A quiz question · hard
Who refused to authorise launching a nuclear torpedo from Soviet submarine B-59 on 27 October 1962?
Arkhipov had veto authority over the firing decision because of a command-structure detail of that flotilla. Without his veto the Cuban Missile Crisis would probably have produced nuclear war. He died of kidney cancer in 1998, aged 72.
Read the full story →From the story
The Thirteen Days in October 1962 When the World Came Closer to Nuclear War Than Either Side Knew at the Time American U-2 reconnaissance photographs on 14 October 1962 confirmed Soviet medium-range nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy imposed a naval quarantine on 22 October. The crisis ran for 13 days before being resolved by a public-and-private settlement: the Soviets withdrew the Cuban missiles, the Americans publicly pledged not to invade Cuba, and the Americans secretly agreed to withdraw their Jupiter missiles from Turkey.
Related questions
- Which Russian cruiser fired the signal shot for the storming of the Winter Palace on the night of 7-8 November 1917?
- What phrase did Caesar reportedly say as he crossed the Rubicon in January 49 BCE?
- How many lashes did Xerxes I order to be administered to the Hellespont in 480 BCE?
- What tune did the British band reportedly play during the Yorktown surrender on 19 October 1781?