NationStates Jolt Archive

Were the Americans justified in planting nuclear weapons as a deterrant to Soviet agression in the Cold War throughout the world?

If no, what alternatives should they have taken?

Im also adding an option for 'Americans were the aggressors;' to explain, you would pick this if you believed that the Soviets made nuclear weapons to deter the threat of a preemptive American attack.

EDIT: Wow, misspelled aggressor. Whoopsies.

It's time to look back and ask ourselves: what Soviet aggression? Just what was America threatened with?

It's time to look back and ask ourselves: what Soviet aggression? Just what was America threatened with?

Yeah. America was the aggressor in the whole thing, seeing that we did, after all, hand over half of Europe to Stalin after the war.

So what, we were just supposed to take those territories back without opposition? :p

It's time to look back and ask ourselves: what Soviet aggression? Just what was America threatened with?Both sides had a rather high fear that it might come to war, and from each side's point of view, it was possible that the other side could overwhelm them.

In retrospect, since nuclear weapons were only ever deployed once, they saved countless lives by preventing WWIII.

A bit of side-info.. I started this thread because someone said they hated Regan because he put bombs in East Germany and therefore put the East Germans under threat.

My opinion is that we were justified in pointing these bombs at Moscow, Stalingrad, et al. as a deterrant for nuclear war; because it would mean that the USSR couldn't use their missiles with impugnity.

There was just nothing that could have been done to prevent that Cold War as of the fifties; and by then, the USSR had bombs on the ready to attack damn near anywhere (their nuclear subs gave them the range to basically carpet the globe). My arguement was that East Germany and the rest of europe was already under threat, and the nuclear weapons we stationed within range of Moscow eventually helped bring about peace (as odd as it may sound), or at least a peaceful stalemate.