The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Beginning Of The Cold War

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a huge part in causing distrust of Communism on America’s side and why the cold war was intense. This encounter sealed the deal of concern. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a huge event that affected the relationship between America and the Soviet Union. This encounter between the two superpowers was part of proving expansion was nowhere involved with the Cold War for the Soviets. This event was one of the scariest time periods of the unknown when it came to trusting each other.

Right after the Second World War ended, the prolonged Cold War between communism and capitalism began. This war lasted about 45 years between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the fall of the common enemy, Nazism, these two nations became instant global rivals. They fought over human rights, democratic elections, individual liberties, and religious freedom. America wanted every nation to be free like itself. This push for the Soviet Union to be the same started the Cold War. Just like any other war, after it was over it brought many different new challenges to America, like great lost from war, the Red Scare, and new threats.

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.

“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.

The Cold War was brought on by the differences in economic treatment and political ideology between the US and USSR that could no longer be ignored once the common goal of fighting together as WWII drew to a close and ended. The two powerful countries saw the other country’s actions, or lack of actions, as a power grab and a threat to their own national security. Threats of nuclear attack caused many issues between the US and USSR. The two countries acted to prevent the expansion of each other’s political ideology into other countries.

What was the Cuban Missile Crisis? Many people have heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and may have learned about it during school, but they do not know the nitty gritty details of the whole fiasco. The CMC was the first threat of a nuclear world war. The real “crisis” was between the United States and the Soviet Union and not Cuba. Cuba played a relatively small role in the grand scheme of it all and was basically the field on which the two powerhouses played on. The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the most tense 13 days that the world has ever known and had the possibility of completely disintegrating the world we know today. In this paper we will learn exactly what happened.

The Cold War began at the resolution of WWII and continued into the 1990’s. The Cold War was fueled by many factors such as ideological differences, mutual mistrust, America’s fear of the spread of communism, and nuclear weapons. The war ultimately resulted in the collapse of communism. The war was supported by allied nations although the main instigators of the war were Russia and the United States.

The Cold War started before the end of World War II. It was a conflict between two great powers, the Unites States (and their allies), and the Soviet Union (and their allies). It was a race for control over the post war world. Both countries tried to spread their ideology across the world. This rivalry lasted for about 45 years. However, it was not like every other war. Fighter planes did not fly over countries to drop bombs, there were no deployment of troops, and no ground troops. The two sides never directly engaged in a battle. It was fought at different levels and in multiple different places. Although it was not a battle like other typical war, tons of money were spent on this war, especially on nuclear weapons. Europe was split into east and west, and the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union was ridiculous which included every aspect of life. Many decisions made by Presidents, namely Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy caused an impact on United State politically, economically, and socially.

North Koreans had china on their side the Chinese army the soviets giving supplies in the 1953 in the future it ends up being a bit of a stalemate the end result was the original 38th parallel border gets reinstalled this was the first real conflict of the cold war it was never US or soviet troops directly firing at one another the Us was at war with North Korea and the Chinese troops but they were kind of proxies for the soviet Union. During the same time there was two adversaries. These two were technically sophisticated adversaries both having nuclear weapons. They soon wanted to see who could dominate the most weapons it made a space race developing in the year 1975 the soviets were able to launch the first artificial satellite around the earth called Sputnik some people mistake it was the one with the dog in it but it came a few months later that sputnik two but the dog died it was alive for a bit in orbit this event happening made people nervous the US response in the year 1961 Yuri Gagarin the first human on space does come home safely the US soon goes in space in 1969 the US the first on the moon. Both of the two countries was trying to one up one another. During the same time that was happening in 1960 John F. Kennedy being elected during the cold war. He was the first catholic president during his short presidency. John F. Kennedy became

The Soviet Union and the United States were very distant during three decades of a nuclear arms race. Even though the two nations never directly had a battle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, amongst other things, was a result of the tension. The missile crisis began in October of 1962, when an American spy plane secretly photographed nuclear

35 Nikita Khrushchev, “Department of State Telegram Transmitting Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, October 26, 1962” (Moscow: 26 Oct. 1962). 36 “Black Saturday: Cuban Missile Crisis.” (The Historical Association, 27 Apr. 2010). 37 Nikita Khrushchev, “Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, October 27, 1962” (Moscow: 27 Oct. 1962). 38 Carter 33.

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

The Cuban Missile Crisis impacted the Cold War because it was a direct confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Crisis in Cuba was the closest the United States and the USSR came to nuclear war, and was one of the high tension points of the Cold War. The crisis was unique in a few ways, with calculations, miscalculations, direct and secret communications, and miscommunications on both of the two sides.

The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred as a result of the hard evidence captured by a U-2 spy plane (on the 15th October 1962) of Soviet missiles on the ground in Cuba. This event lasted thirteen days and is widely seen by most historians as the closest the world has ever come to all-out nuclear war. It is my belief that the crisis held a great significance to the Cold War, largely due to the major ease off in tensions between the USA and the USSR that occurred as a result.

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