Board Thread:Timeline Discussions/@comment-25379338-20150803212641/@comment-3428312-20170110235658

You'd probably need one of two (Or possibly both) things to happen.

1) The Soviet reserve system was in absolute shambles by 1980. Their active "A" Divisions were top notch, don't get me wrong, but without the ability to mobilize and deploy "B" and "C" class divisions to make up losses and hold ground the Soviet strategy of Deep Operations falls apart. Fixing this means the Soviets will be more confident to be aggressive, and to strike since they now have a means of success.

2) Somewhat of an addendum to the above in part, have the Soviets invade Poland in 1980 during the Solidarity Crisis. Prior to the declaration of martial law, the situation was quickly unraveling and the Polish Communists were seeking help from the Soviets. The "Red Army" tried to mobilize, and utterly failed so Warsaw and Moscow were both forced to consider other options. This led to the aforementioned Martial Law, which ended resolving the issue for the most part. Had the Soviets been able to organize their forces and make a go at it in a replay of Czechslovakia, the West will definitely respond with sanctions. Given how dependent the Soviets were growing upon Western economic support, primarily in the form of grain imports, the Warsaw Pact is going to be very desperate inside of two years as the effects of a massive reduction in the food supply are felt. This makes them more willing to consider force 1983, and the makes both sides more hostile by then as well due to the politics at play in such. Add in a hardliner coup, and it becomes overwhelmingly likely.