History Film / FirstStrike

-->'''Dr. James R. Schlesinger:''' The Soviets, in contrast to the United States, over the last fifteen years have been ''serious'' about defense. They have been ''deadly'' serious about defense. At the moment, they are not only procuring more defense hardware than the United States by ninety or a hundred percent, they are outspending the ''entire free world'' in the area of military investment--and one must assume that they have some calculation and some motive for that behavior. The threat was real but perhaps exaggerated. At the time, it was impossible to know the actual state of the Soviet Union's nuclear forces. And within just a few years, the level of US spending bankrupted the Soviets.

** [=ICBMs=] were the only arm of strategic forces that had both the speed and accuracy to threaten "hard" (well-protected) targets, but as stationary silos, were highly vulnerable to attacks themselves. The Soviets rectified this somewhat by having a good portion of their ICBMs launched by truck or train, a practice that is continued by modern Russia.

** Submarines could land nukes on enemy targets in mere minutes, since they could launch right off of the enemy's coast. As submarines, they were also the most well-protected of the three strategic arms--but their lack of accuracy (in 1979 at least) made them only useful for destroying "soft" targets (such as bomber airfields--or, as Dr. Schlesinger put it, "city busting"). There is also the ever-present threat of mines, anti-submarine ships packing depth charges, and anti-submarine aircraft.

-->'''Dr. James R. Schlesinger:''' The Soviets, in contrast to the United States, over the last fifteen years have been ''serious'' about defense. They have been ''deadly'' serious about defense. At the moment, they are not only procuring more defense hardware than the United States by ninety or a hundred percent, they are outspending the ''entire free world'' in the area of military investment--and one must assume that they have some calculation and some motive for that behavior.
* ReportingName: The Tu-95 "Bear," M-4 "Bison," and Tu-22M "Backfire" bombers are mentioned.

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Military historians generally agree that the scenario depicted in the first part of the film is extremely unrealistic. For one, the Soviet Navy would never have been able to reach the US East and West Coasts undetected, mainly because Soviet submarine technology in 1979 could never breach American sonar detection. Also, the US President surrenders a bit too easily; in real life, the Soviet strike would have been met by the full mobilization of all conventional NATO forces in Europe; the Warsaw Pact's superior conventional numbers would not be an issue to the NATO invaders, as it is well-known that Soviet equipment was often defective, plagued by maintenance issues and malfunctions, making the Soviet Army and its allies a "paper tiger". Also not taken into account are the British and French nuclear arsenals, nor the NATO arsenal shared by Belgium, Italy, Greece, Canada and West Germany, which the Soviets didn't bother dealing with and would most likely come back to haunt them in the form of a decapitation strike on Moscow that would certainly destroy or severly cripple the Soviet government and liberate the United States, not to mention the high probability of a nuclear strike and/or conventional invasion from China (on account of the Chinese being certain that, with the Soviets attacking the US, China would be next). Finally, the Soviet occupation would quickly fall apart because the surviving civilian populace (only eight million people are killed in the scenario depicted) would be so uncooperative and belligerent, the Soviet victory would soon become [[Main/MeaninglessVillainVictory meaningless]] because they would learn the hard way that [[Main/RealityEnsues just because you've conquered the United States mainland doesn't mean its people will be receptive to Communist ideals]]. Quite the opposite, in fact.\\

* BittersweetEnding: The Soviets destroy all of the United States' nuclear forces before they could strike, and the president orders all forces to stand down, effectively surrendering to the Soviets. Surprisingly, though, only eight million are killed because the strike was completely targeted at military targets (this isn't even 25% of America's population circa 1979), but the survivors will certainly suffer under Soviet tyranny and oppression, and undoubtedly, scores of American civilians will die of starvation and radiation poisoning, or be rounded up and executed by the Soviets to allow American land to be occupied by their own citizens, or simply for the crime of being an American and a capitalist.

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Military historians generally agree that the scenario depicted in the first part of the film is extremely unrealistic. For one, the Soviet Navy would never have been able to get to the America coast undetected, mainly because Soviet submarine technology in 1979 could never breach American sonar detection. Also, the president surrenders a bit too easily; in real-life, the Soviet strike would have been met by the full mobilization of all conventional NATO forces in Europe; the Warsaw Pact's superior conventional numbers would not be an issue to the NATO invaders, as it is well-known that Soviet equipment was often defective, plagued by maintenance issues and malfunctions, making the Soviet Army a "paper tiger". Also not taken into account are the British and French nuclear arsenals, nor the NATO arsenal shared by Belgium, Italy, Greece, Canada, and West Germany, which the Soviets didn't bother dealing with and would most likely come back to haunt them in the form of a decapitation strike on Moscow that would certainly destroy or severly cripple the Soviet government and liberate the United States, not to mention the high probability of a nuclear strike and/or conventional invasion from China. Finally, the Soviet occupation would quickly fall apart because the surviving civilian populace (only eight million people are killed in the scenario depicted) would be so uncooperative and belligerent, the Soviet victory would soon become [[Main/MeaninglessVillainVictory meaningless]] because they would learn the hard way that [[Main/RealityEnsues just because you've conquered the United States doesn't mean its people will be receptive to Communist ideals]]. Quite the opposite, in fact.\\

