Table of Contents: “…August dawn : the first blows -- The world in 1984 -- Cradles of conflict : Middle East and Africa -- Awakening response in the West -- Unrest in Poland -- No peace at Christmas -- Summit and aftermath -- Heidelberg, 27 July 1985 -- The invasion of Yugoslavia -- Soviet planning -- Over the edge -- NATO forces -- The Warsaw Pact forces -- The stage is set -- The storm breaks on the central front -- Sea power -- The battle of the Atlantic -- The war in inner space -- Air defence of the United Kingdom and Eastern Atlantic -- The air war over the central region -- The centre holds -- Home fires : the domestic scene in a televisual society -- The vital peripheries : Middle East and Africa -- The nuclear decision -- The destruction of Birmingham -- A devastating response -- Reflections on a war -- The beginning of the future.…”