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ROLE OF VASILY ARKHIPOV IN PREVENTING THE ESCALATION OF THE CUBAN CRISIS
Ivo Kokić
orcid.org/0009-0008-4679-4754
Abstract
Naval officer Vasily Aleksandrovich Arkhipov has an important role in preventing the nuclear conflict as well as the Third World War at the peak of Cuban crisis. Even though there are enough information about his act, his merit is not well known to the public. Arkhipov, together with two other Soviet officers had to decide whether the nuclear missile should have been fired and consequently start the war with the USA. One officer approved such a decision, for the second one it is not entirely clear which decision he had supported, but it is for sure that Arkhipov decided to veto that decision and in that way thwarted the world cataclysm. That participant showed how heroism is not only the act of taking part in a war but also the act of preventing it. Starting a nuclear war would not bring the victory to his country but that would be a total defeat of both sides and the whole of humanity would be affected, regardless of the involvement of their countries in that conflict. This article analyzes the law of war, the Cuban crisis and the specific event which prevented its escalation.
Keywords
the Cold War; the Cuban Missile Crisis; Vasily Arkhipov; nuclear weapons
Hrčak ID:
317513
URI
Publication date:
27.12.2023.
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