Cuban Atomic War: The Cuban Missile Crisis

World War III is an alarming event to ponder on right? Especially if that war would be nuclear. This event almost happened on multiple occasions, but this is going to be about a nerve-racking time in 1962. What happened in 1962 you may ask? The Cuban Missile Crisis. Just as the year was coming to an end an American spy plane took pictures of missiles in an island 103 miles off the coast of Florida, Cuba. Can theorize who put the missiles there? The USSR put them there because Cuba was a neighboring communist country to the US, so if the US were to do something the USSR could shoot the missiles. Mind you, these weapons are nuclear and as we should all know that is never excellent. After this very stressful time for the US and the USSR how did

“I know there is a God--and I see a storm coming; If he has a place for me, I believe I am ready,” is the Abraham Lincoln quote, written on a slip of paper, that President John F. Kennedy kept in his pocket (Dobbs 14). And if ever there was a storm coming, it was evident to Kennedy the morning of October 16, 1962: the date Kennedy was made aware of Soviet missiles in Cuba. This was the testing ground, the closest the world has ever been to nuclear war, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 16-28 October, 1962. The future for millions of lives depended upon the ability of United States President John F. Kennedy and Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev to reach an agreement in which both did not lose face, and more importantly, the world survived.

Max Frankel, an article writer for the Smithsonian Magazine, has done a lot of research on the Cuban Missile Crisis and has concluded that Khrushchev incited America not from a position of strength, but from a sense of weakness and frustration. Frankel also concluded that historically, the Soviets and the United States were never as close to nuclear war as it appeared to the public. The world was so close to a nuclear war, many countries were willing to limit their nuclear power if other countries did the same.

This was the time period of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Union had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, which had recently become communist in February of 1959 (Taylor). President Kennedy had ordered the Soviet Union to remove them and placed a “quarantine” around Cuba to prevent any more from entering (Library of Congress). There were even threats of the United States invading Cuba to destroy the weapons (The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962). This standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis and is said to be the closest point during the Cold War to an actual war and the use of nuclear weapons.

In his article, “The Influence of Nuclear Weapons in the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Marc Trachtenberg considers three historical approaches to the role that nuclear arms played during the 1962 conflict: first, the view that nuclear arms played no role at all, with U.S. and Soviet weapons cancelling each other out, second, the interpretation that the risk involved with nuclear warfare heavily influenced policy making, and finally the view that the strategic imbalance of nuclear force, characterized by a substantial American advantage, significantly impacted the outcome of the crisis. In weighing the three interpretations, Trachtenberg dismisses the first in supporting the existence of the second, using a variety of primary sources to identify instances when decision-makers were influenced by the risk of nuclear warfare. The focus of the article, however, is on advancing and complicating the third approach, which Trachtenberg claims is congruous with the second. In this third section, Trachtenberg advances the approach that the imbalance of nuclear capabilities impacted Soviet strategy but not American decision making. Accordingly, Trachtenberg’s article is characterized by two central claims: that risk of nuclear war influenced policy during the Cuban Missile Crisis and that American nuclear superiority disproportionately affected Soviet decision-making.

The idea both countries having hold of nuclear weapons, specifically Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), made each other frightened to advance and develop more weapons, faster and better than the other nation. This led to the creation of the first nuclear missile by the Soviets, and the first hydrogen by the Americans. The Soviet Union was more effective than the United States in producing weapons including submarine ICBMs, long range bombers, and land ICBMs (Doc 7). The sheer fact that each country possessed nuclear weapons was enough to hold back in hot combat, as both countries feared nuclear demise. The weapon that was used to fight in the war was more fear, rather than actual weapons. Another threat of nuclear war was coming from Cuba, another communist nation that was led by Fidel Castro. The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted thirteen days and was started because the United States invaded Cuba to stop nuclear missiles that were aimed at America, which were discovered by Operation Mongoose. Cuba and the Soviet Union were angered that America had discovered the missiles, and the United States was fearful that they would be launched. United States President was now John F. Kennedy, the year was 1962, and the Cold War had been going on for fifteen years, yet there was still not hot war, only the threat of it. In order to

Without any regulations on the expansions of their nuclear arsenals, both sides became interlocked into a deadly nuclear arms. “The Soviet Union tested its first atomic weapon in 1949, this made American stockpiles of nuclear bombs seem unconvincing, and the development of hydrogen bombs became relevant” (Swift). This would prompt both nations to build up nuclear stockpiles, as one nation gained a stronger and more powerful weapon the other would follow suit, in the name of having a better defensive against the other. Each nation rose one another in the race and would eventually escalate them to a breaking point. “Within John F. Kennedy’s presidency, the world stood on the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962” (Swift). In order to combat this, Kennedy exercised MAD, which foresaw the equal destruction of both sides. This became the essential turning point for political leaders and citizens of both nations, they were both bound to destroy one another. Upon agreement, the U.S.S.R dismantled its nuclear arsenal in Cuba, while the U.S did the same to theirs in Turkey. Kennedy and Khrushchev took many measures in de-escalating nuclear proliferation in order to avoid another near disaster similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The installation of Salt 1, which regulated missile stockpiles, became the first step in relieving the tensions of a nuclear

