Cuban Missile Crisis Essay examples

Thirteen days. For some, it seemed like a lifetime. Thirteen days. For others, it was the scariest moments of their lives. Just thirteen short days to prevent a nuclear war. After Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government, he turned Cuba into a communist regime. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics decided to provide Cuba with Soviet aid. Soon after, The United States found evidence of nuclear missiles. The Cuban Missile Crisis was an important time in both Cuban and American history. Castro’s Cuba was just the beginning, things then started to intensify with Soviet aid, and culminated with the United States responding to end it all.

On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy “informed the world” that the Soviets were building secretive missile bases in Cuba, very close to Florida. President Kennedy decided to take the peaceful route in handling is major crisis. As

The Cold war began due to political and military tension due to World War II. The Soviet Union and America were two world superpowers that fought for a change in government and world supremacy. America feared a communist expansion from the Soviet Union and created many policies, laws, legislations, and pacts to protect democracy on the home front as well as internationally. The Cold War stemmed from the Soviet Union’s failure to maintain their integrity to the group of nations in the Yalta and Potsdam Conference. Soviet leader, Stalin invaded Eastern Europe and started the communist expansion in regions that were promised to be untouched. The consequences of his actions resulted in the Cold War. American reactions to the Cold War were justified

The Cold War - an ideological conflict between Communist and non-Communist nations, started after World War II. It happened because of the disagreement of the Allies - United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union on how to govern Germany. Another reason was that it was because of nuclear weapons. This happened because when two nations have destructive power on their hand, they started to doubt if they can have trust that power in other nations

During WWII there was a power struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States. Then after the atomic bomb that the U.S. sent to Japan it was heightened because of the threat of the nuclear war. This then was the beginning of the Cold War. It was the struggle between two world superpowers. Although the bomb was the “beginning” of the Cold War there were many other causes to this war. For example the two both had different political systems. The U.S. is based on democracy, capitalism and freedom. U.S.S.R. is based on dictatorship and communism and control which was a big no to America because they feared of a communist attack. In the end the two allied forces broke up. Truman also disliked Stalin which was another

The US wanted to spread democracy and supported countries with economic assistance who democratically ruled or attempting to be democratically ruled. The Marshall Plan gave financial assistance to countries in Europe to rebuild their nations. Unfortunately Russia did not receive any financial benefits of the Marshall Plan, due to their desire to not appear weak. The US pledged to assist any country who was trying to resist or overthrow the influence of communism. NATO was an alliance of democratic nations who promised to support each other if someone attacked a country. Russia saw this as a US attempt to dominate the world. Russia in response, created the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact was in essence a Soviet version of NATO. Each country was supporting any country that was aligned with their ideology. For example, the US supported South Korea whom they had occupied during WWII , while North Korea was supported by their WWII occupying force, Russia. In June of 1950, the North Korean Army, weaponized by Russia, invaded South Korea. In response, the UN forces attacked and pushed the North Korean army across the 38th parallel. In November of 1950, the communist army of China sends hundreds of thousands of soldiers and pushes the UN army to retreat due to heavy losses. With the Cold War in full swing, the US strengthened its

The origins of the Cold War started because of how World War II ended. The Yalta Conference in 1945 is when the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt discussed the organization of Europe. The first tension was caused in the Middle East. Soviet troops occupied parts of northern Iran during this time, and they hoped to pressure Iran, so Iran will grant them access to their oil fields. But the British and Americans pressured Stalin to remove their forces. Also during this same time, the Soviets installed pro-communist governments in Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. They spread communism by claiming it was no different than the US dominating Latin American and Britian maintaining it’s own empire. However, Stalin was violating the promise of free elections in Poland that was agreed at the Yalta Conference in 1945. Another huge conflict that arises after the war was the Iron Curtain. The Iron Curtain was the name of the boundary between the free West and the communist East in Europe. During this postwar reconstruction, Stalin tightened his control, in fear of war with the West. He jailed or murdered millions of Soviet

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the only devastating event in U.S. to ever bring the country into DEFCON-2. Ever since World War 2, the U.S. and the Soviet Union have been rivals(Jeffery, Riley, 4). The Soviets later aligned themselves with the small country of Cuba. It is a small piece of land in enemy territory, but it is very important to them because they have to protect their allies at all times. For this reason, The USSR placed missiles in Cuba to keep them prepared for an invasion. In 1962, The two huge superpowers brought the Cold War to a nuclear crisis in Cuba which led to DEFCON-2, the closest point to a nuclear war(The Choices Program)

In 1961 there was a wall build with barbed wire to separate the east and the west in Berlin. This resulted in a riot from the citizens who proceeded to attack offices, military officials, and threw rocks at military vehicles like tanks and cargo trucks. The people of Berlin were outraged, people were forced away from their friends and family and were not allowed to cross the border of the wall because Khrushchev wanted to gain control of the entirety of Germany.

The Cold war dated from 1947-1991. It was characterized by both political and military superiority between United States, which was backed by its NATO allies, and Soviet Union that led the communist side. The cold war was mainly started after the success of the alliance that was formed against Nazi Germany. This competition supremacy on nuclear warfare attracted other countries that also started making nuclear weapons due to the tension that existed in the world. Both sides directed huge sums of money to their military budgets with each side trying to outdo the other.

The Cold War was a response to the perceived threat by the United States that Communism would interfere with national security and economic stakes in the world. It was a perceived threat by communist countries that the United States would take to the world. During the Cold War, the United States, Russia, and other countries made efforts to avoid another world war, while warring in proxy in other lands. The devastation caused by the hydrogen bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the next technological advancements became only deterrents to the public. Governments had their own agenda which would result in worsening the strain between nations. The United States hid behind a curtain of nationalism resulting in increased

On one of the following days, Kennedy asked if the Air Force could take out all of the missiles in Cuba. The Air Force then told the President that with that process there would be 10-20,000 civilian casualties. Kennedy then decided to set up a blockade around Cuba. US ships prepared for a quarantine. The press then learned about the nuclear missles and questioned them about it, the President asked the reporters not to reveal the news so he could announce it to the American people on TV. The Soviets had instrustion to launch the missiles within minutes of Kennedy’s speech. After Castro listened to the President’s speech he moblized all of Cuba’s military forces.

When speaking about the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy said, "It is insane that two men, sitting on opposite sides of the world, should be able to decide to bring an end to civilization” (“Nuclear Test Ban Treaty” 1). the Cuban Missile Crisis was a time where these two men, Kennedy and Khrushchev, had the power in their hands to end civilization. In order to understand the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis one must understand, the Cold war drama; the dangerous crisis; and its importance today.

The Cold War was a geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle mainly between the two superpowers, The United States of America and the USSR. Although the USSR and US were the two superpowers that initiated the conflict, other countries such as Vietnam, North and South Korea, and Cuba had major involvement in the Cold War. The US was a capitalist country while the USSR was a communist country. There are many reasons, that when combined caused the Cold War to start. Some of the most important reasons were the fear of the USSR’s expansion of communism into Eastern Europe

The Cuban Missile Crisis Between 1959 and 1962 relations between USA and Cuba deteriorated. Up until 1959, America had kept General Batista in power over Cuba and had strong links, especially in trade. Castro’s ascent to power in 1959 triggered the short-term events contributing to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The main cause of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the cold relationship between the two great superpowers: America and Russia.