Which event during the Cold War is often regarded as the moment when the world came closest to nuclear war?

Answer 1

The Cuban missile crisis

Answer 2

Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 (as others have already said). That is the point that is generally accepted as the closest the USA and USSR came to war ... although there were plenty of other, very worrying times, such as 1961 when the Soviets ereceted the Berlin Wall - Kennedy seriously contemplated a limited First Strike to make Khrushchev back down.

Just to be clear, "Bay of Pigs" and "Cuban Missile Crisis" are *not* the same thing. The Bay of Pigs invasion was in 1961, and was the US-backed attempt by the Battista supporters to invade Cuba and kick out the Communists. The invasion failed, but at no time did it take the superpowers close to war. The Cuban Missile Crisis happened (partly) as a result of the Bay of Pigs invasion ... and *did* bring the superpowers frighteningly close to a nuclear war.

Answer 3

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States regarding the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The missiles were ostensibly placed to protect Cuba from further planned attacks by the United States after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, and were rationalized by the Soviets as equivalent to the U.S. placing deployable nuclear warheads in the United Kingdom, Italy, and most significantly, Turkey. The crisis began on October 16, 1962 when U.S. reconnaissance data revealing Soviet nuclear missile installations on the island were shown to U.S. President John F. Kennedy and ended twelve days later on October 28, 1962, when Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev announced that the installations would be dismantled. The Cuban Missile Crisis is often regarded as the moment when the Cold War came closest to escalating into a nuclear war.

Answer 4

When John Kennedy decided to take on the Russians over nukes to Cuba. It was in 1956 and the Russians defused the situation by taking back the nukes. This history and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is what me think makes that a nuclear war would be started by the USA. In the Cuban incident, careful analysis shows that the Russians were not proposing a nuclear standoff or indeed a nuclear war. Just a supply of defencive material to an ally. So to bring such an incident to the brink of nuclear war was not a responsible act

The same situation is being played out with Iran with the Russians backing them. Is it not possible that one day someone will Americas bluff. And that my friends, will be that.

Answer 5

This happened when John Kennedy was President of America, and Russia wanted to put nuclear missiles on Cuba. Nikita Kruschev was the Russian Premier at the time. Kennedy sent American Warships to the Cuban waters to stop and seize any ships carrying these missiles. Kruschev replied to this by telling Kennedy that any Russian ships seized by the American Navy would be seen as an act of War, and would retaliate. For a week the world held it's breath as Russian ships carrying these missiles moved closer to Cuba. At the last Moment, Kruschev backed down and the russian convoy was recalled.

Answer 6

The Cuban Missile Crisis is often cited. Also when Reagan threatened the USSR with Star Wars, they thought the only reason the US would do that was so it could launch a first strike nuke attack against them and they were mulling over doing a first strike on us before we got Star Wars up. There was also some incident when something appeared on a radar scope that looked like an incoming USSR rocket, it might have been a meteor, anyway the US was preparing to launch but some general said Wait and they did and there was no nuke attack so we did not launch.

Answer 7

The Cuban Missile crisis was the closest to Mutually Assured Destruction.

Answer 8

Cuban Missile Crisis - Bay of Pigs

Answer 9

The Cuban missile crisis. I'm quite familiar with the subject, since I was living on a Strategic Air Command base at the time!

Answer 10

The Cuban Missile crisis of 1962 between the US and USSR