If Nuclear War Had Broken Out During The Cuban Missile Crisis, Which Side Would Have Won?

Profile photo for Thierry Etienne Joseph Rotty Thierry Etienne Joseph Rotty · Following Former Central Planning at NATO6y If the nuclear war had broken out during the Cuban Missile Crisis what side would have been hurt less? At the time, the US had 2,952 strategic nuclear weapons that were ready to be used against the Soviet Union while the Soviets had only 149 strategic weapons that could hit CONUS. While 9 MRBMs could hit Alaska. The total number of British nuclear weapons, both tactical and strategic was 179. The total number of US nuclear weapons, including those under NATO Dual-Key Agreement, was 27,387. The total number of Soviet nuclear weapons was 3,322. It is clear that NATO would have pulverized the Warsaw Pact. NATO was at Reinforced Alert. The Generated Operations Plan called for the hitting of the Communist Bloc (China, North Korea, Albania, and Cuba were also targetted) with 8,757 nuclear weapons within the first 8 hours of the war. Follow-up nuclear strikes would be conducted by long-range bombers, fighter-bombers, and naval attack aircraft. These were called “Yo-Yo Missions”. The aircraft would land, be re-armed, refuelled, and go out again. The intent was to first take out the Soviets nuclear capabilities first. All available missiles would be launched as quickly as possible against Warsaw Pact Air Defences and C³I capabilities to facilitate the penetration of the aircraft. Attacks would continue until 75% of Soviet industry was destroyed and at least 140 million out of 200 million Soviet citizens would be killed. Other Communist countries would have been attacked until 50% of their industry was destroyed and at least 20% of their population. Then the Western Bloc would go on the offensive and “liberate” the non-Soviet Communist countries. The Soviet Union would have been carved up into smaller agricultural states. The sheer amount of NATO’s nuclear weapons makes a Western victory a certainty. 22.2K views View 465 upvotes View 2 shares 1 of 20 answers