In the years following the end of World War II, relations between former allies in the fight against fascism deteriorated sharply due to numerous ideological contradictions. By 1949, the conflict was so aggravated that the command of the US armed forces developed a plan of attack on the USSR, providing for the use of nuclear weapons.
The confrontation of yesterday's allies
These strategic developments, dubbed the Dropshot Plan, were the result of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the states of the capitalist world. The confrontation was largely provoked by the obvious attempts of the USSR to spread its influence over the entire territory of Western Europe.
The plan for the destruction of the USSR began to be developed at the end of 1945, when the Soviet leadership refused the demand of the world community to withdraw its occupying forces from Iran and created a puppet government there. After under pressure from the United States and Great Britain, Stalin nevertheless freed the territories seized earlier, the threat of Soviet invasion of Turkey arose.
The conflict was caused by the territories of Transcaucasia, which from the end of the 19th century were part of the Russian Empire, but in 1921 departed to Turkey. In early August 1946, after a note presented to the Turkish government by representatives of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, the outbreak of war seemed inevitable, and only the intervention of Western allies allowed to avoid bloodshed.
The political contradictions between the socialist camp and its Western opponents were especially acute after Moscow’s attempts to establish in 1948-1949. blockade of West Berlin. This measure, contrary to generally accepted international norms, had as its goal to prevent the division of Germany and to ensure Stalin control over its entire territory.
Causes of Western World Concerns
At the same time, pro-Soviet regimes were established in Eastern Europe. It ended in 1955 with the signing of the Warsaw Pact, and the creation of a powerful military bloc directed against the countries of the Western world, which at that time experienced an intensification of the communist movements that intensified in it.
All these facts aroused concern among the leadership of a number of countries that the Soviet Union, possessing sufficient military potential, would try to undertake an unexpected and widespread seizure of the territory of Western Europe. In this case, only the United States, which at that time had nuclear weapons at that time, could become its possible aggression. Such fears gave rise to the Dropshot plan developed by American military experts.
Early concepts determining the course of a possible war with the USSR
It should be noted that the plan for a nuclear attack on the USSR created in 1949 (DropShot) was not the first among such projects. In 1945, when the Iranian conflict intensified, Eisenhower’s headquarters developed a concept of a possible war with the Soviet Union, which went down in history under its code name Totality. Four years later, the blockade of West Berlin was the impetus for the creation of another plan to counter the alleged aggression, called Charioteer, which, like its predecessor, remained on paper.
And, finally, the largest development that preceded the notorious Dropshot plan was a memorandum created by the Security Council under the American president that defined the tasks facing the government and the armed forces in relation to the USSR.
The main provisions of the memorandum
This document provided for dividing all the upcoming tasks into two groups - peaceful and military. The first section included measures that suppressed the ideological pressure of the Soviet Union exerted by it in relation to the countries of the socialist community. The second part of the memorandum considered possible ways of changing the political system throughout the USSR and changing the government.
Despite the fact that the basic concept presented in it did not imply a prolonged occupation of the country and the forced imposition of democratic principles in it, it pursued very far-reaching goals. Among them was a decrease in the military potential of the USSR, the establishment of its economic dependence on the Western world, the elimination of the Iron Curtain and the provision of autonomy to its national minorities.
Goals of the creators of military projects
This memorandum became the basis for many of the subsequent strategic developments in the United States. The DropShot program was one of them. The creators of the projects saw a way to achieve their goals in conducting large-scale nuclear bombing of the territory of the Soviet Union. Their result was to undermine the country's economic potential and create the prerequisites for the occurrence of psychological shock among the population.
However, among the developers there were also realists who were familiar with the psychology of Soviet people and who argued that such bombing would, in all likelihood, cause them to rally even more closely around the communist party and government. Fortunately, there was no chance to verify the validity of such judgments.
The notorious plan for the destruction of the Soviet Union
In December 1949, the command of the US Armed Forces approved the so-called Dropshot plan. How the United States wanted to destroy the USSR was stated in it with all frankness. Its creators proceeded from the fact that the political leaders of the Soviet Union, striving for world domination, pose a real threat not only to the security of America, but to civilization as a whole. Despite the fact that the military industry of the USSR at that time did not gain enough power after the war ended, the threat of creating nuclear weapons in the near future was very high.
Among the threats emanating from the countries of the socialist camp, possible attacks using nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons were considered. It was for delivering a preemptive strike in the event of the inevitability of the outbreak of World War III that the DropShot plan was developed. The list of cities indicated in it as the primary targets of defeat was compiled taking into account their strategic importance.
Key points of the plan
According to the creators of the plan, the greatest probability of a war could have developed by the beginning of 1957. The countries of the socialist camp, as well as a number of states that were in close economic cooperation with it, were to take the side of the USSR. Among them, the Communist-controlled part of China, as well as Manchuria, Finland and Korea, were primarily noted.
As their opponents, the Dropshot plan assumed, except for the USA, all countries that were part of the NATO bloc, as well as the states of the British Commonwealth and the non-communist part of China. Those states that wish to maintain neutrality should have provided NATO with access to its resources. Among them could be the countries of Latin America and the Middle East.
When the Soviet forces advanced, the same plan provided for the creation of a powerful defensive line on the Rhine-Alps-Piave line. In the event of an enemy invasion of the Middle East region, he was to be stopped by a contingent of troops deployed in Turkey and Iran. Intensive airstrikes, intensification of economic and psychological war were supposed at all sectors of military operations . The main task was to carry out a massive offensive in Europe, the purpose of which was the destruction of Soviet troops and the complete occupation of the territory of the USSR.
Retaliatory measures taken by the USSR
In response, the Soviet military industry made every effort to produce weapons systems that could restrain the Western world in its militaristic aspirations. These include, first of all, the creation of a powerful nuclear shield that ensured the much-needed balance of forces in the world, and a number of modern types of offensive weapons that prevent our potential adversaries from relying on the use of force in resolving contentious issues.