The Cold War Vault

Could it have been that the most dangerous year of the Great War Scare wasn't 1983 with Able Archer, but 1984, when the danger receded into the mechanisms of the Soviet intelligence apparatus? Yes it could. For nearly a full year, the Soviet Union continued to operate on the assumption that the United States was going to launch a surprise attack. And the U.S. didn't seem to have a clue.

In part three of the 1983 series, we go deeper into what Exercise Able Archer actually was and why it scared the Soviet Union. After all this, was the war scare real? Recently released documents answer the question.

The second part of the series on the Great War Scare goes into even more incidents and accidents that heightened tensions in advance of the events of Autumn Forge 1983. Reagan's rhetoric, the Star Wars Program, Operation RYaN, and the shootdown of KAL 007 all play a role in setting the stage for the real drama...and the real danger.

On this anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, what begins as a film review becomes something more, as we delve into the relationship between Ukraine and Russia and the rise of a new Russian Empire, all the while looking at the fascinating award-winning documentary, The Russian Woodpecker.

We explore the 1981-83 nuclear war scare, what caused it, and what almost set the missiles flying during the Able Archer 83 exercise. This episode offers some background, and an introduction to Operation RYaN, the Soviet effort to predict a U.S. first strike. Very dangerous days. This time on the Vault.