That man saved the world by opposing the sending of a nuclear torpedo against an American ship off the Cuban coast.
The Cuban missile crisis has raised concerns around the world about a Third World War between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962.
The avoidance of the nuclear apocalypse was mainly due to Vasily Arkhipov, a Soviet commander who kept a cool head at the climax of the crisis and made a life-saving decision.
A MAJOR CRISIS
From 16 to 28 October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union entered a potentially cataclysmic impasse.
This is the Cuban missile crisis, a 13-day conflict that will see the two superpowers move very close to nuclear war.
As Arthur Schlesinger, a member of John F. Kennedy's administration, later acknowledged: "This was the most dangerous moment in the history of mankind".
US secret services have been collecting evidence of Soviet military activity in Cuba for weeks, and on October 14, one of their spy planes managed to photograph a missile launch site under construction on the island.
With the US coast only 150 kilometres from Cuba, these missiles could potentially reach most cities on the East Coast in a matter of minutes.
After the United States placed missiles in Italy and near the Turkish border, the Soviets and the Cuban Communist government secretly concluded an agreement that led to the installation of missiles on the island in July 1962.
The aim is to show the Americans that they are able to respond in the event of an attack, and to prevent a new invasion of the island, after the one launched in 1961 has failed.
Perceiving these military manoeuvres as a major threat to the country's security, John F. Kennedy's government opted on October 22 for a blockade around the island to prevent Soviet ships from entering it.
He then issued an ultimatum to the Soviets, demanding that they withdraw their nuclear missiles from Cuba.
After a series of tough negotiations over the next few days, the Americans and Soviets reached an agreement to end the conflict on October 28, 1962.
But while things seem to be working out diplomatically, the future of the world is under the surface, in the middle of the Caribbean Sea.
Vasily Arkhipov, a 34-year-old Soviet naval officer, is one of three commanders aboard the submarine B-59 stationed near Cuba since October 27.
The latter having been ordered to remain in depth to escape American surveillance, he has since been cut off from all communication with the surface.
In an attempt to force the submarine to resurface, the U.S. Navy dropped several non-lethal underwater bombs.
What the United States does not know is that B-59 is armed with a nuclear torpedo that it is authorized to launch without waiting for Soviet staff approval in the event of an attack.
Panicked by the repeated explosions and disoriented by the oppressive heat on board the submarine, Soviet sailors feared being the target of an American attack and even imagined that nuclear war had already begun.
As Anatoly Andreev, crew member of the B-59, explained after:
For the last four days, we have been forced to stay in the depths. The air is suffocating and my head is about to explode. Today, three sailors fainted because of the heat. Carbon dioxide levels are increasing and our energy reserves are decreasing. The temperature in some sections of the submarine exceeds 50 degrees.
Valentin Savitsky, one of the submarine's three commanders, ordered his men to prepare for the launch of the nuclear torpedo, which has a power equivalent to that dropped in the sky of Hiroshima: "We will blow up these American ships now! We will probably die, but we will sink them all and not become the laughingstock of the fleet.
However, Savitsky must receive the approval of the other two commanders in order to carry out his threat.
If Ivan Maslennikov gives his agreement quickly, Vasily Arkhipov categorically refuses.
Keeping a cool head in the midst of the chaos on board, Arkhipov managed to convince Savitsky that the Americans were not trying to destroy their submarine, but rather to get it out of the depths of the Caribbean Sea.
When the submarine finally resurfaced, his crew noticed that the war had not taken place and headed east.
If Vasily Arkhipov had not been there to prevent the launch of the nuclear torpedo, many historians agree that World War III would probably have begun, causing an unprecedented nuclear apocalypse that would have caused countless casualties.
Amazing fact: It was not until 2002 that the story of this unsung hero and the existence of the nuclear torpedo on board the B-59 was revealed by one of the officers on board.
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