A Nuclear Free World

Imagine for a moment if there were no nuclear weapons developed at the end of WWII. What would have been the consequence after the invasion of Japan and the conclusion of the war? We know that the US was preparing to launch a ground assault on the Japanese mainland to end the war and there would have been massive casualties on both sides as a result.

The question in this post is not about the results of the ground assault on Japan or the conclusions of WWII but what would have been the outcome in world events had there never been a nuclear deterrent?

My thoughts are that the existence of the Nuclear deterrent has kept the peace between the major powers on the earth since 1945. The implied threat that any direct confrontation between the US and Soviets would go nuclear kept everyone in their corners. Without the threat of nuclear war I believe the US, Western Europe and Japan would have squared off with the Soviets and eventually China in a war that would have made WWII look like a walk in the park.

In the direct aftermath of WWII there were people within the power structure of the US Government that wanted to immediately launch an attack against the Soviet Union while they were in a weak state. Cooler heads prevailed and it never gained sufficient traction to become policy. However in the decades after the tensions would have been so great that action would have taken place. The world would be a very different place.

Now suppose Obama gets his fantasy vision of a nuclear free world. What would prohibit the powers of the world as well as the minor powers from squaring off? What would prevent India from overrunning Pakistan or war from breaking out once again in Europe? What would prohibit the Chinese from trying to take Siberia from the Russians for the oil? Is this what the future holds?