During the cold war, to what degree was the destruction of cities the objective of a nuclear strike as opposed to military targets?

by Elardi

My understanding is that the majority of nuclear warheads were intended for use in cities. Was this true for the US as well as the USSR? What about smaller nuclear powers with smaller arsenals, such as the UK?

jschooltiger

Hi there -- while you wait for more answers, you may also be interested in these older posts from our resident bomb expert, u/restricteddata:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1sovbm/has_the_government_ever_released_information_of/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1qsen4/what_were_the_targets_for_ussrs_icbms_assuming/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3lwevh/during_the_cold_war_were_any_locations_targeted/

as well as this AMA which talks about targeting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1iyjak/ama_i_am_alex_wellerstein_historian_of_science/