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For 13 days in October 1962, American and Soviet naval forces faced off in the waters around Cuba in a standoff that came closer to nuclear war than almost any other moment in the Cold War.
A blockade carefully framed as a “quarantine”
The Kennedy administration deliberately called the naval blockade a “quarantine” rather than a blockade, since a formal blockade is legally an act of war — a careful diplomatic distinction that mattered enormously to how the crisis unfolded.
The submarine incident that nearly triggered disaster
A Soviet submarine, cut off from communication and believing war may have already started, came dangerously close to launching a nuclear torpedo — a decision reportedly blocked only because Soviet protocol required unanimous agreement among the sub’s senior officers.
The resolution reached through back channels
The crisis ended through secret negotiations, including a private agreement to remove American missiles from Turkey in exchange for Soviet withdrawal from Cuba — a deal kept confidential for decades to let both sides publicly claim they hadn’t backed down.
- Used Book in Good Condition
The crisis fundamentally changed how both superpowers approached nuclear brinkmanship, leading directly to the installation of the Moscow-Washington hotline the following year.
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