![](https://strategicdemands.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Arkhipov_1926-1998-221x300.png)
53 years ago today, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, second-in-command Vasili Arkhipov of the Soviet submarine B-59 refused to agree with his Captain’s order to launch nuclear torpedos against US warships and beginning a nuclear war between the superpowers