Ghostsof1915 Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 From October 16-28th in 1962 the world came to the brink of nuclear war. Cuba and Russia started putting in medium range nuclear missiles within range of the US, right in it's own "backyard". Fortunately for everyone, as close as they came, a deal was brokered in exchange for the US to not invade Cuba, and withdraw obsolete missiles from Turkey and Italy, the Soviets would dismantle and remove the missiles from Cuba. From wikipedia: During the conference Robert McNamara stated that nuclear war had come much closer than people had thought. Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, said, "A guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world." Fifty years after the crisis, Graham Allison wrote: Fifty years ago, the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster. During the standoff, U.S. President John F. Kennedy thought the chance of escalation to war was "between 1 in 3 and even," and what we have learned in later decades has done nothing to lengthen those odds. We now know, for example, that in addition to nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, the Soviet Union had deployed 100 tactical nuclear weapons to Cuba, and the local Soviet commander there could have launched these weapons without additional codes or commands from Moscow. The U.S. air strike and invasion that were scheduled for the third week of the confrontation would likely have triggered a nuclear response against American ships and troops, and perhaps even Miami. The resulting war might have led to the deaths of 100 million Americans and over 100 million Russians. I for one am glad that Canada has the wisdom not to develop nuclear weaponry. I hope this history lesson sinks in to countries that seem hell bent on developing nuclear weapons to at least question their motives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 in celebration i'll be hiding under my table for 10 min. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jägermeister Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 And here we are 50 years later, and everyday there is the chance that some crazy leader gets mad and lets the missiles fly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tystick Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 That would have been a scary time to live in. I agree with the OP, I'm happy Canada is a peacekeeping country, and we have neutral mutual relationships all around the world. So proud to be Canadian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom-The-Great Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkeeterHansen Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 It's only gotten worse since then, and yet the fear is almost undetectable. Yaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy, society! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wizard of AZ Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I for one am glad that Canada has the wisdom not to develop nuclear weaponry. I hope this history lesson sinks in to countries that seem hell bent on developing nuclear weapons to at least question their motives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucklehead Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 in celebration i'll be hiding under my table for 10 min. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rounoush Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Lucky that the X-Men were there to save the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hornet Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucklehead Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 What do you give for that, plutonium? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Standing_Tall#37 Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 GOLD!Anniversary? Is there going to be a nuke party or anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeGillis58 Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 The Cuban Missile Crisis was some pretty scary stuff. We almost went to World War III. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA4eGeVjy8Q&feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelastguy Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 I for one am glad that Canada has the wisdom not to develop nuclear weaponry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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