What would the world be like if the U.S.S.R. existed today?

R

Red_Army

Active member
If the "Soviet Empire" never collapsed in 1991. What would our world look as of today? Would the United States still have all the influence around the world? Or will Soviet influence still be a major factor?

Personally, if the Soviet Union never collapsed. Their mighty empire will much smaller, because they lost their grip on Eastern Europe.

Comparison between USSR and Russia
USSR - 1990
Troops: 4,700,000
Budget: $271 billion US
Tanks: 53,350
Combat Aircraft: 5,130
Fighters: 1,885
Bombers: 2,475
Nuclear Subs: 201
Submarines: 147
Warships: 264
Naval Aircraft: 1,039
Nuclear Weapons: 6,938
Intercontinental Ballistic missiles: 1,451
Sub-launched Ballistic missiles: 960
Long-Range Bombers: 195

Russia - 2005
Troops: 700,000
Budget: $7 billion US
Tanks: 5,559
Combat Aircraft: 1,855
Fighters: 415
Bombers: 725
Nuclear Subs: 66
Submarines: 31
Warships: 44
Naval Aircraft: 329
Nuclear Weapons: 3,590
Intercontinental Ballistic missiles: 756
Sub-launched Ballistic Missiles: 412
Long-Range Bombers: 66
 
Re: What would the world be like if the U.S.S.R. existed tod

Red_Army said:
If the "Soviet Empire" never collapsed in 1991. What would our world look as of today? Would the United States still have all the influence around the world? Or will Soviet influence still be a major factor?

Personally, if the Soviet Union never collapsed. Their mighty empire will much smaller, because they lost their grip on Eastern Europe.

Comparison between USSR and Russia
USSR - 1990
Troops: 4,700,000
Budget: $271 billion US
Tanks: 53,350
Combat Aircraft: 5,130
Fighters: 1,885
Bombers: 2,475
Nuclear Subs: 201
Submarines: 147
Warships: 264
Naval Aircraft: 1,039
Nuclear Weapons: 6,938
Intercontinental Ballistic missiles: 1,451
Sub-launched Ballistic missiles: 960
Long-Range Bombers: 195

Russia - 2005
Troops: 700,000
Budget: $7 billion US
Tanks: 5,559
Combat Aircraft: 1,855
Fighters: 415
Bombers: 725
Nuclear Subs: 66
Submarines: 31
Warships: 44
Naval Aircraft: 329
Nuclear Weapons: 3,590
Intercontinental Ballistic missiles: 756
Sub-launched Ballistic Missiles: 412
Long-Range Bombers: 66
Click to expand...

I think your numbers may be a little misleading, I am sure I have have seen them before and was told they were not accurate as they included "reserve equipment" some of which dated back to WW2 that was effectively unusable.

Would the United States still have all the influence around the world?
Click to expand...

My personal opinion is that the collapse of the USSR actually diminished the USA's influence because without a potential global enemy you dont need the USA.
 
dude, by the end of 85' the soviet army had thousands of armor vehicles made up mostly of t-72s, the WWII vehicles were in museums and the other commi nations


many aircrafts were also of su-27 orgins and mig29 production

they had an awesome navy as well, many submarines and huge cruicers.



*dont underestimate the economic system, which led to the downfall of soviet russia
 
Dont get me wrong I am not making comment on the quality of Soviet front line equipment, nor am I saying they only had one tank that they moved around a lot to look like thousands.

I am simply saying that "IF" I recall correctly this figure (Tanks: 53,350 ) included reserve vehicles that went back as far as the T54 which is hardly a major battlefield threat these days.
 
MontyB said:
Dont get me wrong I am not making comment on the quality of Soviet front line equipment, nor am I saying they only had one tank that they moved around a lot to look like thousands.

I am simply saying that "IF" I recall correctly this figure (Tanks: 53,350 ) included reserve vehicles that went back as far as the T54 which is hardly a major battlefield threat these days.
Click to expand...

I got these military figures off a Russian Website.
 
I'm not quite sure what the point of this thread is. It seems like all idle speculation. What if the Roman Empire had never collapsed?

I just don't get how anything useful could really be determined with such a broad question.
 
i dont think the world would exist anymore should the USSR have not fallen. America and the soviet union were way too close to a nuclear war and the world is lucky that it did end. we would all be either dead or have some mutation from fallout because the cold war could not have lasted another 10-15 years without war.
 
