Deutsche Presse-Agentur
August 1, 2013
1983 British papers reveal planned World War III queen’s speech
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Moscow…became seriously alarmed when NATO conducted a military exercise, codenamed Able Archer and similating a nuclear attack, which it was convinced was cover for a genuine strike.
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LONDON: Britain faced “the deadly power of abused technology,” Queen Elizabeth II was to tell the nation in the event of the Cold War turning hot, according to government papers from 1983 and released on Thursday.
The script was drawn up by civil servants as part of a war games exercise, called WINTEX-CIMEX 83, during one of the most tense years of the Cold War.
“Now this madness of war is once more spreading through the world and our brave country must again prepare itself to survive against great odds,” the queen was to say.
“We all know that the dangers facing us today are greater by far than at any time in our long history,” she was to continue. “The enemy is not the soldier with his rifle nor even the airman prowling the skies above our cities and towns, but the deadly power of abused technology.”
It is unlikely that the queen has ever in fact seen the text, which was released by the National Archives along with other government files from 1983.
The Cold War was particularly tense in 1983. US president Ronald Reagan had infuriated the Soviet Union by calling it the “evil empire” and deploying US cruise missiles to Europe.
Tensions worsened when the Soviet Union shot down a South Korean passenger plane, killing 269 people, and described it as a “US provocation.”
Moscow then became seriously alarmed when NATO conducted a military exercise, codenamed Able Archer and similating a nuclear attack, which it was convinced was cover for a genuine strike.
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