Cuban Missile Crisis: The Brink of Global Nuclear War Essay

In 1962, Cuba was convinced that the USA was planning to attack them and asked the Soviet Union for military assistance. The USSR sent Cuba materials to build missile bases and launch sites. When President Kennedy realized that Cuba could launch missiles into America, he demanded that the USSR remove its weapons and troops. The Americans formed a naval blockade as the world stood nervously on the edge of a nuclear war. The USSR removed its weapons despite protests from Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

This Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the biggest events in American history. After World War II, much of Europe was left in ruins. Europe had been divided into two sections: eastern and western by the Iron Curtain. The Soviet Union and many new governments in Eastern Europe were communists, controlling everything from businesses to schools and people. As a result, the Cold War began with the Soviet Union and the United States became rivals competing to recruit other countries to their side.

The relationship between Castro and Khrushchev was cemented between 1959-1962 as the Soviets gained Castro’s trust by buying Cuban sugar crops two years in advance, as well as accepting trade and economic assistance (Nathan 38). The Soviet surface to air missiles (SAMs) began being shipped to Cuba in the spring of 1962, in response to the U.S. Jupiter missiles placed in Turkey (Nathan 75). Eventually, the two nations would sign the Russia-Cuba Pact in August, 1962, and the shipment of Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) began (Nathan xxiv). “Fidel Castro accepted the Russian arguments that Cuba needed to accept missiles for its self-defense. Castro did not accept the logic but, as a member of the Soviet Bloc, felt Cuba had a duty to sustain socialism….(Nathan 76).”

Most missile sites consisted of SA-2 SAMs and MRBMs; most of which were in North Cuba close to the U.S. Kennedy saw this as a threatening act and called in for a naval "quarantine" line of ships to block shipments of missiles. Kennedy did not call it a blockade as that sounded more or less like a term used in war. Kennedy then ordered for Krushchev to dismantle the sites and return all offense weapons. Krushchev did not stop but most ships either turned back or had nothing dangerous. On October 26, close to the missile sites being operational, Krushchev finally considered a deal with Kennedy to dismantle the sites, for he too feared nuclear confrontation. The deal was that if the U.S. did not invade Cuba and that they took their Jupiter missiles in Turkey back, the Soviets would take their missiles(Office of the Historian). A few days later the deal was made and nuclear war was averted. Through the whole solution, however, Castro was never regared and left as a pawn. Nevertheless, the world changing events of the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis brought three nations into conflict that ultimately Castro would see to wage war on one and ally with the

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a product of American paranoia to a great extent, for it was the underlying factor that triggered the USSR and Cuba’s actions. The USSR’s actions were actually their means of defending themselves, in reply to what America had done (placing missiles in Turkey). America was obsessed with preventing Communism, for it would threaten America’s ideology of Capitalism and take a toll in America’s economy, stability and peace. Thus, they took very extreme measures. Furthermore, the reason Cuba sought protection from the USSR was because it wanted to protect itself from an attack from America; Cuba’s actions were a reaction to America’s behavior. The USSR took advantage of the situation in Cuba to gain a foothold in an area that was crucial to USA’s safety. This act led to the escalations of tensions, and became a high-stakes dispute

This all started when Fidel Castro decided to overthrow the government of Cuba, run by a dictatorial President Fulgencio Batista (“Bay of Pigs Invasion”). After Cuba fell under Castro’s rule, he cut American power in Cuba, which did not appease to the US. He then teamed up with the Soviet Union which was the final straw for Americans and the US cut all sugar imports from Cuba. Because of this, the Soviet Union agreed to buy sugar from Cuba to prevent the fall of Cuba’s economy (“Bay of Pigs Invasion”). At this time, President Eisenhower was in office and decided Castro and his communistic rule with Russia had to stop. With the motivation of needing to stop the forming Communism, he issued the training of Cuban refugees and planned on sending these troops into Cuba to stop Fidel Castro. This is where Kennedy came in. After Eisenhower's term had ended, Kennedy took over with this plan, at first not agreeing with this because of possible conflicts it could cause. In the end, Kennedy, being persuaded by the CIA that the US’s involvement would stay quiet, agreed to send the troops into the Bay of Pigs, the southern shore of Cuba (“Bay of Pigs Invasion”). On April 17th, the plan went into effect after realizing too late that this invasion was too small to be successful and too big to be kept a secret. The invasion fell apart rapidly, ships sinking as they arrived, paratroopers landing in the wrong places, and finally with Castro’s troops surrounding the refugees. In less than 24 hours, the refugees surrendered, 114 dead and 1,100 captured and taken prisoner (“Bay of Pigs Invasion”). Having all the power in this event, Kennedy could decide to go with it or stop it, but after saying yes realized too late when he should’ve stopped. This invasion turned out to be a complete failure in the end, and Kennedy should’ve considered the thought of Castro’s troops waiting to surround them, and

