15 Days When The World Stood On The Brink Of Disaster

It's Monday morning and I am snuggled inside my warm blanket.It's raining cats and dogs outside
and this provides me the perfect excuse to miss college today.The cold weather and the sound of raindrops falling induces such deep slumber that I finally wake up at noon.It's still raining outside.I wonder if this untimely downpour is a consequence of global warming.My suspicion gains conviction when I read the headlines of TOI which carries images of the havoc caused by floodwaters in A.P. and Karnataka.I finish my morning chores(afternoon chores rather),have my lunch and am back in my room again.I decide to bunk the 2nd half too.To kill time(thats the only killing I do), decide to watch a documentary on the Cuban Missile Crisis.


To the uninitiaded let me remind you that the world most came to total annihilation in the autumn of 1962.For 15 days the world watched with bated breath a suspense drama unfold.The stage-Kremlin,White House and the small island of Cuba.The protagonists-the charismatic John F. Kennedy,the old warhorse Nikita Khruschev and the Cuban communist leader Fidel Castro.
The crisis was the product of the clash of two ideologies,the result of two superpowers trying to impose itself on the other.Like two tigers vying to rule an entire jungle,the USA and the former USSR engaged in a dangerous game to assert their supremacy.

To understand the gravity of the crisis let me remind you that the USA and the USSR had a total of more than 50000 nuclear warheads and if indeed a war broke out between them this stockpile was sufficient enough to destroy the world many times over.The crisis was triggered when a reconnaissance mission of the USAF revealed an under construction nuclear missile base.
A missile fired from this base would take less than 10 minutes to reach Washington.The establishment of this missile base was in response to the deployment of Jupiter missiles by the US in Turkey.

From Oct 13 to Oct 28,the White House and the Kremlin witnessed a buzz of activity as both sides refused to back down.The US asked the USSR to withdraw the missiles or face dire consequences.It initiated the blockade of Cuba as US warships prevented any ship from entering or leaving Cuba.This was done to prevent further transfer of technology and nuclear materials from the Soviet Union to Cuba.The Soviet Union refused to comply saying it would only withdraw the missiles if the US itself withdrew its missiles from Turkey and that the US should guarantee that it would not invade Cuba.But the hawks on either side did not want their country to balk down to the other.In the end though common sense prevailed as President Kennedy and President Khruschev reached an agreement.The USSR agreed to withdraw the missiles and the world was saved of a nuclear holocaust.


Hoping that the world one day gets rid of the menace of nuclear weapons.