In order to defeat the enemy, mankind has invented many weapons with great lethality, and nuclear weapons are undoubtedly the best of them. After nuclear weapons caused great damage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in fact, mankind has begun to realize that nuclear weapons can only be used as a deterrent force and cannot be used lightly, otherwise only mankind itself will be destroyed.
In fact, during the most dangerous period of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union almost broke out into a nuclear war, and if that nuclear war broke out, I am afraid that the whole world would be "destroyed".
A revelation after the Cold War gives us an idea of how close we were to destruction.
· The Cuban Missile Crisis, a critical moment during the Cold War
After the Second World War, two camps were formed, and although there was no hot war between the two countries, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union actually brought a huge threat to the world.
Because the United States and the Soviet Union are both nuclear powers, if the open and covert struggle between the two countries escalates, or if either side misjudges the situation, a nuclear war may break out and the whole world suffers together. In fact, during the Cold War, we did have a moment that came infinitely close to the crisis of nuclear war, and that was the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Cuba's geographical location is actually quite sensitive, because Cuba is "too close" to the United States and is considered by the United States to be its "sphere of influence", and it is in Cuba that something unacceptable to the United States has happened: in 1959, Castro came to power through revolution and established a socialist regime.
As we all know, in that era, the socialist regime must have been pro-Soviet, which meant that the Soviet Union could have deployed missiles in Cuba to deter the United States in order to compensate for the lack of range.
As a result, the United States quickly launched an operation against the Castro regime, but neither isolation, sanctions, nor direct invasion of military operations such as the Bay of Pigs incident were successful.
While the United States was looking for a way to overthrow Castro's regime, the Soviet Union continued to support Castro. As the only socialist country in the Americas, Cuba was a very important ally of the Soviet Union, providing Cuba not only with a large amount of economic and military support, but also with nuclear weapons.
In 1959, the United States deployed missiles in Italy and Turkey, threatening the security of the Soviet Union, and in July 1962, Khrushchev decided to deploy medium-range missiles and Il-28 jet bombers in Cuba in order to win back a city. According to the information, the first batch of weapons sent by the Soviet Union to Cuba arrived in Cuba in late July 1962 disguised as merchant goods, and all of them carried nuclear warheads.
Although the weapons arrived in camouflage, the fact that the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and the United States reconnaissance satellites discovered the incident after the missile was deployed, made the United States feel even more threatened. To this end, then-US President John F. Kennedy decided to impose a naval blockade on Cuba and, at the same time, negotiate with the Soviet Union to resolve the crisis as peacefully as possible in exchange for missiles deployed by the United States in Turkey.
· Soviet submarines carrying nuclear torpedoes
Although the United States actually wants to solve the problem peacefully, on the surface, the United States has taken a tough attitude. On October 22, 1962, the United States declared that if the Soviet Union did not withdraw all the missiles deployed in Cuba, it would "use all means" to solve the problem. Obviously, the "all means" of the United States include carrying out nuclear strikes, and this can be said to be a rather serious threat.
In the face of the US threat, Khrushchev believed that it was necessary to arm Cuba and enhance Cuba's ability to protect itself, and if the United States wanted to take a hard step, the Soviet Union would also use nuclear weapons.
The intransigence of the United States and the Soviet Union has brought relations to a freezing point, and countries around the world are aware that a huge crisis may be coming, and the situation is very critical.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the most critical moment during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and during the Cuban Missile Crisis, there was actually a moment when mankind was infinitely close to nuclear war.
It was a huge crisis caused by the pursuit of Soviet submarines by the United States, and because Khrushchev wanted to deploy nuclear weapons to Cuba, the Soviet side sent four Foxtrot-class submarines to the Caribbean Sea, carrying 22 torpedoes, including a nuclear torpedo.
And one of the submarines, the B-59, almost misjudged the situation in a critical situation, triggering a nuclear war for mankind. On October 2, the B-59 Foxtrot-class submarine departed from the port of Murmansk, and its mission was to provide cover for the transport of Soviet missiles, and if necessary, it could launch attacks on the US Navy and Air Force, and even with nuclear torpedoes.
According to the Soviet system, in fact, the consent of two high-ranking officials was required to launch a nuclear attack, but due to the special situation of the B-59, the consent of three people, the captain, the political commissar, and the tactical commander, was required to launch a nuclear torpedo.
In retrospect, this means that the judgment of these three people can determine the course of US-Soviet relations, the outcome of the entire Cuban Missile Crisis, and even the survival of the entire human race.
