1983 CE
Able Archer NATO Command Room
About this moment
Able Archer 83 was a military exercise conducted by NATO that took place in November 1983, as part of the annual Able Archer exercise. It simulated a period of heightened nuclear tensions between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, leading to concerns that it could have been mistaken for a real attack by the Soviet Union. The exercise is considered by some to be one of the closest moments the world came to nuclear war during the Cold War.