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The One Time We Almost Started Nuclear War
We’ve, kind of, been here before.
Albert Einstein is quoted to have said: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
Exactly 59 years, 4 months and 11 days ago, humanity came close to testing that theory.
It all happened so quickly. By 1962, the U.S. and the Soviet Union had been in a nuclear stalemate for almost twenty years. Nobody liked the tension, but you could almost get used to it.
After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both sides understood perfectly well that these new, nuclear, weapons are far too powerful to ever be used strategically. This effect was reinforced by the famous Castle Bravo and Tsar Bomba tests (15 and 50 megatons, respectively.) These weapons showcased such absurd destructive power, they were no longer seen as instruments of war — but rather instruments of murder.
And yet, the weapons remained, and they remained loaded. Bargaining chip or not, the threat of a nuclear weapon doesn’t work if the other side doesn’t believe you are willing to use it. The psychological warfare between the two superpowers could not be disconnected from the underlying reality — which is that if the situation calls for it, you will have to press that big red button and kill millions…