On the morning of 24 October, the United States began a naval blockade of Cuba, and the US military deployed eight aircraft carrier battle groups, more than 100 warships, and 13 nuclear submarines in the Caribbean Sea, controlling all the thousands of miles of sea area under its own control.
At the same time, US missiles can be launched at any time, and the US military around the world has entered a state of high alert, with half of the US military's strategic bombers hovering in the air fully loaded with nuclear bombs, and nuclear submarines also fully loaded with nuclear bombs on standby.
In fact, the captain of the B-59, Valentin Savitsky, almost misjudged the situation.
· World War III has broken out?
On October 27, 1962, the day after the downing of the U-2 reconnaissance plane, the United States was desperately looking for an opportunity for "revenge", and the "unfortunate" B-59 became that "opportunity".
Since the B-59 was discovered by the United States, the U.S. military began to pursue it fiercely, and in order to continue to track the B-59, the U.S. Navy sent 11 destroyers and the aircraft carrier "Randolph" to search.
In desperation, the B-59 had to dive deeper to the bottom of the sea, because only in this way could the probability of being detected and attacked by the US military be reduced. However, although this can ensure the safety of the B-59 to a certain extent, it has caused a new crisis.
It is difficult to say whether the B-59 was damaged in the chase or because it was not adapted to the Caribbean waters, and the failure of the B-59's air conditioning system caused the temperature inside the submarine to continue to rise, reaching a maximum of 50 degrees, which made the crew feel extremely uncomfortable, and whether to float or not became a huge point of contention inside the submarine.
If you don't float, it's hard to guarantee the safety of everyone in the submarine, and if you do, in that situation, some people point out that this is a sign of "surrender", and the Soviet Red Army must not surrender to the American army.
After all, the B-59 had lost contact with Moscow at that time, and the B-59, hidden in the deep sea, could be said to be isolated from the rest of the world, and knew nothing about the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The next day, the U.S. military still failed to locate the B-59, and Kennedy approved the U.S. military to drop depth charges to force the B-59 to surface. At that time, the depth charges used by the US military exploded loudly, but they were not very lethal, and they mainly played a role in intimidation. At that time, the U.S. military believed that by intimidating the Soviet Red Army, they would be able to force them to float and facilitate their own tracking and monitoring of the B-59.
But the U.S. military did not expect that the B-59 knew nothing about the outside situation, and the internal mood was also very tense, and it could not correctly judge the situation at all.
Valentin believed that if they continued to hide at the bottom of the sea and do nothing, they would delay the fighters, and for the sake of the victory of the USSR, Valentin ordered the immediate assembly of nuclear torpedoes for a nuclear attack on the US military. At that time, the tactical commander of the B-59 also agreed with Valentine, and there was only one person left of nodding before the outbreak of a nuclear war.
If the B-59 really launched a nuclear torpedo at this time, then I am afraid that World War III would break out immediately, and the nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union would lead to the destruction of the whole world. But fortunately, Commissar Vasily remained calm, he stopped the angry captain and persuaded the two commanders not to launch a nuclear torpedo for the time being.
It is said that Vasily proposed at the time that we could first look up and see the situation, and if the war did break out, then immediately launch a nuclear torpedo, and if the war had not yet broken out, then make a decision after getting in touch with Moscow.
Vasily's proposal was taken up, because in this way, the B-59 would float not out of cowardice, nor for surrender, which would not disgrace the USSR. It was Vasily's proposal that prevented Valentin's nuclear war caused by misjudging the situation, firing a nuclear torpedo, and pulling humanity back from the brink of destruction.
Later information showed that Kennedy was also very nervous about the order to drop depth charges, and under the circumstances, he was actually worried that the Soviet Union's miscalculation would lead to a complete outbreak of war. In fact, to a large extent, the United States and the Soviet Union did not want to really go to war, but after showing a tough attitude towards each other, they "rode the tiger hard", and under the coincidence of history, they came to the point where a nuclear war almost broke out.
After the crisis ended, the United States and the Soviet Union, having recovered from their senses, began to communicate reasonably, and finally secretly reached a "peace agreement": the United States promised not to invade Cuba and withdrew its medium-range missiles deployed in Italy and Turkey, and the Soviet Union withdrew its planes and missiles deployed in Cuba.
The peaceful resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis after a tense standoff was a good thing not only for the United States and the Soviet Union, but also for countries around the world, since no one wanted their homes destroyed by nuclear weapons. This incident has also made more people aware of the importance of communication channels, and only adequate communication can avoid misjudgment and ensure safety.