The most probable aspect is in terms of military technology. The US and the soviets would both be still developing cutting-edge technology. The American technology would be like today's, only with a lot more of those programs that were cancelled, like the comanche. And the soviets would have developed the su 37 and mig 35 fully. We might even have SDI on both sides.
 
The Comanche would still be cancelled, it became obsolete with the invention of the UAV.

Remember the Comanche was a reconaissance platform, the Apache was still going to retain the job of tank busting.
 
The commanche still could have done some tank busting of its own though. However it is a light helicopter and it would be dangerous for a mission which involves tank busting. Its a pity to see the chopper cancelled.

I believe the USSR would be stuck in the 1980's or early 90's when it comes to civilian technology. They never payed attention to cars, tv's and such. As for military... it would be much, much stronger than it is today, thats for sure. They'll surely have large numbers of all of the new equipment they have today.
 
Speaking of civilian technology, i bet they would've responded to the internet in a way similar to china, but not as restricitive. If glasnot continued and there was no coup, gorbachev would've wanted the soviet people to be more exposed to western ideas as well as new entertainment for the masses.
 
Too bad they can't prove it in Chechnya.

EagleStrike said:
Oh Russia's still pretty secretive. They are still an extremely tough fighting force.
Click to expand...



As for the USSR defense budget being so high, it's not because their economy was doing so well. It was too high for the USSR to sustain. It's a bit like looking at North Korea through defense spending in PERCENTAGES. NK looks like it should have at least 10 aircraft carriers but it doesn't because the country is so poor and the percentage is high because they got so little money.
The USSR in the Cold War spent itself to death. So that number you see, it would have never maintained itself for the past 10 years.

Personally I don't see how the USSR could have ever lasted up until now. But if it did, I'm sure we'd be having 1990 in 2005 instead.
 
And this is Russia forces today(from a German page) http://www.globaldefence.net/

(Defence Budget): 18 Mrd. US-$


allgemeine Wehrpflicht (Conscripts): ca. 330.000 Wehrpflichtige (18 - 24 Monate / Month)
Aktive (Actives): ca. 980.000
Reservisten (Reserves): ca. 2.500.000
Landstreitkraft (Army)
Soldaten (Soldiers) 321.000
Kampfpanzer (Main Battle Tanks) 21.370
gepanzerte Fahrzeuge (Armored Vehicles) 29.000
Artilleriegeschütze (Artillery) 20.500
Kampfhubschrauber (Armed Helicopters) 1.700
Helikopter (Helicopters) 1.200



Luftstreitkraft (Air Force)
Soldaten (Soldiers) 184.600
Kampfflugzeuge (Combat Aircrafts) 2.600
Transportflugzeuge (Transport Aircrats) 280



Strategische/Weltraum Kräfte (Strategic/Space Forces)
Soldaten Nuklear-Kräfte
149.000
Soldaten Raketen-Kräfte 100.000
Soldaten Luftverteidigung 21.000
Bomber 74
ICBMs 740



Seestreitkraft (Navy)
Soldaten (Soldiers) 155.000
Marines 9.500
Marineflieger (Naval Aviation) 35.000
Kampfflugzeuge (Combat Aircrafts) 217
Kampfhubschrauber (Combat Helicopters) 102
Flugzeugträger (Aircraft Carrier) 1
Kreuzer (Cruiser) 7
Zerstörer (Destroyers) 14
Fregatten (Frigates) 10
Uboote (Subamrines) 53
Patrouillenboote (Patrol Boats) 108
Minenboote (Mine Warfare Vessels) 72
 
U.S.S.R spend too much on building huge number of strategic weapons and did not paid much attention on its deteriorating economy.

Furthermore, the introduction of western type doctrine during Gorbachev's rule effected communist ideologies to some extent and military failure in Afghanistan brought the final nail to its coffin.

But if we suppose that U.S.S.R cut down its military expenditure on time and focused more on its economy and existed till today then the challenges would stay in the shape of IRON CURTAIN in Europe and though Iraq would be punctured as it happened in our times but whose side China would join would be the most interesting part (As China had problematic relations with both U.S.S.R and U.S.A) but if it joined any side, that would simply tilt the balance of power in the favour of that particular superpower.

Also a new war might brake out in either IRAN or DPRK over Nuclear-issue.
 
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