"We must--ourselves--be prepared to undertake military operations against vulnerable Communist regimes. Assume we have developed nuclear weapons that can be used in land warfare, and that we have equipped our European divisions accordingly. Assume also a major uprising in Eastern Europe, such as occurred in Budapest in 1956.
In such a situation, we ought to present the Kremlin with an ultimatum forbidding Soviet intervention, and be prepared, if the ultimatum is rejected, to move a highly mobile task force equipped with appropriate nuclear weapons to the scene of the revolt.
Our objective would be to confront the Soviet Union with superior force in the immediate vicinity of the uprising and to compel a Soviet withdrawal.
An actual clash between American and Soviet allies would be unlikely; the mere threat of American action, coupled with the Kremlin's knowledge that the fighting would occur amid a hostile population and could easily spread to other areas, would probably result in Soviet acceptance of the ultimatum.
The Kremlin would also be put on notice, of course, that resort to long-range bombers and missiles would prompt automatic retaliation in kind.
On this level, we would invite the Communist leaders to choose between total destruction of the Soviet Union, and accepting a local defeat.
Had we the will and the means for it in 1956, such a policy would have saved the Hungarian Revolution."
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This paragraph above brought back memories.
-- I was stationed in Munich in 1956, and Ike had us on full alert, ready [supposedly] to jump into Budapest to protect 'american interests', when he backed down & let the Hungarian Revolution collapse.
I wonder if we could have bluffed the Russians at that point. -- I tend to doubt it.
Anyone here ever read any history about Ikes decision to deny support to Hungary?
No, but I believe I have a book on it somewhere that I never got around to reading. I, too, was stationed in Germany. I was there from 81 to 83 when things ratcheted up under Reagan. Lots of alerts. Even got to look down tha barrels of ZSU 23-4 that was tracking us on a border flight along the IGB. Definite "pucker factor" there.