The Conventional Confrontation in Central Europe during the Cold War

The conventional confrontation in Central Europe represented the core of the Cold War, as Germany was the most likely theater of a general conflict. There, the largest military contingents, strategic planning, and exercises of both opposing blocs were concentrated. For NATO, defending West Germany was indispensable for the credibility of the entire deterrence structure, while for the Warsaw Pact East Germany was the springboard for a potential offensive into Western Europe. The centrality of the region was not only geographical but also symbolic, since it embodied the clash between two irreconcilable political and social systems. The resulting balance was precarious: any miscalculation could have turned Central Europe into the most devastating battlefield in modern history. For more than forty years, Germany remained the neuralgic point of global militarization, with millions of men and machines deployed, always on alert, ready for a war that never came but that shaped every aspect of international politics and strategic planning.