Spoiler
NATO Countries had Volunteer Armies
Ehm, nope. The Netherlands had conscription until 1997. The British until 1960. The Belgians until 1993. France still has it, it just suspended as it's peace, just like Italy and Germany. And so on.
Several countries in the Warsaw pact had revolutions against the communist, which shows how loyal exactly these people and troops were. Not that anyone can blame them.
Im talking about the 1980-1991 Period, not the 60's.
Yes, but those were later on, when the
Soviet Union was starting to collapse economically and Politically. That is when and why most revolutions took place, also i know about the whole loyalties thing, my Father Served as a Major in the Romanian Ground Forces during the Communist regime, he told me all of his base's close encounters with the Securitate (Basically a Uniformed version of the KGB in Romania) about how some units in his Base wanted to mutiny because their commanders were too harsh or the Communists killed their family for political bullshit. But when it comes to war, those feelings will be gone, your primary focus will be to fight for your country and defend it. The Same thing with the Soviets, alot of their armed forces were angered at the Communist Government, but when they were at war with the Mujaheddin, again Service came before personal feelings and political beliefs, sure there might be desertion but not mutinies, that's the good thing with communist armies, their propaganda works.... (China...
) .
Spoiler
You basically have numbers on Warsaw Pact, vs the higher quality troops of Nato. Essentially, quality vs quantity. IMO, I think Nato would win but it would be a hard fought victory, thousands of cities leveled, Europe being a continent of rubble from the fighting. It would be a victory, but Pyrrhic and with the deaths of millions of civilians and soldiers. Not to mention the fact that nukes are in the equation and if one side launches, then the world burns. Very high stakes, I applaud the Soviet Commander who opted to not fire nukes at America when a sensor went off indicating a launch.
Higher Quality troops of NATO?
The Only Countries in NATO that had the Most well-trained Units and were in position at the Iron Curtain, were the Canadians,The Brits,The Yanks and The French(More or Less at the Iron Curtain) If you put up a Belgian Soldier for example against an NVA Conscript, the NVA Conscript would win, due to superior Infantry equipment and better training, now upgrade that to Section/Squad Size engagements again the East-Germans win again, due to better NCO's(Also Battle-Hardened). Scale it up to Platoon Engagements again NVA, fast-forward to Army vs Army and the NVA Surely wins, due to the Combined arms Doctrine of the Soviets, Pretty Much Outnumbers the Belgians 2-1 and they have twice the tanks, the Belgians have...
Now Put up the Soviets vs the Americans, and then its pretty much uncertain, when it comes to super-powers, the numbers alone can make the difference. (The Ability to put fresher and more men on the battlefield is a decisive factor and advantage that the Soviets and the Warsaw Pact had)
Also don't forget that the US would have to cross the Atlantic to bring their troops to Europe for engagements. And Keep in mind this thread is about Conventional Warfare, so for arguments sake, All Nukes got Dismantled.