Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Troops in Cuba fear an attack is imminent, as alarm grows around the world.

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Fidel Castro urges Khrushchev to strike first.

The Soviet premier warns President Kennedy, in a long and emotional letter, that “the knot of war” has been tied - soon "even he who tied it will not have the strength to untie it”.

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

00:00 The logic of war
04:59 The news reaches Cuba
07:35 Khrushchev’s scars of WWII
08:31 The UN meeting
11:44 Khrushchev’s letter – The ‘Knot of War’ 
15:15 Castro’s anxiety
19:40 Kennedy receives a letter

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

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