Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

---

Soviet anti-aircraft fire takes down an American spy plane over Cuba, as the crisis spirals.

Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 bbc.in/3VyyriM

The pilot is killed.

With nuclear missiles almost ready for launch in Cuba, how can the two superpower leaders pull back from the brink of war?

This is the personal and political history of the Cuban Missile Crisis, told by Nina Khrushcheva and Max Kennedy.

00:00 Black Saturday
04:00 Khrushchev – A second letter
07:06 Crossed wires
10:47 US reaction to Arctic U-2
12:48 A last-minute preparation before nuclear war
16:21 News of U-2 reaches JFK
23:48 Back channels

How the nuclear bomb shaped world history. Nuclear war is terrifyingly close. Can the superpowers of the Soviet Union and the USA prevent apocalypse? Nina Khrushcheva and Max Kennedy, relatives of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and US President John F Kennedy, tell the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Watch more episodes of The Bomb here 👉🏽 youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ1eSm2ilMcA

----------------
This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel.
If you like what we do, you can also find us here:
Instagram 👉🏽 instagram.com/bbcworldservice
Twitter 👉🏽 twitter.com/bbcworldservice
Facebook 👉🏽 facebook.com/bbcworldservice
BBC World Service website 👉🏽 bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio

Thanks for watching and subscribing!
#BBCWorldService #WorldService #kennedy #krushchev #cubanmissilecrisis #nuclearwar #coldwar