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Military historians generally agree that the scenario depicted in the first part of the film is extremely unrealistic. For one, the Soviet Navy would never have been able to get to the America coast undetected, mainly because Soviet submarine technology in 1979 could never breach American sonar detection. Also, the president surrenders a bit too easily; in real-life, the Soviet strike would have been met by the full mobilization of all conventional NATO forces in Europe; the Warsaw Pact's superior conventional numbers would not be an issue to the NATO invaders, as it is well-known that Soviet equipment was often defective, plagued by maintenance issues and malfunctions, making the Soviet Army a "paper tiger". Also not taken into account are the British and French nuclear arsenals, nor the NATO arsenal shared by Belgium, Italy, Greece, Canada, and West Germany, which the Soviets didn't bother dealing with and would most likely come back to haunt them in the form of a decapitation strike on Moscow that would certainly destroy or severly cripple the Soviet government and liberate the United States, not to mention the high probability of a nuclear strike and/or conventional invasion from China. Finally, the Soviet occupation would quickly fall apart because the surviving civilian populace (only eight million people are killed in the scenario depicted) would be so uncooperative and belligerent, the Soviet victory would soon become [[Main/HollowVictory hollow]] because they would learn the hard way that [[Main/RealityEnsues just because you've conquered the United States doesn't mean its people will be receptive to Communist ideals]]. Quite the opposite, in fact.\\

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Military historians generally agree that the scenario depicted in the first part of the film is extremely unrealistic. For one, the Soviet Navy would never have been able to get to the America coast undetected, mainly because Soviet submarine technology in 1979 could never breach American sonar detection. Also, the president surrenders a bit too easily; in real-life, the Soviet strike would have been met by the full mobilization of all conventional NATO forces in Europe; the Warsaw Pact's superior conventional numbers would not be an issue to the NATO invaders, as it is well-known that Soviet equipment was often defective, plagued by maintenance issues and malfunctions, making the Soviet Army a "paper tiger". Also not taken into account are the British and French nuclear arsenals, nor the NATO arsenal shared by Belgium, Italy, Greece, Canada, and West Germany, which the Soviets didn't bother dealing with and would most likely come back to haunt them in the form of a decapitation strike on Moscow that would certainly destroy or severly cripple the Soviet government and liberate the United States, not to mention the high probability of a nuclear strike and/or conventional invasion from China. Finally, the Soviet occupation would quickly fall apart because the surviving civilian populace (only eight million people are killed in the scenario depicted) would be so uncooperative and belligerent, the Soviet victory would soon become [[Main/HollowVillainVictory hollow]] because they would learn the hard way that [[Main/RealityEnsues just because you've conquered the United States doesn't mean its people will be receptive to Communist ideals]]. Quite the opposite, in fact.\\

The documentary's producer, Fleming "Tex" Fuller, has uploaded it in full on YouTube, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlPEBROvR9w viewable here]].

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Military historians generally agree that the scenario depicted in the first part of the film is extremely unrealistic. For one, the Soviet Navy would never have been able to get to the America coast undetected, mainly because Soviet submarine technology in 1979 could never breach American sonar detection. Also, the president surrenders a bit too easily; in real-life, the Soviet strike would have been met by the full mobilization of all conventional NATO forces in Europe; the Warsaw Pact's superior conventional numbers would not be an issue to the NATO invaders, as it is well-known that Soviet equipment was often defective, plagued by maintenance issues and malfunctions, making the Soviet Army a "paper tiger". Also not taken into account are the British and French nuclear arsenals, nor the NATO arsenal shared by Belgium, Italy, Greece, Canada, and West Germany, which the Soviets didn't bother dealing with and would most likely come back to haunt them in the form of a decapitation strike on Moscow that would certainly destroy or severly cripple the Soviet government and liberate the United States, not to mention the high probability of a nuclear strike and/or conventional invasion from China. Finally, the Soviet occupation would quickly fall apart because the surviving civilian populace (only eight million people are killed in the scenario depicted) would be so uncooperative and belligerent, the Soviet victory would soon become [[Main/HollowVillainVictory hollow]] because they would learn the hard way that [[Main/RealityEnsues just because you've conquered the United States doesn't mean its people would be receptive to Communish ideals]]. Quite the opposite, in fact.\\

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Military historians generally agree that the scenario depicted in the first part of the film is extremely unrealistic. For one, the Soviet Navy would never have been able to get to the America coast undetected, mainly because Soviet submarine technology in 1979 could never breach American sonar detection. Also, the president surrenders a bit too easily; in real-life, the Soviet strike would have been met by the full mobilization of all conventional NATO forces in Europe; the Warsaw Pact's superior conventional numbers would not be an issue to the NATO invaders, as it is well-known that Soviet equipment was often defective, plagued by maintenance issues and malfunctions, making the Soviet Army a "paper tiger". Also not taken into account are the British and French nuclear arsenals, nor the NATO arsenal shared by Belgium, Italy, Greece, Canada, and West Germany, which the Soviets didn't bother dealing with and would most likely come back to haunt them in the form of a decapitation strike on Moscow that would certainly destroy or severly cripple the Soviet government and liberate the United States, not to mention the high probability of a nuclear strike and/or conventional invasion from China, which is a whole other can of worms.\\

* MisplacedNationalism: Despite being what is now completely historical material, ''First Strike'' provokes this ''very easily''--usually from people living in nations that were former members of the Soviet Union, or from those who view America as {{Eagleland}} Flavor #2 (both categories can overlap). Accusations of American warmongering and paranoia are very common, as is CulturalPosturing; even Russians who are glad that nuclear war never came (and wish it never does) will still boast in comments on this video that modern Russia (and the Soviet Union) could (have) easily crush(ed) the United States and NATO.

It's important for modern viewers to understand the historical context of this documentary. ''First Strike'' was produced at the start of the "Second Cold War," in which the Soviet Union underwent a ''massive'' buildup of its own military forces, resuming an aggressive expansionistic political stance after the period of détente that followed the CubanMissileCrisis.