A nuclear crisis is closer than you think

It has long been widely accepted as orthodoxy that the world was saved from nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis because of the wisdom of John F. Kennedy and the diplomatic backchannel his aides had with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. But this is only half true. The Soviet sources that have emerged since the end of the Cold War as well as recently declassified KGB archives suggest that, more than anything, we were saved from nuclear annihilation by sheer luck.

In the late hours of 27 October 1962, the crucial day of the crisis, American ships targeted a Soviet nuclear-armed submarine with practice depth charges, forcing it to surface. A negotiation by means of searchlight signals began. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, an American plane appeared and began dropping incendiary devices to light up the scene for its cameras. Assuming the Americans were attacking, commander Captain Valentin Savitsky rushed down from the bridge into the submarine, barking his order to get the torpedoes ready to be fired.