[trynumber9]

The Soviet army seriously outnumbered the west for the vast majority of the cold war. Especially in 1945, when they had something like 550 divisions compared to 100 US divisions.

The real straw that broke the camel's back was their dispute with China.

[unmole]

Sheer numbers don't mean as much in the face of vastly superior weaponry. If the Soviets didn't keep pace with Western advances, they would be at a serious disadvantage.

[trynumber9]

Of course, but in many cases (BMP, T-64, SA-2, AT-3, R-7) they were ahead of the west. They built a technically advanced and massive army. Quantity was something the U.S. didn't consider necessary after the Vietnam War. At that point, the Soviets could've done the same. Except that a third of their army was deployed along their border with communist China and later they had a small problem in Afghanistan.