitions and fears of the two Cold War superpowers were played out v Korea, Vietnam, Egypt and Syria, Afghanistan. In their bizarre way, these were carefully controlled wars, carefully controlled in the sense that neither great power allowed itself to become directly engaged in a hot war with the other. Equally, neither allowed itself to go for broke in a grand sweep across the Third World in fear of provoking that final confrontation. But this fear of direct confrontation was never as rigidly controlled as one would think. Again and again events veered towards a clash between Eagle and Bear. The authors of this book make real such terrifying possibilities as Korea or the 67 War dragging in both superpowers; they predict the consequences of the United States or the Soviet Union attempting radical strategies in Vietnam or in a divided Germany, either to follow the British success in Malaya or to invade the North; they imagine the invasion of Cuba when the delicate signals failed to find a way out of the Missile Crisis and bring to life a scenario in which the Soviet Union knocks the Great Game off the board by using Afghanistan as base to bring down Pakistan and achieve its warm water port on the Indian Ocean. Cold War Hot vividly brings to life these and many other alternate scenarios, taking the reader behind the scenes at these momentous moments in history. In showing what could have happened, the authors show how precarious the Cold War peace actually was, and how little it would have taken to tip the balance into World War Three. |
Contents
The Contributors | 8 |
The Pusan Disaster 1950 | 42 |
Vietnam | 62 |
Copyright | |
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2nd Marine Division A-4 Skyhawks action Afghan resistance Afghanistan Air Force Airborne aircraft airlift allies American Arab armed armored Army artillery ARVN attack battalion battle Berlin Berlin Airlift bombers Brezhnev Brigade British Cambodia Canadian carrier Carter Chief of Staff Chinese Clay Cold Cold War Colonel combat commander communist corridor crisis cruiser DEFCON defensive destroyer diplomatic Division Egypt Egyptian enemy escorts Europe fight fighters fire front Germany guns Haiphong helicopters Indian infantry invasion Israel Israeli Johnson June Kissinger Korean major Marine Mediterranean Middle East military Minister missiles Moscow Nasser National NATO naval NKPA North Vietnamese nuclear October officer operations ordered Pakistan political position President Quebec Red Lightning Regiment Russian Saigon ships Simons Sixth Fleet Sokolovsky South South Korea Soviet Union squadron Stalin strategic Syria Taegu tanks target troops Truman United Vice Chief victory Vietnam Washington weapons West West Germany Yaks