Tell that to the NATO and Warsaw Pact armies and all of the plans, materials, and infrastructure they built around fighting the Next Big European&#x2F;Asian war. Huge amounts of money and piles of weapon systems were developed by both sides with an eye towards fighting that war.<p>It&#x27;s easy to say that in hindsight, but given all of the tension around the Iron Curtain and all of the times the US and USSR came very close indeed to going to war despite how likely total nuclear destruction was, it seems short-sighted to just brush off the idea of that war actually happening if neither side had any nuclear weapons.