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When might the Cold War have been most likely to turn into a hot war ?

There were several instances when the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union almost became "hot."  But most historians agree that the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was perhaps the most dangerous moment in the conflict, when both sides came the closest to nuclear war.  The crisis, which lasted nearly two weeks, occurred when the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev secretly sent nuclear missiles to the island of Cuba. These missiles gave the Soviets what was known as "first-strike" capability, because they could reach most of the east coast of the United States within five minutes, making a full nuclear response impossible. When American spy planes revealed the existence of the missiles to military leaders, President John F. Kennedy demanded that they be removed, and imposed a naval blockade, known as a "quarantine" for diplomatic reasons, on the island. Kennedy opted not to attack the island, which we know now would almost certainly have resulted in nuclear war. The crisis ended, and the missiles were removed, when the Americans secretly agreed to remove missiles from Turkey and pledged not to invade Cuba. But the world came very close to nuclear war in those tense thirteen days.

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