After the U-2 incident the Bay Of Pigs Invasion begins on April 7th 1961 when CIA backed rebels attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro and his government in Cuba. The invasion failed miserably and the United States is left looking like the enemy. The failed Pay Of Pigs Invasion resulted in a communist backed Cuba and provided the framework to the Cuban Missile

Before the Bay of Pigs invasion began, many events took place that preceded and caused the invasion. Ever since Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista, the former dictator of Cuba, the United States was suspicious of Cuba's seemingly communist behavior. Batista had always been pro-American and anti-communist, but Castro governed Cuba differently. Castro believed the United States had no right to have businesses in Cuba. He reduced the influence of American business in Cuba and even seized control of the American-run telephone company in Cuba. Castro also established diplomatic ties with Soviet Russia to stay in power. He accepted loans from Russia so that he could support an army and keep Cuba from an economic collapse. All of these actions caused the United Sates to distrust Castro. This distrust was amplified when Castro publicly announced that he was pro-communist in July of 1959. Because of this

An infamous cold war blunder. A failed invasion. It is also considered as one of John F Kennedy’s worst foreign policy failures after he took office. All these facts are known as The Bay of Pigs Invasion. In 1959, the Cuban dictator Batista was overthrown by Fidel Castro. Castro and the Cubans were fed up with the American Corporations owning over half of Cuba’s sugar plantation and a majority of their cattle. He wanted to reduce the American influence on the island. In 1960, Castro added to that anger by established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. To answer back, U.S. responded by prohibiting the importation of Cuban Sugar and they supported Batista because he had done so much for them. After that in 1961, the relation between

Kennedy defeated Nixon and became President of the United States. It was also during this time that the Soviet Union announced that it would support “wars of national liberation”. Kennedy took this announcement as a challenge. This led to the battle on Cuba’s Bay of Pigs, where a force of 1,400 was crushed by Castro’s troops. After this incident the relations between the U.S and the Soviets was deteriorating. “A perilous Cold War confrontation came next, in October 1962” (Henretta et al., 2015, p. 756). On October 22, the U.S spotted Soviet built missile bases in Cuba. The United States was concerned that this meant war, however, in on October 25, the ships carrying the Soviet missiles turned back. While Khrushchev promised to dismantle the

The conditions for the Bay of Pigs invasion were set by a political power shift in Cuba. In 1959 a Cuban revolution led to the overthrow of President Fulgencia Batista, who was replaced by leftist Fidel Castro ("The Bay of Pigs”). Castro quickly reorganized and rebuilt the Cuban government. Much to the dismay of the United States, this new government severed the ties between Cuba and the United States, expropriated any “U.S. economic assets in Cuba,” and began building a strong relationship with the Soviet Union ("The Bay of Pigs”). Due to Cuba’s close geographic location, the United States saw revolutionized Cuba as a threat to national security.

To begin with, Fidel Castro, a Communist revolutionary and politician, seized power in Cuba during a violent revolution in 1959 and aligned with the Soviet Union. Cuba was extremely dependent on military and economic aid from the Soviets. Although the US believed that Cuba did not like Castro, most Cubans actually supported his socialist regime, and believed it benefited their country. The US had already tried to overthrow Castro’s communist government during the Bay of Pigs invasion. However, they had failed due to

The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the Cold War directly to America’s doorstep. This event marks the only real threat during the Cold War to America itself and not just America’s interests in various countries around the world. Before the events in Cuba, the fighting had been contained to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. This event marked the first time that communism posed a direct threat to the American homeland and put the United States itself at risk of an attack. President Kennedy knew that long-range missile sites in Cuba posed a direct threat to American security and had to be removed. Instead of bombing the sites or using ground troops to remove them, he opted to blockade the island to prevent the Soviet Union from delivering any more

The turmoil brewing in Cuba began in the 1950s, prior to the Kennedy presidency. Fidel Castro staged a coup d’etat in Cuba, overthrowing Fulgencio Batista from power and beginning the Cuban Revolution. With Batista, the United States had a friendly and amicable relationship, but with Castro, the United States was immediately turned away for a stronger relationship with communist Soviet Union. This new relationship Cuba developed led to the United States formulating a plan known as the Bay of Pigs.

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