Issue ? 39. August 2013

Joseph Stalin and the Nuclear Threat

Ph.D., Deputy Director on Methodology. Saint-Petersburg Institute of International Relations, Economics and Law, Khabarovsk City Branch.
E-mail: samohin.a.v@mail.ru

The article is attempts to answer the question — what was the basis of Joseph Stalin’s belief in an unreality of U.S. nuclear attack against the Soviet Union? On the basis of documentary sources the author considers the main sources of information used by the head of the Soviet government to determine the reality of a nuclear war. These include intelligence, military and scientific sources. Scientists had no reliable information about the effects of a nuclear weapon. Intelligence provided information that the U. S. does not have strong technical capability to implement its plans for nuclear war. Thus, Stalin based his stated opinion on the information available to him.

Keywords

Nuclear weapons, Soviet intelligence service, Soviet military thought.