From coups and invasions to experiments in psychokinesis, here are some of the most secret and outrageous operations plans conceived during the Cold War . . . many of which would have changed the course of history.

 

From a NATO nuclear attack on the Soviet Union to a Warsaw Pact land assault on Western Europe, Cold War Plans That Never Happened reveals the unlikely, even unthinkable operations contemplated during that tense era. Exploring such possibilities as the installation of an electric fence between North and South Vietnam, the construction of a US base on the moon, Chiang Kai Shek's scheme to reinvade China from Taiwan, and America's proposal to oust Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz, this book explains the context of each strategy, its possible outcome, and what the impact might have been if it had been implemented. Arranged by continent, this engrossing history includes easy-to-read fact boxes with the intended date, purpose, and forces. Rare photographs and illustrations testify to how seriously these plots were considered.