How did the steel torrent of the Soviet Union make the world panic?

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union maintained a very strong armored force. In its heyday, this unit had more than 50,000 tanks and more than 60,000 armored vehicles, which was called the torrent of steel at that time. The Soviet army's operational thinking is very different from that of western countries. After the end of World War II, the Soviet navy was relatively weak and did not have the strength to compete with the United States for maritime hegemony. The United States has a large number of missile bases in western European countries, which can easily attack the Soviet Union. Especially after the Cuban missile crisis, the Soviet Union's plan to directly threaten the United States basically failed.

In order to counter the US military deployment in Europe, the Soviet Union established a very powerful army and air force and produced a large number of medium-range tactical missiles. Once the Soviet Union goes to war with NATO, the Soviet Union will bomb with tactical missiles, and then the aircraft will cooperate with armored forces to assault and eventually occupy the whole of Western Europe. At that time, European countries were full of fear of the Soviet Union, because neither the United States nor other European countries could resist the steel torrent of the Soviet Union.

Before the 1980s, Soviet tank technology was always in the leading position in the world, and fighter and missile technology was also equivalent to that of the United States. 198 1 year, the Soviet union conducted a military exercise with a scale of 300,000 people, which showed its powerful military strength. In this military exercise, the Soviet Union simulated the tactics of attacking the target with tactical nuclear weapons first, and then carrying out a surprise attack by armored forces, which made the western European countries frightened. At this time, the number of missiles deployed by the United States in Europe and the size of armored forces in NATO countries could not compete with the Soviet Union.

. However, at this time, the Soviet Union was at the end of its tether. Due to Brezhnev's militaristic policy, the Soviet Union was deeply involved in the war in Afghanistan. The Soviet army, known as the world's number one army, fought in Afghanistan for nine years, but failed to destroy the resistance in Afghanistan. After Gorbachev came to power, the Soviet Union began large-scale disarmament, and the deterrent power of the steel torrent was greatly reduced. However, western European countries still dare not despise the Soviet Union. After all, during World War II, tanks were badly fought, and Germany wiped out the whole of Western Europe with thousands of tanks. During World War II, the number of Soviet tanks was much higher than that of German tanks. At that time, most people thought that Soviet troops could wipe out western Europe in just a few weeks.

The real loss of deterrence of the steel torrent was after the Gulf War. In the Gulf War, the US military destroyed more than 3,800 tanks and 1 4,000 armored vehicles in Iraq at the cost of 35 tanks. Under the technical advantage, relying on the torrent of steel has been relatively powerless. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the size of the Russian army has been shrinking, and the flood of steel no longer exists.