r/Threads1984

Which decisions made by the major countries in the lead-up to the all-out attack were the most stupid? I don’t mean things which we can see in hindsight led to the war (triggering the coup etc) or ‘use it or lose it’ decisions (arguably the soviet decision to strike first on May 26th). I mean things which they should have known at the time were reckless and crazy, and which in reality they likely wouldn’t have done.

I would suggest:

• The Soviet decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in a base they’ve just seized and only tenuously hold.
• The American decision to immediately deploy troops to a country the Soviets themselves have just invaded.
• The American decision to issue an ultimatum they knew the Soviets couldn’t possibly give in to and which would force them to act once it passed.
• The American decision to attack a base they knew had tactical nuclear weapons deployed.
• The Soviet decision to defend said base with tactical nuclear weapons (though this was likely made by a local commander).
• The Soviet decision to expand the conflict by expelling the western allies from Berlin at the same time that the Iran situation was spiralling out of control.

Is anyone else here like me?

I watched this film about 6 years ago and was honestly pretty shook up by it for a couple of weeks afterwards. I’ve since listened to podcasts about it and it’s absolutely on my list of must watch films.

It’s a film that changed the way I think about ‘the bomb’ and has left an indelible imprint on my brain.

But equally, I don’t think I’ll watch it again because it’s such an emotionally challenging watch and I’m not sure I can dedicate more weeks of my life to the fallout (pun almost intended) that would follow my rewatch!

Anyone else like me or are you all diehard Threads nerds?! I guess the fact that I’m here posting on the Threads sub makes me a Threads nerd too tbf.

The last we hear about the escalating situation is:

- There have been an additional two nuclear explosions in the Middle East (after the initial two in Mashhad.
- The Soviets and US navies are fighting in the gulf, with the carrier Kitty Hawk being sunk.
- The Soviets had blocked road access to West Berlin, but were promising to allow the American, British and French troops safe passage back to West Germany.
- Riots in East Germany (in addition to riots in the USA and ones we see ourselves in the UK).

So what do you think prompted the Russians to attack the UK and other NATO targets? Was it as simple as being the prelude to an invasion of Western Europe? Or did something else happen that made them fear losing it all, so they launched a full scale nuclear attack?

What do you think caused the escalation?

Did John Noakes and Shep save her.