A 1980 map of San Diego made by the Soviet military. Kent Lee / East View Geospatial
Wired: The Soviet Military’s Eerily Detailed Guide to San Diego
During the Cold War, the Soviet military mapped the entire world in one of the most ambitious mapping projects ever undertaken (see this feature article for more about these amazing maps, and the unlikely group of scholars trying to figure out how they were made—and why). The maps are fascinating to look at, and for those of us who grew up during the paranoid days of the Cold War, seeing your hometown covered in cyrillic text is a bit unsettling.
But the Soviets didn’t stop at just making some of the most accurate and detailed maps of the day. Some of the medium scale maps of include extremely detailed descriptions of the area–everything from the load-bearing capacities of bridges to the paving materials of the roads. (Yes, comrade, they will accommodate your tanks!)
WNU Editor: I am sure the U.S. also has somewhere in their archives detailed maps on what the Soviet Union looked like during the height of the Cold War.
4 comments:
"I am sure the U.S. also has somewhere in their archives detailed maps on what the Soviet Union looked like during the height of the Cold War."
To paraphrase Sun Tzu. Know your enemy, which obviously would include terrain, etc.
The U.S. would have maps. The question is intentions such as did the U.S. want to invade.
Yes know your enemy, and you future enemy. I am certain that as part of strategic training the US and probably all major nations go through exercises of mapping and developing an invasion strategy as a matter of course.
I have no doubt that the US has an invasion strategy for every nation in the world and perhaps particularly for Canada. What would trigger an invasion of Canada? The need for water perhaps.
Damn maple tree lovers keeping all the good water:)
Bob,
The Great Lakes would have to be seriously depleted for that to happen. Maybe you have to be at the war college level to see something like that. Still kind of doubt we have one to invade Canada for resources à la "The Bear and the Dragon" by Tom Clancy or just because.
But if Quebec seceded, and Canada broke up, the other provinces could petition.
There would be synergies to having the NAFTA nations as one country, but it matters which laws prevail and how it comes about.After all the U.S. has 1/2 of mexico in the U.s. already. Might as well have the other 1/2 without their level of graft, corruption and violence. Way to do it is a referendum.
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