Do you folks KNOW what even a small nuclear weapon would do?

First of all, you don't have to coat a country with radioactive glass to destroy it utterly. Most of the population is concentrated in urban areas, as is the "command and control" facilities -- and once the C&C is destroyed the country loses much of its military ability. Moreover, the military bases themselves would be targeted (those that weren't in the urban areas).

But that's not all of it.

Both the surviving civilian and military population will be in shock, profound shock. Food, medicine, medical care, sanitation, and shelter become extreme problems, because even if supplies are pre-positioned you still need to a) get to them, and b) have some way to distribute them.

The immediate blast area would be limited, but the resulting fires and damage for barometeric overpressure (and the subsequent return of air to the blast site) causes damage far beyond ground zero.

I highly recommend the book "Effects Of Nuclear Weapons" (1957, 1962 -- any edition), which was published by the US Government, assuming you can get ahold of a copy. Try your library; they might be able to get it on interlibrary loan for you.