Cold War DBQ Essay

The Cuban Missile Crisis is one of the most impactful events in the Cold War due to the effect that it had after it happened. The effect of the Cuban Missile Crisis created many changes on the direct and indirect relations between the United States and Soviet Union. The Cuban Missile Crisis spanned 13 days in October 1962 that almost brought the world into a nuclear war. This all began when a United States U-2 spy plane Cuba took photos of Soviet SS-4 medium range ballistic missiles getting setup for the ability to launch.This caused the U.S leaders to be thrown into a panic because the Cuban Government had very strong ties with the Soviet Union who are the United States biggest enemies at the time. Another reason the United States was very fearful is because the coast of Cuba is only 90 miles of the coast of Florida. When President John F Kennedy was told of the missile threat in Cuba he immediately called a meeting with his closest advisors on how to react. There were many ideas on how to react to the missiles, some of Kennedy’s advisors wanted to invade Cuba, others wanted to send a warning to the Soviet Union. JFK finally decided to send a naval blockade to cuba for the purpose of stopping more supplies reaching the Cuban military from Russia. The blockade even though the blockade did not include attacking anyone, it was still seen as an act of aggression by the Soviet Union. The U.S was

Soviet economic and military support was crucial for Cuba. Soviet movements often aroused strong disagreement from the United States. In 1962 the Soviet Union installed nuclear missile bases in Cuba, the world stood at the brink of

Imagine that you are John F. Kennedy in 1962, and you find out that your ally, Cuba, has your enemy, Soviet Union, has ICBMS (intermediate- range ballistic missiles) & Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers, that could reach the United States and aimed toward the United States. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a thirteen-day confrontation between the United States, Cuba, and the Soviet Union. Cuba had the missiles there for like three months before one of the U.S had a spy plane that figured out that Cuba had the Soviets Missiles. For a while, the U.S had Intel that Cuba had the missiles but JFK did not believe that Cuba was betraying them. These missiles were only ninety miles away from Florida the U.S. issued a military blockade to prevent further missiles from reaching Cuba. When all the offensive missiles and light bombers were taken from Cuba the blockade was initially ended on November 21, 1962. Although the Cuban Missile Crisis ruined relations with the United States of America and Cuba, it impacted the blockade between the United States of America and Cuba, the respect for the United States of America, and the Bay of the Pigs.

On the one hand, there was tension internationally with soviet Russia. As their manifesto spread, tensions grew higher. This was a huge topic of interest during the 1960 presidential election. Both Nixon and Kennedy understood the importance of preventing the spread of communism, and domestic tranquility. Shortly after Kennedy won the election, tensions peaked. As communism spread in nearby Cuba, Kennedy decided to try and slow the spread by sending armed Cubans in to the country to overthrow the new regime. The troops surrendered almost as soon as they had landed. This disaster became known as the “Bay of Pigs.” Fueled by this moral victory, the Soviets attempted to move nuclear missiles to Cuba. This attempt was met by a blockade from the United States Navy. This “Cuban Missile Crisis” was the peak of the international tension.

The Cuban Missile Crisis began October 16, 1962. It was at the height of the Cold War that this potentially lethal confrontation arose between the United States and the Soviet Union. A United States reconnaissance plane discovered a military stockpile of Soviet nuclear missiles and bombers in Cuba. Some historians point out that Khrushchev's real intention in deploying the missiles into Cuba was to control West Berlin. They would be used in this context as a sufficient reason for the Western powers (The USA, UK, and France) to allow him to achieve his plan. However, The government of Washington, along with President John F. Kennedy at its head, believed this to be a threat and was not willing to tolerate such a threat so close to home.

The turmoil created by World War II created a global environment where the United States and the Soviet Union could indirectly compete to expand their realm of influence and through political and economical means, undermine their adversaries. While the Cold War could have been avoided by inaction or indifference by either side, the cost of such actions would have changed the world beyond measure. The other option left to avoid the Cold War would have been direct military action (limited or complete) initiated by the United States or the Soviet Union. This situation while avoiding the Cold War would have lead to almost certain nuclear war.

armed forces, Castro felt a second attack was inevitable. Although he was reluctant to accept the missiles at the beginning, he was finally persuaded. It could be argued that Castro pursued closer relations with the Soviet Union mainly for the protection of Cuba, and therefore was more open to Soviet suggestions such as placing nuclear weapons in Cuba to ensure its security. Che Guevara, a major figure to play a central role in training the military forces for the Bays of Pigs invasion and in bringing the Soviet nuclear weapons to Cuba, stated that "all the Cuban people must become a guerrilla army, each and every Cuban must learn to handle and if necessary use firearms in defence of the nation.1" Guevara's statement suggests that if the Cuban people had to fight, they were willing to fight, which shows the Cuban enthusiasm towards protection and, therefore, towards the Soviets. The Soviets, seeing an opportunity to make their international position feel close to the one of the US, rushed to aid Castro in order to double their military strength. Having said that, it could be argued that the Cuban-Soviet relationship was inevitable due to the poor U.S.-Cuban relationship. Placing the missiles in Cuba was a huge military step for the Soviets as it could enable them to reach and destroy most of the continental U.S. And, for that reason, the Cuban Missile Crisis was an event of a very high international importance.

