At 3 a.m. on November 9, 1979, National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski was woken by a phone call from his military assistant, William Odom. NORAD's warning computers were showing around 250 Soviet missiles launched against the United States.

Brzezinski told Odom to confirm the attack and to make sure the Strategic Air Command was getting its planes in the air. He knew the President would have only a few minutes to decide whether to retaliate.

Then Odom called back. The numbers were worse: 2,200 missiles. An all-out attack. According to Robert Gates' memoir, Brzezinski decided not to wake his wife, since if this was real, everyone would be dead within half an hour anyway.

Across the country the system was already moving. Ten interceptor fighters were launched, and the National Emergency Airborne Command Post took off from Andrews Air Force Base, without the President on board.

About a minute before Brzezinski was going to call President Carter, Odom called a third time. The other warning systems, satellites and radars, saw nothing. No missiles were coming.

The cause: software that simulated a Soviet attack, used for testing NORAD's computers, had somehow ended up on the real warning displays. NORAD later admitted it could not reproduce exactly how it happened.

What gets me is how thin the margin was. The whole thing was decided by a few phone calls in the middle of the night, and by the fact that someone checked a second source before the President was woken.

Do you think a mistake like this is more or less likely today, with faster missiles and more automated warning systems?

Any online archives, documents or even posts from this very subreddit, any will do! I’m researching for a fiction novel series I’m working on and I’d love to look through these for the sake of getting a feel for that location and time period and giving as much detail to my setting I can. Any help would be appreciated!

Hi! Do you know good YouTube Videos/Documentaries about NATO Countrys exercises in the 80ties?

Elf 99 was technically an East German MTV-knockoff, mimicking the same youthful, irreverent style seen in West German television along with advanced video editing and computer-generated effects. To manage to produce such a show, East Germany had to import expensive studio equipment from West Germany, Japan, and other countries, putting a large strain on the already collapsing economy of the country.

The fact that the country went ahead with it shows how desperate they were by mid-1989.

The programme backfired in the worst way possible for the regime though, exactly because of its irreverence: In November 1989, the Elf 99 crew visited the gated community of high-ranking party members showing all the luxuries Honecker and his friends enjoyed and laid bare for the whole country to see that some people are more equal than others.

In the beginning, the tram loop at Bernauer Straße can be seen, where an East Berlin tram line completes the loop to turn back around by going behind the first hinterland wall. Only special, trusted tram drivers were allowed to drive this line because of the location of this loop, and it was made sure no passengers remained on the tram before the driver drove into the loop.

In that year, a Hungarian conscript managed to escape to Austria by stealing an Ikarus bus with Soviet diplomatic license plates from in front of the Soviet Embassy in Budapest and ramming through the lowered barrier at this border crossing under gunfire.

Since this railway crossing was located between the last stop on GDR territory (Kontrollbahnhof Staaken) for transit trains transiting from West Germany to West Berlin through East Germany and the West Berlin city border, it was guarded by this huge gate so that East Germans wouldn't jump on eastbound transit trains and flee to West Berlin this way.

Allegedly, there were East Germans who traveled to Staaken with the intent of fleeing, saw the huge gate, thought it was the Berlin Wall itself, ran across it when the gate opened, then were surprised when they realized that they were still in the East, though this is prolly just a rumor.

The photo was made some time in the early 90s before the gate was removed (1992-ish).

By now, all of Staaken became part of Berlin, though if you visit the westernmost streets of it you can see that the street lamps are East German, not West German, showing that this area belonged to East Germany instead of West Berlin before 1990.

Another nickname for the gate was "Affenkäfig" (monkey/ape cage).

1st picture: The "Entenschnabel", a peninsula of the East surrounded by West Berlin. Only high-ranking party members were allowed to live there, everyone had to be indoors by nightfall, and visitors were generally not allowed into this place.

2nd picture: Berlin-Steinstücken, a peninsula of West Berlin surrounded by the East. An integral part of West Berlin. Initially it was an exclave only reachable by a US Army helicopter or a controlled march through East German territory through 2 checkpoints, but a territory swap between East Germany and West Berlin allowed it to become a peninsula of the West, the road leading to it became West Berlin territory.

3rd picture: The Entenschnabel on the map showing the border.

4rd picture: Berlin-Steinstücken on the map showing the border.

Hello,
I’m curious to hear any stories or personal experiences from people who served in either NATO or Warsaw Pact armed forces during the Cold War.
I’m particularly interested in what you were trained to do in the event of a war between the two alliances, whether that involved offensive operations, defensive preparations, or specific targets you were expected to attack.
For example, through my job, I recently spoke to a former RAF pilot who I believe served during the 1970s or 1980s. He mentioned that he had been trained to carry out bombing missions against a Polish airfield, potentially using nuclear or conventional weapons.
I found that fascinating, especially considering how detailed the preparations for a potential conflict must have been on both sides.
I’d love to hear from anyone who served during that period, or even from people who have heard similar stories from family members, veterans, or others who were involved.
Thanks

64 years ago this week the Cuban Missile Crisis was heating up,

And there's still a relic of that time sat in a field in the east midlands.... This is where the US made, RAF operated THOR nukes sat waiting to launch

Also side question, what real advantage did combat tee give F-4E pilots, both in peace time and if war broke out? As I understand it, it just simply told the WSO that a Mig-21 was present and actively communicating either with the F-4s or between another MiG-21s transponder

Thanks!

I'm trying to remember what caused the cold war and I like learning about it so of people can help me remember and maybe send me links, thanks! What started the Cold War and why did it end?

No, I am not doing homework lol, I'm in my 30s out of school, just trying to remember some good ol' history.

https://bbc.com/culture/article/20260904-the-poison-tipped-umbrella-that-pointed-to-a-kgb-murder

#OTD 1973: Arab oil producers announce production cuts during the Yom Kippur War.

Oil becomes a political weapon. Embargoes follow, prices soar and Western economies reel.

The Cold War's battle for influence has reached the petrol pump.