#41: Stanislav Petrov, A True Hero
If I’m being honest, there are probably loads of people out there who could be held responsible for stopping World War Three. Heck, there’s probably some World War Three or other being stopped basically every day. It definitely feels these days like we could now be on the brink of it.
But that doesn’t make Stanislav Petrov’s particular story any less remarkable. As a Soviet soldier, he disobeyed orders and did not retaliate when faced with a warning of an American missile attack that he believed to be a false alarm. Had he not done so, all hell would have broken loose.