Cuba is the country best known for being at the center of the Cold War conflict between the U.S. and Russia because of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Union’s strategy, and the anticipated U.S. response to the Russian strategy, is described in an October 19, 1962 telegram from Andrei Gromyko, Russia’s Foreign Minister, to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union [Virtual Archive]. The Central Committee was the highest organization within communist Russia. Gromyko seems to have written the telegram to inform the Central Committee that the Russian strategy in aligning itself with Cuba seemed to be working. In the telegram Gromyko expressed his belief that “a USA military adventure against Cuba is almost impossible to imagine” because of “assurances given to us that the USA has no plans for in Cuba (which undeniably commits them in many respects)” (Gromyko). Instead, Gromyko believed that the U.S. efforts would be to try weakening Cuba by obstructing its economy, thinking that over the long term Russia would not be able to continue supporting Cuba with foreign aid in order to offset U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba (Gromyko).

The Cold War began in 1947 and was, obviously, a war fought between the Western and Eastern Blocs. The Western Bloc consisted of the United States and the allies in the National Atlantic Treaty Organization (which was formed 2 years after the war had started). The Eastern Bloc consisted of the Soviet Union (now Russia) and other communist countries like Cuba. The reason the Cold War got its name as a war that cold is because there were no large battles ever fought, it was a war of technological advances that paved the way for the types and usage of technology that our government and the governments of other countries empower today in their militaries. For this research paper the focus will primarily be on the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba. The aim of this paper is to answer the research question of “How did the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis affect the Cold War and the 3 major countries that participated in the war”? Both positive and negative effects of the war will be discussed and researched and at the end, there will be a final understanding of what truly occurred because of the Cold War and if there really were any true loser or winner.

Cuba was taken over by a communist ruler, Fidel Castro, in January of 1959 (Document D). The Soviet Union started sending over numerous troops, missiles, and nuclear weapons to station in Cuba (Document D). The US knew that they had to contain the communism in Cuba and so they placed a quarantine on it preventing ships to carry offensive weapons to Cuba (Document D). In the end, the Soviets were stopped by the quarantine and started to remove their missiles from Cuba (Document D). The US used their policy of containment by supporting Cuba at the beginning to keep communism from entering it(though it did fail), by placing a quarantine on Cuba, keeping the communism contained in Cuba, and stopping the Soviets from attacking the

Fast-forward to 1959, Fidel Castro seized control of Cuba with the help of Che Guevara, his brother Rual Castro and a couple thousand loyalists after the former dictator President Batista’s government was overthrown and he fled the country. Fidel Castro seized all U.S. assets and converted Cuba into a communist state, implemented a Civil Law System, and in 1961 when the U.S. tried to evade Cuba with the assistance of Cuban exiles, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sponsored assault was met with a more formidable adversary and consequently defeated. The result of the failed attempt sparked a newfound alliance between Cuba and the Union of Soviet Social Republics (USSR), the construction of Soviet missile bases, and beginning of the Cuban Missile

The Cuba unexpected news broadcast through worldwide in January 1959 the president cuban Fidel Castro declared that they were under control with Communism. Because the time It seems from the small island of cuba had many troubles and so this cause the cuba became a communist. The Bay of Pigs was an ideas for invading the city on bay of pigs with the help of U.S and cuban who were been exiled by castro because those who never followed all his rules will be removed at cuba. After all Soviet Union begins transporting their missiles added more of troops. United States had declared from the quarantine line they needed to prevent communist since the disease spread out in cuba. In October 28, the missiles already removed from cuba and to America and

The United States and Cuba have struggled to find common ground in regards to foreign policy over the past few decades. In the Cold War, Fidel Castro, who would later become the dictator of Cuba took control of Havana and with his revolutionaries overthrew Fulgencio Batista. The United States disagreed with the communist ideology of Castro, but let him rule anyway. The United States took economic issue only after Cuba began increasing trade with the communist Soviet Union. What began as a reducing sugar imports from Cuba soon became a ban on almost of the products Cuba was exporting. The Bay of Pigs invasion, where the United States tried to oust Fidel Castro with help from the Central Intelligence Agency, was unsuccessful and deepened the rift between these two countries. Cuba retaliated by granting permission to the Soviet Union to construct a missile base on Cuba. The United States then threatened to invade Cuba. This famous Cuban Missile Crisis was eventually averted. More importantly, it effectively demonstrates the mistrust between the United States and Cuba.

From a global standpoint, the situation between Cuba and the United States was only increasing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. As Castro became more communist, he began to develop a strong economic and military relationship with the Soviet Union. As Castro and the Soviet Union developed this relationship, one might ask why Cuba was willing to give up some of its autonomy to the Soviets. After all, the Cubans had just broken free from United States’ control and finally had full and complete sovereignty; why after this revolution would Cuba immediately revert back to a system where a superpower had power over them? From a realist perspective, Cuba had much to gain in terms of relative power from this relationship. Not only did they become allies with one of the world’s largest superpowers, thus giving them increased security, they also received several weapons shipments from the Soviets. Hence, Cuba came to look stronger and have more relative power by this relationship with the Soviets. Realists also note that the USSR benefitted from this relationship; in a time when the US and USSR were going tit-for-tat in terms of power and arms, the USSR successfully expanded their power bases to the Western Hemisphere, bringing communism and the Soviets closer to the US and expanding their power relative to the United States. This

Soviet leader Krushchev quickly agreed to protect Cuba. Cuba was in a strategic location to place missile launch sites that could strike nearly all of the continental United States. During the Cold War the United States had many missile launch sites placed all over the world and pointed at the Soviet Union. The United States was allied with Turkey, so the American military had a base there to work their U-2 from and many missile sites pointed at the Soviet Union. These missiles in Turkey made Krushchev want to build surface to air missile sites on Cuba to balance the power and show his force. Krushchev would soon start sending ships and submarines loaded with equipment to start building medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles. In May 1962, Krushchev wrote in his memoirs: “This will be a means of protecting Cuba from another U.S. Invasion of Cuba like the Bay of Pigs in 1961, also to counter the U.S. emerging lead of deploying strategic missiles.”