StainlessSteelCynic shared an interesting find in another thread, but it seems particularly germane to the v4 T2kU, so I'm reposting the link here. I encourage y'all to read it. It's worth your time. The author's strategic analysis is quite illuminating, and particularly germane to the v4
World At War controversy/debate. A particularly eye-opening quote follows:
"[The Soviet Union] Launching a conventional war with limited aims in Northern Europe (Seven Days to the Rhine) with an openly declared promise not to be the first to use nuclear weapons, would produce such a shock to our system it would have been economically catastrophic.
"Recovery from that would have put Russia and the USA on more equal financial terms as much of the Dollar economy is based on confidence and communication, while the Russian economy was captive. It may not be a plan to take over the world, but quite possibly enough coercion to get the world to pay them off - give them Germany, Denmark, Holland and back off from China to stop them [the Soviets] slapping us about.
"It was unlikely, but many historical pivots only needed a gentle push off the cliff. In August 1991 I sat in a tank shed in Hohne listing to the BBC news tell us about the Soviet coup in Moscow . Gorbachev was rumoured to have been killed, the Tamanskya Guards Division were rolling around the Kremlin, shady generals were in charge and unhappy with the imminent end of Soviet power. There were still millions of WarPac soldiers and tons of equipment within a day’s drive from our position.
It was genuinely the scariest couple of days of my career."
https://www.quora.com/Was-the-Soviet...-War-1945-1991
So perhaps the Soviet attack on Eastern Europe in the v4 timeline was a result of two pieces of Soviet strategic thinking. One, to bring some of its errant former republics and WTO members back into the Soviet fold, recreating the territorial buffer between Mother Russia and NATO (a top Soviet priority since its national inception). Two, to take control of some NATO territory to hold hostage, as it were, to be ransomed for massive financial compensation in hard currency (or gold, or energy), thereby resuscitating the moribund Soviet economy.
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