Hitler knew that at least his chemists had developed the first nerve gas.
The threat was increased by increased payload & range of bombers and their assumed ability to always reach their target.
I know some factors that make a war between nuclear powers on a third nation's soil more likely than you seem to believe.
Geography:
Georgia, Ukraine, Taiwan, arctic - ideally suited for the scenario
Deterrence:
The belief that a war could end mankind is gone. Exactly because the conflict level is less than all-out preparation for WW3. We wouldn't assume that the Russians use nukes immediately if we came into conflict with them on 3rd party soil, for example.
The aging and increasingly worn-out Western equipment inventories pose a lesser deterrence as time goes by.
Alliances:
NATO continues to exist for convenience. European politicians don't want to play alliance games as in 19th century, but focus on other topics.
The WEU is actually a sufficient defensive alliance for Europe's security.
NATO might fall apart if the foreign policy of the USA remains so alien to the European's ideas of a responsible and good policy. The USA hasn't enhanced, but degraded their European allies' national security in the past ten years.
The Eastern European an British friends would have to side with the close European core nations when NATO falls apart, leaving the USA basically only Australia, Turkey and at least for air defense also Canada as allies.
This could happen in less than five years.
I really don't know why European powers degrade their forces to expedition forces voluntarily.
A collective defense based on assumptions and memories of a past time doesn't seem to be very solid.
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