"james_anatidae" wrote in message ...
I was wondering at about what point that the United States going to war with
the Soviet Union become an almost certain act of mutual destruction. I'm
assuming it sometime in 1960's or 70's, since what I've seen of the Soviet
nuclear capability before that point doesn't seem to be all that
threatening. It looks like they would have been really bad for us
Americans, but not unsurvivable.

Depends on where you are. Much of the WWII doctrine carried over into
the Cold War, the Soviets seeing nuclear weapons as a way of clearing
the enemy out of a retricted front area without all that probing
necessary under the conventional weapons useage. It was only after
about 20 years that they realized that sword was not singled edged,
those who survived would want to strike back. The Soviets stationed a
large number of SS-11s at Tatishchevo in an attempt to create a
theater force until the road mobile SS-20s and follow-ons were
available. We countered with Pershing IIs.

The Soviets believe that a conventional war in Europe might escalate
to the nuclear level despite their oft-repeated commitment to no
first-use of nuclear weapons, the Soviets have developed extensive
plans either to preempt a NATO nuclear strike by launching a massive
attack, or to launch a massive first strike against prime NATO targets
should their conventional operations falter.