Cold War

Iceland won all three "Cod Wars" (1958–1976) against Britain by threatening to leave NATO and ally with the Soviet Union. Leveraging its geopolitical value during the Cold War, these victories established the precedent for today's 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

In 1983, during the Cold War, a Soviet Union early warning system detected 5 US missile launches. Officer Stanislav Petrov judged it a false alarm — reasoning the US would launch everything if starting a nuclear war. He was right: the satellite had mistaken sunlight for launch flashes.