The Brink Of Nuclear War: The Standoff Between The US & The Soviet Union | World | Timeline

The Cold War: When nuclear weapons kept the entire world on the edge of . – Mutually Assured Destruction. As Russia, China and the USA flex their military muscles on the global stage today, ‘. World’ takes a close look at the last time we were threatened by the might of world superpowers: The Cold War. In this episode: - The world steps to the edge of annihilation as the Soviet Union starts to place nuclear warheads in Cuba. Delicate negotiations between Presidents Kennedy and Krushchev bring the crisis to a peaceful close. - Vietnam: This small nation far from the Cold War front in Europe rebounds from French colonial oppression with a desire for communism. The USA decides to send in its own troops to stop the spread of communism into SE Asia. - Czechoslovakia tries out ‘communism with a human face’ by relaxing control of the press, and allowing a limited free the market. This lasts 8 months before soviet tanks arrive overnight and violently crush the new freedoms.