Stanislav Petrov : The Man That Averted Global Thermonuclear Warfare

Global thermonuclear warfare. Isn't that a fun topic? Sure it is. But what do we do if it actually happens? Hiding in your damp closet in the fetal position probably isn't going to help much. The truth is, an all-out nuclear war would probably mean the end for humanity. So it's safe to say, we should probably avoid it. However, there have been several points in history in which global thermonuclear warfare was as close to reality as you and me. Today, we're going to talk about the 1983 Soviet false alarm incident that could have potentially brought the end of the world as soon as September 26, 1983.

Brought to you as soon as September 26, 1983.

Okay, so you're a Lieutenant Colonel of the Soviet Air Defense Forces, on duty of the Soviet early warning system at the Serpukhob-15 bunker. You're job is to receive the message the warning message from the soviet satellite early warning network and to notify your direct superiors of any nuclear missile attacks against your great nation. As you sit in your chair of undetermined comfortability during the darkness of the night, your computer screen lights up and notifies you of five ICBMs heading towards the Soviet Union from the hated United States of America. It's time. The war's begun. Right?

Instead of being a mindless puppet like his superiors wanted, Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov decided to not notify his superiors and declared the attack as a false alarm. This would have meant certain doom and charges of treason (if the Soviet Union survived) if the attack reached tangibility. Despite protocol of telling his superiors and letting them decide the fate of the world, Petrov went against the status quo and went with his gut. Luckily, he was right.

"What?! We already put the windshield back up and everything!"

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