The trajectory of the heavy divisions of USSR/Russia and of the USA at the start and end of the Cold War

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5965/2175180313322021e0106

Abstract

This article presents and discusses the path that led to the organizational designs of the heavy division of the USSR and the USA at the start and at the end of the Cold War. It explains  modern combined arms centred on the tank, and the central role of the army division (10,000-20,000 combatants) for the provision of the different types of troops required to have them when necessary. It then addresses the tank and mechanized corps of the USSR and the armored division in 1945, outlining how these led to the motor rifle and tank divisions of the USSR and the armored and mechanized divisions of the USA c. 1985, as proxy for 1991 to account to the turbulence at the end of the Cold War. It argues in conclusion for the continuity and prevalence of the issue of providing for combined arms centred on the tank in the division as the prime concern for the organizational design of ground forces to the present.

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Author Biographies

Domicio Proença Junior, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

Professor at Management and Innovation Area, Production Engineering Program, Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering and at the Public Policy, Strategy, and Development (PPED), Economics Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.; CNPq Researcher; member of The International Institute for Strategic Studies and of the Group for Strategic Studies.

Eugenio Diniz, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (PUC-Minas)

Professor of the Department of International Relations of the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil; CEO of Synopsis Intelligence Strategy Diplomacy; CNPq Researcher; member of The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and of the Group for Strategic Studies.

Marcus A. Lessa, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

Marcus A. Lessa is professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering  of the Polytechnical School of UFRJ and is currently reading for a PhD at the Production Engineering Program, Coppe/UFRJ. 

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Published

2021-04-30

How to Cite

PROENÇA JUNIOR, Domicio; DINIZ, Eugenio; LESSA, Marcus A. The trajectory of the heavy divisions of USSR/Russia and of the USA at the start and end of the Cold War . Tempo e Argumento, Florianópolis, v. 13, n. 32, p. e0106, 2021. DOI: 10.5965/2175180313322021e0106. Disponível em: https://periodicos.udesc.br/index.php/tempo/article/view/2175180313322021e0106. Acesso em: 17 jul. 2024.