The arms race led many Americans to fear that nuclear war could happen at any time, and the US government urged citizens to prepare to survive an atomic bomb. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 1/1/20) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 1/1/20) and Your California Privacy Rights. Both were engaged in sabre rattling with the Soviet Union. Both sides packed a formidable punch - hundreds of rockets and thousands of nuclear warheads capable of reducing the other to rubble. A very genuine invasion fear persevered among the populace, spurred on by President Reagan’s personal belief that the Soviets were the Evil Empire, on par if not worse than their one-time Nazi allies, the Wired.com reports. Entire sections of the KGB were assigned to Operation RYAN, which was a mission to see if the US and NATO were indeed about to attack. The paranoia reached an insanity level. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the general public became increasingly concerned with the continuous and growing threat of war and nuclear war in particular, and the - by then - international peace and anti-nuclear movements grew dramatically with many protests, happenings and activist events to spread awareness and push for ⦠General Varfolomei Korobushin would describe the early 80’s as a pre-conflict era of Russian history. The Soviets interpreted the simulation as a ruse to conceal a first strike and readied their nukes. The primary impetus for Operation RYaN was the Soviet fear of a preemptive nuclear strike driven by both superpowersâ reliance on Launch-on-Warning nuclear postures, combined with the planned deployment of Pershing II missiles that could reach Moscow from West Germany in six minutes. Perhaps the strongest cultural reflection of this fear was the television film The Day After, ⦠We don't know what Hartman said in response, but John McMahon, the CIA director at the time, believed the Soviets were simply "rattling their pots and pans" to stop further Pershing II deployments. There were fears the deployment of Pershing II ballistic missiles to Europe (also in November 1983) could tip the balance. The early 1980s was a "crisis period, a pre-wartime period," said Gen. Varfolomei Korobushin, the former deputy chief of staff of the Soviet nuclear Strategic Rocket Forces, according to an interview conducted by the Pentagon in the early 1990s and obtained by Jones. Nuclear War and Nuclear Fear in the 1970s and 1980s In September 1949, brooding over the recent discovery that the Soviet Union had tested an atomic weapon, George Kennan wrote a telling note in his diary. Although for the 70 years after 1945 no second nuclear explosion has been used against humans, many people, especially youth, are suffering from the fear of nuclear threat⦠It was so bad that multiple informants warned the CIA in the United States about the Soviet concern. Now newly declassified documents reveal just how close we reached a mutual destruction -- because of an exercise. Deterrence (1999) Not a whole lot of people saw this low-budget indie film ⦠Newly declassified documents from the CIA, NSA, KGB, and senior officials in both countries reveal just how close we came to mutually assured destruction -- over a military exercise. The war scare affected Soviet responses to the Reagan administration's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), the administration's condemnation of the Soviet Union following the 1983 shootdown of a South Korean airliner, and a NATO nuclear-release exercise late that same year. In 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte launched an invasion numbering over 600,000 men into Russia. Nuclear fear is the inspiration for a new musical composition. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. The period 1982-1984 marked the most dangerous Soviet-American confrontation since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking, new connections, and new industries. Even its name, Able Archer 83, is benign enough. Five of these (the Documents obtained by Jones detail a massive KGB intelligence-gathering mission called Operation RYaN. New Documents Reveal How a 1980s Nuclear War Scare Became a Full-Blown Crisis Over 10 days in November 1983, the U.S. and the Soviet Union nearly started a nuclear war. Glad It's All Over - Captain Sensible 3. In 1983, the United States and the Soviet Union came dangerously close to nuclear war. Superpower mutual suspicion was rife in the early 1980s. The Kremlin's Central Committee slept in shifts. The goal was to find out if and when the United States and NATO would attack. However, it did "review, approve for release, stamp, and send a printout of a Wikipedia article," he noted. All rights reserved. These types of exercises were normal and regular occurrences. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there are a lot of stupid people both in NATO and our country.". Despite the avoidance of nuclear war, that time was filled with a threat of mutual annihilation from paranoia and massive militia and arsenals glowering at each other. A military exercise. In less than 150 years, Russia had suffered the two largest military invasions in the history of mankind. Still, we do have more evidence of serious Soviet preparations. Memories and fears of a teenager growing up in the 1980's with the threat of a nuclear war a distinct reality.. All of this stoked real fear among young people that we could see a nuclear war in our lifetime. Nuclear Threats, Nuclear Fear and the Cold War of the 1980s, Paperback by Conze, Eckart (EDT); Klimke, Martin (EDT); Varon, Jeremy (EDT), ISBN 1316501787, ISBN-13 9781316501788, Brand New, Free shipping in the US Ambassador Averell Harriman as early as May 1983 that the two sides were getting perilously close to becoming embroiled in such a misunderstanding. The NSA told him it had 81 more documents, but did not release them. It's unclear how much of the fear was just pots and pans. It seems incredible to consider this nowâ¦even ⦠Russians - Sting â Considering the consequences of a war, and how close it came, those comments certainly ring true. This thread is dedicated to listing as many of those 80s cold war/nuclear fear lyrics as possible, and let's see if we can get to 100 and maybe beyond: 1. However, this time NATO changed its readiness level to the highest condition, DEFCON 1, which gave the Soviets a more anxious concern. And then there was the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s and 1970s, in which the use of nuclear weapons on the part of the US was seriously contemplated. Few moments in history have been scarier than the ten days in November 1983 when the world held its breath as the United States and the Soviet Union almost came to a full-blown nuclear conflict that would have left millions dead. Ad Choices, New Documents Reveal How a 1980s Nuclear War Scare Became a Full-Blown Crisis. Was this really just an exercise, or was it a ruse for the dreaded first strike? The spies of Operation RYAN monitored everything — the status of bomb-shelters, official publications to the public, the manufacturing status of war-materials. 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