Modern Era · Europe · War

1983

Petrov averts nuclear war

September 26, 1983

At a Soviet early-warning bunker, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov saw his screens show five incoming American nuclear missiles. Standing orders were to launch a counterstrike. Petrov, guessing it was a false alarm, refused to report it up the chain. It was. A single man's judgment had probably saved humanity from extinction that night.

More from 1983 Modern Era

In context

Also in 1983 (3 other events on record)

Beirut barracks bombing · Middle East · War
KAL 007 shot down · East Asia · Disaster
US invades Grenada · North America · War

Before and after in Europe

Before: November 10, 1982: Brezhnev dies
After: March 3, 1985: British miners' strike ends

Before and after in War

Before: September 16, 1982: Sabra and Shatila massacre
After: August 20, 1988: Iran-Iraq War ends

Era

Modern Era (1901–2000), one of 590 events from that era on Saeculum.

Sources

Wikipedia: Stanislav Petrov