It was 1983 and the Cold War was in full swing. Both sides were watching each other's every move, each waiting for the other to launch their nuclear missiles first.
The Russians had designed a sophisticated system to detect missile launches in the USA, and it was this newly installed system that Colonel Stanislav Petrov was watching on September 26th.
The system suddenly alerted him to the launch of 5 ballistic missiles from the US. Normally, this alert should require an immediate report to superiors and would most likely be followed swiftly by a counter launch and the ensuing global annihilation.
But Petrov had a hunch that this alert was a false alarm. The number of missiles was a crucial indicator since he figured, if the US were to be launching a full scale nuclear attack, they would send a whole lot more than just 5 missiles.
Petrov reported the incident to his superiors as a false alarm due to a system malfunction, which stalled any plans for retaliation.His cool head and pragmatic analysis of the situation effectively averted what would have been the Third, and last, World War.