After the Cuban Missile Crisis it became clear how easy it would be to have a nuclear war, and eventually complete destruction of both countries. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred after The USSR started sending ICBM’s to Cuba and aiming them at the United States. After a tense week or so in October, the crisis was solved with the conditions that Cuba would remove the missiles and the United States would remove some of their that they had strategically placed towards the USSR. With the formation of Mutually Assured Destruction in the Kennedy Administration it became painfully obvious to both citizens of the United States as well as the citizens of the Soviet Union how close and easy it would

Many believe that the United States of America came with the resolution for the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 rather than the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and that they were to blame. However the soviets placed the nuclear missiles on Cuba because President Kennedy authorised the Bay of Pigs operation earlier that year to oust Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, leading to the crisis that arguably represents the closes time where humanity nearly wiped itself out with the power of the atom. The two countries both saw the crisis very differently as well.

The Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban missile crisis was the most dangerous of the Cold War, but

The Cuban Missile Crisis (CMC) was a 13 day standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States (U.S) regarding nuclear bases being built in Cuba. The politically charged conflict occurred on the October 14th, 1962 and almost resorted in nuclear war. The Crisis remains as an example of one of the most terrifying events to occur within history. It was an extreme threat for those of society, which existed for 13 long and endless days. If the Crisis hadn’t been adverted, countries would be annihilated and it would have caused unthinkable damage due to the use of the nuclear weapons by both the United States and the Soviet Union. The conflict could have potentially created history in the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union, as well as in the history of relations between the United States and Cuba. The struggle with the United States and Cuba contributed to the pre-existing and increasing pressure between the U.S. and the Soviet’s. Each country was struggling to solidify its power as not just a superpower, but the biggest superpower compared to anyone else in the world. Meaning, it would gain such superficial control and therefore change the world, as many comprehend it today. Thus, as a consequence, one of the most frightening events in the history of the world, even today, arose and politicians still use it in modern times as a prime example to prevent any possible errors that might once again intensify to create an event of such severity.

“We’re eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked” (Dean Rusk). The Cuban Missile Crisis put the world on the edge of its seat, and was the closest humanity has ever gotten to full-scale nuclear war. Even though the event lasted a mere two weeks (from October 14-24, 1962), it played a significant role in international politics, and its effects can still be seen today. The Cuban Missile Crisis is significant to current international relations because it proved the importance of the need for information, and the importance of taking risks.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a frightening moment for the entire world. It started October 14th, 1962 after the Soviet Union planted nuclear missiles inn Cuba. The U.S. found out that these missiles were being planted without their knowledge, but the Soviet Union continued the construction of these nuclear missile sites, even after President Kennedy, the president of the U.S., sent out a warning against these weapons in Cuba. Even after this warning, Kennedy once again found out that the construction was still happening. Following the discovery of the ongoing construction, Kennedy wanted to meet with people at the White House to solve the problem that they were encountering. There were multiple sides during their talk about the missiles. Some of the people at the meeting wanted to take a more aggressive approach and destroy these missiles and then follow up with an attack. Kennedy eventually decided to quarantine Cuba. After Kennedy quarantined Cuba, there were many messages sent between the White House and the Kremlin to try and solve the problem. The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted for thirteen extremely tense days. At the end of these thirteen days, the Cuban Missile Crisis ended with an agreement between the United States and Soviet Union. The Cuban Missile Crisis greatly impacted history. It strengthened the bond between the United States and Soviet Union, showed people how to come to a

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 reflects possibly the most precarious moment in nuclear history. For the first time, the world’s two nuclear super powers, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, were poised to destroy each other in a war of unprecedented proportion. On the brink of what may have escalated into a nuclear war, the leaders of two nations showed courageous restraint and diplomacy to avoid an exchange of brute force and unimaginable desolation. The situation was preempted by the Bay of Pigs, an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro, Prime Minister of the Republic of Cuba. Castro had gained authority through a rebellion against Fulgencio Batista, the previous Cuban dictator (Bay of Pigs). America was displeased with Castro, mainly because he was a Communist leader so close to American shores, so a plan to depose him was made, without official United States military support.

The Cuban Missile Crisis had a huge impact on society even years after it was resolved because the incident had brought our nation and the world so close to the brink of nuclear war. Before the Cuban Missile Crisis had occurred, many other factors had been piling up and building undesirable tensions between many countries. Along the way new allies and enemies were made causing more stress to the Cold War. The new bonds that formed after Cuba was taken over by Fidel Castro pushed nuclear war to the very edge.