Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - If Patton had been allowed to attack the Soviet Union who would have won?

Mephisto2 · 10-17-2003, 09:48 PM

I neglected to address atomic weapons.

For those interested in this topic I highly recommend The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. This is a truly breathtaking, fascinating and emminently readable account of this momentous achievement. It combines science, military history, political history, espionage, biography and journalistic investigation in one (quite lengthy) but superb book. It's really amazing to learn about how the secret US labs worked on the bomb, how famous names like Oppenheimer, Feynmann, Fuchs, Fermi et al were all involved. The book was a well deserved winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

Rhodes wrote a "sequel" called Dark Sun that examines the beginning of the Atomic Arms Race and the development of the Soviet atomic and hydrogen bomb programs.

The Soviets detonated their first atomic device on August 29, 1949 and it was an almost carbon copy of the US bomb "Fat Boy" (thanks for the Los Alamos scientist Fuchs who was a Soviet spy).

So, whilst the US had a couple of years head-start, if you wanted to use atomic bombs on Russia you would have had to desperately ramp up production after August 1945.

As UnlikedOne says, without the A-bomb the US would undoubtedly have lost this hypothetical war. Even with it, I'm not convinced it would make any difference. Dropping a bomb on Japan to "help save" American GI lives is one thing. Using it to invade a popular and immense prior ally is another. No US President would have done this, least of all Truman.

The two above books are highly recommended. This is a very intersesting subject.

Oisin

10-17-2003, 09:48 PM	#10 (permalink)
Mephisto2 Junkie	I neglected to address atomic weapons. For those interested in this topic I highly recommend The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. This is a truly breathtaking, fascinating and emminently readable account of this momentous achievement. It combines science, military history, political history, espionage, biography and journalistic investigation in one (quite lengthy) but superb book. It's really amazing to learn about how the secret US labs worked on the bomb, how famous names like Oppenheimer, Feynmann, Fuchs, Fermi et al were all involved. The book was a well deserved winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Rhodes wrote a "sequel" called Dark Sun that examines the beginning of the Atomic Arms Race and the development of the Soviet atomic and hydrogen bomb programs. The Soviets detonated their first atomic device on August 29, 1949 and it was an almost carbon copy of the US bomb "Fat Boy" (thanks for the Los Alamos scientist Fuchs who was a Soviet spy). So, whilst the US had a couple of years head-start, if you wanted to use atomic bombs on Russia you would have had to desperately ramp up production after August 1945. As UnlikedOne says, without the A-bomb the US would undoubtedly have lost this hypothetical war. Even with it, I'm not convinced it would make any difference. Dropping a bomb on Japan to "help save" American GI lives is one thing. Using it to invade a popular and immense prior ally is another. No US President would have done this, least of all Truman. The two above books are highly recommended. This is a very intersesting subject. Oisin Last edited by Mephisto2; 10-17-2003 at 09:50 PM..