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Pretty close, but we got even closer in 1973 when Israel almost nuked the Syrians which would have triggered a Soviet retaliation and then an American counterstrike. We were at our highest defcon level short of launch.
That is particularly interesting because I did not even know that Israel had nuclear capability back then (or even now for that matter). How did Israel get that knowledge back then?
That is particularly interesting because I did not even know that Israel had nuclear capability back then (or even now for that matter).? How did Israel get that knowledge back then?
Good question, you never hear their name mentioned with all the other nuclear capable nations.
Found this on Wickipedia, no wonder there nuclear program comes as a surprise;Israel is widely believed to possess a substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons and intermediate-range ballistic missiles to deliver them. There is also speculation that it may have chemical and biological weapons programs. Israel acceded to the Geneva Protocol on February 20, 1969.The Israeli government refuses to officially confirm or deny that it has a nuclear weapon program, and has an unofficial but rigidly enforced policy of deliberate ambiguity, saying only that it would not be the first to "introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East" [1]. Israel is one of three nuclear-armed, sovereign nation-states not to sign or ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the other two being India and Pakistan.[2]
That is very interesting. While I am not anti-Israel, I think that some of Israel's actions are rather suspicious.
The soviets said that the missiles were placed to protect Cuba from further planned attacks by the United States and were rationalized by the Soviets as retaliation for the United States placing nuclear warheads in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Turkey. Why didnt they (soviets) demand the removel of those missles in return for their abandonment of Cuba?
I would imagine that this occurred because the United States stood up to the USSR, and that the U.S. was actually in a superior position to do this. From what I understand, we basically bankrupted the USSR into collapse. As they tried to keep up in the arms race, they couldn't use their money for other necessary projects and areas that are required to maintain a strong economy. I am not sure how true this might have been, or how weak the Soviet economy would have been back then, but it's likely that already they could not produce enough tanks and military gear to keep up. I thought I read somewhere that their actual number of tanks was a lot lower than the U.S., but the U.S. kept thinking that the Soviets were greater than they actually were. From the Soviet perspective, they likely knew they were outgunned and couldn't do much about it.
Actually the Soviets surpassed the United States in Missile, Tank, and Jet Fighter aircraft production during the course of the Cold War. The Soviets maintained nearly 5,000 jet aircraft for service compared to the U.S.'s 2,000. The U.S. maintained a tank force of roughly 22,000 at the height of the Cold War, whereas the Soviets had around 70,000. Also, the Soviets cheated on the ICBM treaties shamelessly to the point where they had several hundred more ICBM's than we possessed because we adhered to the SALT I and SALT II treaties which banned them. So in a way, the Soviets outspent themselves.
Donnie, can I ask you where you got those figures? You could be right about the conventional weapons, but I thought I read somewhere that this was not the case. I did some searching and was unable to come up with specific figures on this. As far as Soviet nuclear weapons went, I found something which stated "According to estimates by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the peak of approximately 45,000 warheads was reached in 1986."
I found this over at Wikipedia;Khrushchev sent letters to Kennedy on October 23 and 24 claiming the deterrent nature of the missiles in Cuba and the peaceful intentions of the Soviet Union; however, the Soviets had delivered two different deals to the United States government. On October 26, they offered to withdraw the missiles in return for a U.S. guarantee not to invade Cuba or support any invasion. The second deal was broadcast on public radio on October 27, calling for the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey in addition to the demands of the 26th. The crisis peaked on October 27, when a U-2 (piloted by Rudolph Anderson) was shot down over Cuba and another U-2 flight over Russia was almost intercepted when it strayed over Siberia. This was after Curtis LeMay (U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff) had neglected to enforce Presidential orders to suspend all overflights. At the same time, Soviet merchant ships were nearing the quarantine zone. Kennedy responded by publicly accepting the first deal and sending Robert Kennedy to the Soviet embassy to accept the second in private that the fifteen Jupiter missiles near İzmir, Turkey would be removed six months later. Kennedy also requested that Khrushchev keep this second compromise out of the public domain so that he did not appear weak before the upcoming election. This had ramifications for Khrushchev later. The Soviet ships turned back and on October 28, Khrushchev announced that he had ordered the removal of the Soviet missiles in Cuba. The decision prompted then Secretary of State Dean Rusk to comment, "We are eyeball to eyeball, and the other fellow just blinked."So it seems the Soviets did demand removal of the missles in Turkey. Did Kennedy remove them as he promised?
I thought that he did. I imagine that Soviet inspectors would have been able to confirm any tactical agreements, as they did in the 1980s when they came to the U.S. to verify that nuclear missile silos had been completely disabled.
Donnie, can I ask you where you got those figures? You could be right about the conventional weapons, but I thought I read somewhere that this was not the case. I did some searching and was unable to come up with specific figures on this. As far as Soviet nuclear weapons went, I found something which stated "According to estimates by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the peak of approximately 45,000 warheads was reached in 1986."
I can't exactly remember where all those figures came from since I read them years ago. The aircraft tallies came from a book on military aircraft I have. I'm pretty sure my Cold War class I had at Kentucky my professor cited similar numbers. But mind you any numbers on Soviet military capability would only be estimates anyway so take it with a grain of salt.
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