When Fidel Castro was asked how close the world came to nuclear war in October 1962, he replied: "This close", holding his finger and thumb barely apart.

Forty years later Cuban and Russian sources have shed new light on the Cuban missile crisis. BBC Four presents the perspective from the other side challenging the American view.

We have always known the American version of events, but now it appears the situation was even more dangerous than believed at the time. This programme reveals that the US underestimated the dangers; they didn't realise Soviet forces on Cuba already had nuclear weapons and that invasion by the US would precipitate their use.

Previous documentaries on BBC Four

Further links

Radio 4: 40 Years On
Radio 4 remembers the Cuban missile crisis

Fourteen Days in October
Detailed overview of the crisis

A Political Perspective after 40 Years
Includes documents and audio clips from the Kennedy White House

Library of Congress
Includes Kruschev's letter to Kennedy on the "despotic demands of the USA"

Cuban Missile Crisis
Summary from the Marxists.org Internet Archive

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