The History of ~The Cold War (Part 6: Nuclear Fears)

As we left off from our last page (click here) we were talking about the Space Race and how the USA ad the USSR competed to find the first space discoveries including Our Moon.

Now, we get to the scariest part of this page series. The times where the Cold War could've gotten hot (even would've under the wrong circumstances). There were not just 1 but several times where The Cold War \*almost\* gotten hot, and by hot, it means nuclear war, and the destruction of Mankind.

Ever since the USSR first tested its first nuclear weapons in 1949, the fear of another global conflict was in thought, and it also means that the USA didn't hold a monopoly on nuclear weapons anymore. The 1950s also saw that both nations were feverishly testing nuclear weapons to see who has the most and the most powerful nuclear bombs.

After the USSR invented the ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) in 1958 and the USA a year later, the threat for something called MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) was coined.

But it wasn't until the 1960s when the threat became real.

## Berlin Crisis

The USSR's problems with Berlin persist. In 1958, Khrushchev had issued an ultimatum to western military occupiers and demanding them to withdraw from the German capital city. But the USA, Britain, and France refused and try to maintain control over their part of the German capital they control.

By June 1961, tensions rose between the democratic West and the USSR. Even at a summit in Vienna saw the tensions escalate as Khrushchev's ultimatum being re-issued. President John F. Kennedy has undercut his bargaining position with Khrushchev. By July, Kennedy he called for an increase in strength from 875,000 to 1 Million (and from 29,000 to 63,000 active men).

Khrushchev was none too pleased with this.

By August, the leaders of occupied East Germany have all agreed to have a wall built to separate the city.

A 70-mile long barbed wire barrier was then constructed. But this didn't stop the 2 nations who are now at odds with each other.

By October, the west attempted to bring diplomats over to East Berlin to try to diffuse the situation, however, it only has gotten worse, and pretty soon Western and Soviet troops and tanks were lined up by the barbed wire barrier separating the city.

This is the first time that the Cold War could've escalated into an all-out confrontation.

But, Kennedy wanted to meet Khrushchev's New Year's Eve deadline, agreed. Both nations saw their tanks move back around 5 inches.............until they fully withdrew, and the crisis was averted.........for now.

But, the communist occupiers of East Berlin would continue construction of the Berlin Wall. It went from just a barbed-wire barrier to a 12 feet high, concrete wall still stretching 70 miles. It also would become a huge system of guard towers with guards who would shoot anybody who came close to the wall, and some areas of the wall would also have land mines, killing anybody who got too close.

The Berlin Wall would do more than just separate the city occupied by 2 different powers. It would also separate people, families, friends, children. The wall was designed to keep everybody on the side of the German capital the communists had control over.

But this would be a dress rehearsal for what is to come.

## Cuban Missile Crisis

Yes, the most iconic point in the Cold War. You'll know why this page said the Berlin Crisis was just a dress rehearsal.

During the 1950s, Cuba was run by an oppressive dictatorship run by "Fulgencio Batista", but his rule was challenged by the "July 26th movement" (led by the now-infamous "Fidel Castro" and "Ernesto 'Che' Guevara"). By 1959, Castro and Guevara's movement had successfully toppled Batista's regime.

Ironically enough, Castro (who was recognized as a hero after the revolution) had overthrown a dictator regime..........only to replace it with another: his own. Cuba turned from a totalitarian empire, into a one-party communist republic, even after promising democratic changes such as free elections.

Castro's new regime worried the USA very much. In fact in April of 1961, US spies would try to invade the now Communist Cuba in an operation known as the "Bay of Pigs", the operation lasted for around 3 days, but in the end, the operation failed, furthering the legitimacy of Castro's hold on Cuba.

Sometime after that, Khrushchev (through Soviet spies) discovered that the USA had constructed their nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey, putting US Nuclear missiles within striking distance of the USSR.

Faced with a huge dilemma. Khrushchev has asked Castro if it would be okay if he can place Soviet nukes in Cuba. Since Castro already had this in mind, he agrees. By 1962, the Soviets would construct their nukes in Cuba.

After US Spy Planes discovered the Soviet Nukes in Cuba, this worried Kennedy and he would take immediate action.

Kennedy would order a blockade around Cuba so no more Soviet Cargo Ships would enter Cuba.

Systematically speaking,  Soviet Nuclear Missiles had a much shorter range. But Cuba is only 90 miles away from the USA (from Hanava and Key West) which means that the Soviets can target any key cities in the US Mainland such as New York, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, and even places as far away as Los Angeles. Not to mention the Military Bases, Military airfields and Nuclear silos in the US.

This crisis began on October 16, 1962. This is where the entire world would hold it's breath and see what happens, the next 5 days would be the longest and scariest days for the world. Who would fire the first missile? How many people would die? How much damage would it cause? These are the questions asked by the people of the world.

Finally, on October 21, both nations reached an agreement. If the USA removed its missiles in Italy and Turkey, the Soviets would remove theirs from Cuba. Both nations agreed, and the world was spared.

This would also create the "Washington-Moscow Hotline" to maintain a line of communication between the USA and the USSR, so a threat of nuclear war on the scale of the Cuban Missile Crisis wouldn't happen again.

But, both nations decided that if one giant war against each other would mean the complete and utter destruction of Earth, they then decided to fund and aid other nations around the world (called "Proxy Wars"), places in South America, Africa, The Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

In 1969, US President "Richard Nixon" and Soviet Premier "Leonid Breshnev" have agreed to something called Detente (French for "Relaxation") which is to ease tensions between the 2 superpowers. In 1972, the 2 leaders also agreed to something code-named "SALT" (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) where the 2 superpowers limit their military training and (more importantly) constraint their nuclear missile testing. But this didn't help ease tensions as this time, it would be the USA and the USSR's allies would also have a missile crisis themselves.

## Euromissile Crisis

Both sides of Europe had their MRBMs (Middle-Range Ballistic Missiles) ready to launch if necessary.

Though it wouldn't be as extensive as the Cuban Missile Crisis, this would last 5 years (1977-1982).

This would also prompt (somewhat) to make a second, revised SALT policy in 1979.

But there would be another time where nuclear war could've broken out.

## 1983 Crisis

Tensions between the USA and the USSR would run high once more in 1983 when President "Ronald Reagan" would during a speech call the USSR an "Empire of Evil".

In September of 1983, an airplane called "Korean Airline Flight 7" was flying to its destination to Seoul from Anchorage. The plane then was flying over Soviet Airspace, several Soviet Jet fighters intercepted the plane and shot it down, the plane crashed 40 miles south of Sakhalin Island, killing all on board, including a US Senator. Raising tensions even more.

But the real trigger of another possible nuclear war between the USA and the USSR was in the form of a Soviet satellite. It detected around 5 glows in the sky (which was actually ice crystals in clouds) the satellite mistakenly this glow in the sky for US Nuclear Launches.

The alarm sounded and the Soviet units inside silos were ready to press that "shiny red button".

The man in charge "Stanislav Petrov" chose not to launch the missiles (and not obeying the orders to do so).

So, once again the world was saved.

Wowsers, that was intense. I guess anything with nukes can be very intense. Well anyway, that'll do it for this page.

Coming up, we go through the inner struggles of both the USA and the USSR. Just click here to continue reading. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.