Cool thread about ww2.
An opinion piece on cracked.com about operation unthinkable:
http://www.cracked.com/article_18722_5-unfought-wars-that-would-have-changed-everything_p2.html
Operation Unthinkable
As World War II started to wind down in Europe, it became clear that the U.S. and USSR would emerge as the two dominant superpowers of Earth. This did not bode well with various Allied leaders on account of Joseph Stalin being just as big an ******* as Hitler, but seriously... what could these guys do?
The Soviets had already taken the biggest beating in history and emerged stronger than the Incredible Hulk. They possessed half of Europe, some of the best generals that ever lived and a military that now numbered something north of 10 million; the largest army in history, ever, and perhaps the most experienced one to boot. Seriously, who would want to mess with these guys, especially after winning World War II thanks enormously to their help?
Churchill's fear of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe led to the British Chiefs of Staff Committee forming Operation Unthinkable on May 22, 1945. Although Churchill insisted that the operation was purely "hypothetical," it is worth noting that the plan's "overall or political object is to impose upon Russia the will of the United States and British Empire." In short, it was a contingency plan for a Soviet invasion that the Brits knew would never be coming because it was actually Churchill's plan for a preemptive war with the Soviet Union.
Operation Unthinkable called for "the date for the opening of hostilities" on July 1, 1945, a declaration of World War III while World War II was still winding down. And it didn't help that Churchill was fully aware of America's successful nuclear tests. In his mind, the United States and the United Kingdom would United Ass Kick the USSR if the Soviets kept up their aggressive posturing in Europe.
What Stopped It:
Numbers. Sheer numbers.
Ten million commies ain't nothin' but a thang.
As blood drunk as Churchill was, his Chiefs of Staff were sober enough to recognize that the Soviet land forces outnumbered the Allies two to one. And that's after the British planned to rearm 100,000 captured German soldiers to invade the Soviet Union. Bear in mind, this would be the second time the Germans invaded the USSR.
The success of Operation Unthinkable would depend on the Americans, who weren't interested in jumping back into war while they were still fighting in the Pacific. Or, at all. Truman wasn't interested in fighting the Soviets. Ultimately, the whole thing was dropped before it got off the ground. And then Churchill was given the sack.
If The War Had Happened...
If there is one thing that should be taken out of the entire chronicle of military history, it is that Russia is really freaking hard to conquer. Hell, we're not even talking about Moscow here; Stalin was prepared all the way back to the Ural Mountains during WWII. Russia had winters, it had rivers, it had more mud than roads, it had the army that killed the most of the Germans during World War II.
The only way we could have come even close to winning this war would be if the U.S. dropped the A-bomb. Since the U.S. had only two of them in its arsenal and it took exactly two to win the war in Japan, we would have pretty much started this war by stalling the one in the Pacific.
Most likely scenario: the Soviets would have kicked the ever-loving **** out of England and marched all the way to the Channel, while Truman told Churchill "I told you so."
For more baffling plans of war, check out Nuke the Moon: 5 Certifiably Insane Cold War Projects. Or learn about some conflicts that were just plain stupid, in The 5 Most Retarded Wars Ever Fought.