In Defense of the Red Army

[StainlessSteelCynic]

More thread necromancy from me...

An article from an Australian newspaper that illustrates the thinking in the West in regards to the military of the Soviet Union. The article dates from 1983 and I point it out because I believe that this sort of information was likely a big influence on the game (the 1st edition being published in 1984) and quite possibly directly responsible for what we now view as the designers over-estimation of Soviet capabilities.
Like many of you probably do, I recall the anti-West protests that occurred every time one of the major NATO partners did something but how they staid curiously silent whenever the Soviets did the same thing. This article makes mention of that particular phenomena in light of the Soviet weapons build-up and the Soviet sponsored World Peace Council - Si vis pacem, para bellum indeed.

Overall an interesting window into the mindset in the 1980s and as mentioned, I link it here because I think it is a good illustration of what would have influenced the game designers at the time. Considering the lack of publicly available information they had back then, this sort of information would probably have been a significant contribution to the design process.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/a...74838/12937787