Id say Nether.Cause if we fought them in an all out war No one would survive.

Mmmm... yeah something like that.

I think the question shouldn't be "who would win", but "who wouldn't lose as badly?"

__________________
"Jesus said: I have cast fire upon the world, and behold I guard it until it is ablaze."
Gospel of Thomas

Nuclear or non-nuclear? If its nuclear it would have been mutually assured destruction, but if was soldiers fighting the, USSR could probably take us.

However, we would not have been alone and would have had more powerful allies, so it would result in bloody fighting, probably in Europe. The U.S. would have been too smart to try and invade the USSR and our Navy could hold of the USSR from our shores for a good while.

All we need to do is stop sending them money to repair their nukes.....In about 10 years, they'll be leaking again and won't be worth a shit.

I wouldn't be surprised if half their nukes are shit by now, they haven't had the funds to provide needed repairs for awhile and I am sure that the money we sent was dipped into.

__________________
Anyone who thinks freedom comes cheap, please put the blindfold on and stand against the wall.

IT IS TIME for Americans to take back the country and start a new government.

Many of their nukes have probably been sold to arab terrorists already, so get ready for some serious fireworks over there.

__________________
January the 20th 2009. The day I started to respect America!

It would also depend on precisely when the war was being fought

At the end of WWII, I believe the advantage rested with the allies. The Soviet army was huge, but it was also utterly exhausted and, in the rush to Berlin, had moved beyond its base of supplies. Farthermore, in the advent of a US-Soviet war, the Wehrmacht could probably have been re-mobilized to fight against Stalin. That would have bolstered the already enormous allied army in Europe (1.6 million US troops in Germany alone) And, of course, there's the fact that only the US had atomic weaponry at the time. I doubt the allies could have marched all the way to Moscow, but if they were willing to radiate parts of Eastern Europe they could have at least shoved the Soviets back out of Germany.

A few years later and everything changed. The allies decommissioned armies much faster than did the Soviets, atomic weaponry was available to both parties, and the Wehrmacht ceased to exist. In the '50s Stalin had a definate advantage in a conventional fight, but the US still had the supreme nuclear edge (since the Soviets still couldn't hit the US mainland with nukes).

Eventually, of course, we all had nuclear subs and ICBM's and could pretty much turn the entire globe into a big, radioactive glass-covered ball.

Didnt Mr Putin said they have a new nuclear missle thats more powerful than any other and it cant be dectected?

It would have been fought non-nuclear.
In which case the U.S. would have won hands down. Russia simply could not have supported an all out war. They were already spending nearlly every penny they had supporting a military that wasn't even fighting.

I disagree. From what I've read of history, both sides were quite willing to deploy atomic weapons in the advent of a war over Europe, especially in the early stages of the cold war.
The invention and deployment of ICBM's and MIRV's (which made the utter annilation of one another a certainty) provided a massive incentive to settle disputes the old fashion way. But prior to that, I have no doubt that if, for example, the Berlin crisis had broken out in violence, there would be large radioactive wastelands dotting the countryside of Germany (and perhaps much of Europe and Russia) today.

Fear not, you'll feel the fallout..

__________________
Anyone who thinks freedom comes cheap, please put the blindfold on and stand against the wall.

IT IS TIME for Americans to take back the country and start a new government.

In the case of a conventional war, Russian onslaught would have been devastating, and almost all Western Europe would have collapsed, I would say in 1 or 2 months. American reinforcements would continue to arrive in Europe, and from a narrow French enclave (maybe Western France, or even Normandy), the US-led counteroffensive would pull back the Russians, as It has done to Germany, in a long and bloody war, made of US offensives, and Russian counteroffensives (2-3-4 years).
But it would have been a blessed miracle if no nuclear missiles are used.

__________________
We will kill them even in their outhouses

That's an All Out War. I think that they're talking pre-MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). As in, Tank, air, and ship battles.

I'd say the NATO allies would win. But as for USA? It'd be tough. But I think that in the Naval engagements, they are far superior. Their carrier force has always been far superior, and underseas fleets are about the same strength. The USA also has far superior information and logistics going for them with a stronger satellite program (even during the space race).

The Russian military also suffered from a severe lack of military leaders because of Stalin's purges. A good example of how the war would have turned out can be seen in Israel's war against its neighboring Arab countries, who were armed with Soviet weapons.

Israel had F-15's and Mirages. There has never been a single F-15 lost to combat. Enough said about the air battle, and the Mirage is a good fighter (which is sold in most European countries.) Although this battle took place after MAD, it can be assumed that should the war have taken place, these planes would have been put into production.

Now, as I see it, the only main advantage the Soviets have on the NATO allies is their ground forces. Their tanks are powerful (though not entirely superior, they are far easier to make and produce at faster levels than their NATO counterparts) and manpower, with their huge infantry, which might simply overrun the opposition.

While Russia did well against Nazi Germany, and could afford to replenish their losses, I think that against several nations, their numbers wouldn't achieve as much.

__________________
Sever the line to the guilty past
To the ones who brought us nothing
Spoke of futures brave and proud
And brought only hate and war.
Lined the roads with hollow praise
Marked the land with paper statues
Shadows fell on their futile ways
And then there was nothing more

It's not that grim.
10% of the electricity in the US is being generated from old Soviet nukes, the enriched uranium is mixed with natural uranium until the enrichment level is power plant grade.
So in one way, those Soviet nukes are lighting up the sky over US cities, let's be grateful that it's a good way.

__________________
“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

At any point in time the Soviet military was in serious need of repair and upgrade. It was always a sham of what they wanted the rest of the world to think it was. The technology was and is seriously behind the west. No chance they would have prevailed, but it would have been a very ugly thing that the world would have been a long time recovering from.

__________________
Be polite and be professional, but always have a plan of how to kill everyone in the room.

The U.S. could not have defended Europe on its own--Russia had the obvious advantage.

Russia in no way could ever mount an invasion on the U.S. mainland---its forces would have been obliterated. Ditto for a U.S. attack on the Soviet bloc. It didnt matter anyway---because I dont think Russia after WWII had intentions to invade Western Europe. I do think that if a Western front wasnt opened in WWII--Stalin would have just overrun Western Europe. He wouldnt leave---why should he?

It would have been far too costly for us to defend a continent that couldnt defend itself.