Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/the-cold-war-in-10-moments-how-close-we-really-came-to-disaster/
The Cuban Missile Crisis: Thirteen Days on the Brink
For thirteen days in October 1962, the world teetered on the edge of nuclear war. Russian officials later revealed that 162 nuclear weapons had been stationed in Cuba when the crisis broke out, far more than American intelligence understood at the time. Nuclear missiles positioned just 90 miles south of Florida were capable of quickly reaching targets across the eastern United States.
Kennedy ordered the Strategic Air Command into DEFCON 2, one step short of nuclear war, with 66 B-52s carrying hydrogen bombs constantly airborne. The confrontation is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war. The resolution came through secret negotiations and a tense naval blockade, but it left an indelible mark on both superpowers.
Stanislav Petrov’s Choice: The Man Who Saved the World
On September 26, 1983, the Soviet nuclear early warning system Oko reported the launch of one intercontinental ballistic missile with four more missiles behind it from the United States. Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov was on duty at the command center when alarms screamed that America had launched a nuclear strike.
He decided to wait for corroborating evidence rather than immediately relaying the warning up the chain of command, a…
—-
Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-01-22 06:44:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
—-
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8