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Not quite. Due to the tensions and an error in a Soviet early-warning system, it looked like the US had indeed launched a couple of rockets in a first strike. I
by iSnow 14y ago
Not quite. Due to the tensions and an error in a Soviet early-warning system, it looked like the US had indeed launched a couple of rockets in a first strike. If not for Petrov's level-headed reaction, nuclear war might have started by error.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm...
- arethuza 14y agoThat was a separate incident - just happened to be right before Able Archer.
- iSnow 14y agoI see, my bad. Nice to know that we came that close to annihilation twice in 1983.
- arethuza 14y agoI can recommend watching Threads to get some idea of just how grim things would probably have been in the UK had there been a war at that time. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/ NB Threads, although it depicts an absolutely devastating attack on the UK (~90% dead within a few years), actually uses a rather optimistic attack plan - a real attack would actually have been far worse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Leg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Leg