Universal Encyclopedia
What was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962?
Soviet missiles ninety miles from Florida, a naval blockade, and one Soviet officer who refused to fire — the closest the world has come to nuclear war.
Last updated: October 2026
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. For thirteen days the superpowers stood eyeball to eyeball over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, until a secret deal — missiles out, a US pledge not to invade, American missiles quietly removed from Türkiye — defused the standoff.