Opinion
It often takes more resolve and grit to save lives than wage war
Summary
- Let’s never forget the courage of Soviet officer Vasily Arkhipov who prevented a nuclear war in 1962
In October 1962, our world came closest to complete annihilation when the two superpower foes of the time, the US and Soviet Union, were poised to launch their nuclear arsenal at each other, threatening to turn the cautionary covenant of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction,’ which was the only thing that kept a tense peace between these belligerents, into reality.
Though the Cold War commenced immediately after World War II, its nadir was reached in 1962. A series of confrontations, including the Berlin Crisis (which resulted in the Berlin Wall being erected) had ratcheted up tensions to an explosive point. That is when the Kennedy administration in the US discovered that the Soviets were positioning nuclear missiles in their backyard in Cuba as a response to US missile deployments in Turkey.
The fact that the Soviet Union could annihilate every major US city within minutes drove the Americans berserk and Kennedy ordered a total blockade of Cuba to prevent a further build-up. As tensions escalated, the Soviets ordered four of their submarines to sail right up to the Cuban blockade and be ready for further instructions. These submarines carried nuclear-tipped torpedoes and a self-contained launch procedure. What the latter meant was that if three officers—the captain of the submarine task force, the political officer and the executive officer—unanimously decided to activate the firing mechanism, they could launch a nuclear strike without a clearance from Moscow. Such arrangements are necessary in nuclear war scenarios where it is possible that a first strike would sever communication links to submarines carrying retaliatory strike warheads. Which is why they had self-contained launch protocols.
The US surveillance systems detected the Soviet presence, and the US Navy started dropping depth charges, which were intended to force the submarines to surface. Depth charges are bombs that explode at preconfigured depths, creating powerful concussion waves that can crush submarines, giving them no option but to surface and surrender.
By this time, the submarines had lost all contact with Moscow and hence could not get any confirmatory instructions. Though the Soviet crew could not contact Moscow or monitor the US Navy radio chatter, they could listen to American radio stations, all of which were airing a jingoist frenzy over an imminent war. The zeitgeist of the Cold War added to the paranoia, as school children were being trained on nuclear drills, gas masks and bomb shelters.
Amid the cacophony of war talk, hunted by the US navy, the Soviet submariners were literally in the dark, uncertain whether their country was already at war with the US. In that pivotal moment, with depth charges exploding all around them, with their air and battery running out and left with no option but to surface right into the gun-sights of US destroyers, Captain Valentin Savitsky decided to launch a nuclear torpedo. The political officer Ivan Maslennikov concurred with the captain, but an argument broke out when Vasily Arkhipov, the executive officer, disagreed with the two. After several heated exchanges during which he refused to cede his part of the firing codes, Arkhipov managed to convince the captain to surface and try contacting Moscow. Finally, the Soviet submarine surfaced, surrounded by the US navy, contacted a US warship and established communication with its headquarters, which ordered its return.
Robert McNamara, the then US Defense Secretary, and other advisors later conceded that this was the most dangerous moment in the history of mankind. Nuclear armageddon was averted by the cool headedness of one man who stood his ground against his captain, political advisor and his own fears. Today, we are alive perhaps because of Vasily Arkhipov.
Decision making in the fog of war is very difficult. Information is sketchy, inaccurate, contradictory and subject to dynamic changes. Political leaders are not just fighting their enemies, they are also combating internal public opinion. The fact that Israel’s leadership has a lot to answer for its failure to predict, prevent or contain the Hamas attacks will add to the fury and intensity of Israeli retaliation. Even if Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu achieves the complete annihilation of Hamas, it is unlikely he will stay in power when all this is over. Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza is not just fraught with major risks, such as increasing casualties and more hostages, but is also a red line declared by Hezbollah and other militant outfits for their entry to the battle. And like 1962, there is a US fleet lurking in the warzone, while a defiant Iran and other regional and world powers play a game of nuclear nerves.
Our world is ironic. There are cities, roads, buildings, institutions, battleships and even weapons named after generals and warriors who waged countless wars, inflicting millions of deaths, and yet Arkhipov is just a footnote in history. Strangely, we seem to extol the valour, bravery and fighting prowess of warriors who wage war, but downplay the courage and conviction of those who strive to prevent them. And that is the irony, because often it takes more grit, resolve and statesmanship to save lives than to take them.
