Exactly what was the deal with Operation Able Archer? I was right smack in the middle of that whole thing (as a soldier stationed in Germany), but I still don’t know what exactly happened except that a number of history books hint that we were actually closer to war in October 1983 than we were during the Cuban missile crisis. –Bill Owen, Cincinnati
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It’s a stretch to say we were closer. The Cuban missile crisis was a real showdown over a real issue, and many on both sides feared–and a few hawks hoped–that the confrontation would end in war. In contrast, the Able Archer incident (the pivotal moment came in November, incidentally, not October) was mainly a manifestation of Soviet jitters during the regime’s twilight years. U.S. officials didn’t know anything was up at first and were surprised to learn of the frantic atmosphere in Moscow. Still, the possibility that the world would be vaporized over a misunderstanding was a constant fear during the cold war (I won’t claim the threat has entirely subsided), and in 1983 we drifted closer to the edge than one likes to think.
With tensions at code-red levels, in the USSR especially, NATO in early November launched its annual military exercise. Called Able Archer 83, that year’s version involved an unusually realistic buildup to a simulated U.S. nuclear strike. The Soviets knew about Able Archer but wondered if something else was afoot, having themselves long planned to use war games as a cover for the real thing and suspecting the U.S. might do likewise. On the evening of November 8 or 9 Moscow reportedly sent a flash telegram to its western European outposts claiming the U.S. had put its forces on alert and was possibly about to attack (we hadn’t and weren’t, Western sources agree) and asking for confirmation.
