Thirty years ago: The nuclear crisis which frightened Thatcher and Reagan into ending the Cold War
Categories: Articles:Peacemaking |
Published: 06/11/2013 |
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This week is the anniversary of exercise 'Able Archer 83' – a NATO nuclear exercise which took place at the height of the Cold War in 1983 and was interpreted by the Soviet Union as preparation for a surprise nuclear attack. Able Archer is considered by many to be the closest that the world has come to an accidental nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
The following is from Nuclear Information Service
To mark the anniversary of Able Archer 83, Thirty years ago: The nuclear crisis which frightened Thatcher and Reagan into ending the Cold War is publishing formerly secret Ministry of Defence documents about the Soviet response to the exercise which have been declassified in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Although heavily redacted, the documents show that Britain's intelligence community concluded that the Soviet response to Able Archer was a matter of concern, and that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher felt that urgent action was necessary to prevent similar misunderstandings arising in future.
Nuclear Information Service have published the FOI papers with a blog article on our webpage here. The blog tells the story of the Able Archer exercise and sets it in the context of Cold War events which had taken place in the immediate past.
Read the blog article here
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