The Effect Of The Middle Eastern Conflict

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 Cuban Missile Crisis was a dangerous and direct confrontation in the year 1962 between the Soviet Union and the United States over the existence of missile sites in Cuba. Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet premier positioned Soviet military missile in Cuba that had come under the Soviet power since the victory of the Cuban Revolution (Lockwood, Lockwood and Lockwood 15). This crisis occurred during the cold war and was the instant when the two superior powers came nearer to the nuclear conflict. The crisis was distinct in a number of ways featuring miscalculations and calculations as well as secret and direct miscommunications and communications among the two sides. The dramatic catastrophe was also featured by the fact that it was mainly played out at the Kremlin level and the white house with relatively diminutive input from the respective bureaucracies normally included in the foreign policy process (Blight., et al 64). This essay will discuss the Cuban Missile Crisis and the impact of the United States and Russia.

On the dawn of October 16th 1962 began a 13 day standoff that would be formally known to the western world as the Cuban Missile Crisis. Growing tensions between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) resulted in the closest the world has ever been to all-out nuclear war. This essay will talk about the initial weaponization of nuclear power, the events that led up to the missile crisis, the thirteen days the missile crisis took place and the measures taken to stop nuclear war.

After World War II, the United States and the USSR established themselves as the two most dominant nations in the world. Though they were tentative allies throughout the war, they came to distrust each other as direct rivals. Throughout the Cold War, the United States attempted to contain the spread of Communism, endorsing democratic regimes in Asian, Latin American, and African countries. The conflict reached its peak in October of 1962 in the Cuban Missile Crisis which was triggered by the Soviet deployment in Cuba of intermediate and medium-range ballistic nuclear-armed missiles with nuclear warheads. Although deeply challenging Americans’ tactical interventions, the Cuban Missile Crisis revealed the sophistication of the U.S. intelligence community, especially in its capability to collect and analyze information. Indeed, the American intelligence discovered the Soviet Union’s missiles through diverse intelligence gathering methods, such as aerial photoreconnaissance, human intelligence and advanced signal interceptions. This intelligence not only revealed critical information about the Soviet’s missiles, military units and weapons present in Cuba but also prevented an imminent nuclear war, hence demonstrating the power and war strategies deployed through espionage while questioning the right balance between its morality and necessity.

All throughout history from the from the pre-modern period all the way to the contemporary period, there have been major events both inside and outside of the middle east that have had an impact on the middle eastern communities. While some were more drastic than others, they all had an impact one way or another that helped shape the society we know of today.

The occurrence of the Cuban missile crisis remains the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. The placement of Soviet nuclear weaponry on the island of Cuba in October 1962, sparked thirteen days in which the Cold war grew increasingly hotter as tensions between the two superpowers escalated. However, despite marking a turning point in US-Soviet relations it could be argued that Operation Anadyr cannot wholly account for the disharmony between the United States and the Soviet Union. This can be seen as despite reaching a visible climax in 1962 -with the Cuban missile crisis- the Cold war remained largely a political stalemate between the two superpowers. The incompatible ideologies of the United States and Soviet Union served as the primary cause for the disharmony between the two nations, as the competing systems subsequently meant the US and USSR were unable to coexist harmoniously. However, a decline in the political influence and military capabilities of the Soviet Union, accompanied by increasingly an aggressive US foreign policy following the election of Kennedy served to exacerbate the long standing ideological divide between the two superpowers.

In October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. It was a direct and dangerous confrontation that placed the two superpowers closest to a nuclear conflict. During the crisis, a fragile peace hung by only a thread for 13 days as the United States and the Soviet Union performed the diplomatic dance that nearly led to nuclear holocaust. We will attempt to answer what the United States as well as the Soviet’s national interests and threats were that led to this action. I will address what course of action the United States and Soviet Union took as these events unfolded and finally describe the outcome of such actions as they transpired and how the

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a crucial moment in American history. As tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union rose, so did the risk of nuclear war. The Soviets, under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev, were in a position to strike the United States with nuclear missiles based in Cuba. This uncertain time caused much concern for the citizens of the United States and its President, John F. Kennedy (Brubaker, 2001).

While the Cold War never brought upon much direct conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, it spanned for over 40 years. However, it was also the closest turning point to nuclear war as well as the first documented instance of mutual assured destruction. This doctrine, also known as MAD, is a policy of military strategy and national security policy in which the complete utilization of weapons of mass destruction by enemies would completely destroy them both. Such is the case for the two main superpowers during the Cold War. The “13 Days” of the Cuban Missile Crisis marked the most dangerous encounter in the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. This was because the crisis of nuclear power brought about a direct clash between the Soviet Union and America, nuclear weapons dominated a political dispute, and the entire world was in grave jeopardy.

Background: In the midst of the Cold War and the Arab-Israeli conflict, conflict arose over Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal. This was of particular concern due to Nasser’s increased connection with the Soviet Union, through the Czech Arms agreement and the Aswan Dam. Following Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal, Great Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt. In facing this crisis, the U.S. had to consider Cold War politics with the Soviet Union, relations with Arab and Israeli nations, and relations with the invading powers

These missiles were capable of dropping atomic bombs on U.S. cities, and, suddenly, the world was on the verge of nuclear war. Fortunately, after a scary 13-day confrontation between the countries, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, negotiated with the U.S. and removed nuclear-armed Soviet missiles from Cuba in exchange for U.S. withdrawal of its current missiles in Turkey and Italy, and to no longer attempt to overthrow Castro (“Fidel Castro”). The crisis not only impacted the 1960s era by provoking fear among people all over the world, but it also forever changed the testing of nuclear warfare in the years to come. Through its friendly yet

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a key part of the Cold War, and one which major scholars and historians see as the closest the world has come to thermonuclear war. This has made it one of the most documented events of the Cold War, with journal entries, books and films being made about the defining thirteen day period, each giving a unique perspective and overview of the crisis. The fact that both the United States and the Soviet Union managed to avoid the use of nuclear weapons is seen by many as a victory in itself; President Kennedy claiming afterward that the chances of a calamity were ‘somewhere between one out of three and even’. Proposing therefore the idea it was a form of Russian roulette, nuclear weapons playing the role of the revolver. This fascination with how adjacent the two superpowers seemingly were, plus the consequences that could have prevailed has kept the public and academics captivated for the last 50 years.

In October of 1962, the world cautiously observed the emotional standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States of America amid the discovery of Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic and tactical missiles on the island of Cuba. Just how close the world came to a nuclear disaster over this confrontation is still debated to this day, but the escalation of this crisis to the levels that it reached could have caused “the deaths of 100 million Americans and over 100 million Russians” (Allison 2012). The one side of this story that often gets left untold is just how the situation got to where it did and what mistakes, if any, did the American Intelligence Community make in the days, weeks, and months leading up to it. After 50 years of study

were chosen by God to set up a state of Israel where they could not be

the conflict in the middle east between 1948-1973 was not purely fuelled by the interest and concerns of the superpowers but rather of a series of conflictual incidents, aswell as the main wars that took place from the years from 1948-1967 such as the: 1948 War, The Six Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur war of 1973. But although the conflict was not fuelled by the superpowers, the influence of the superpowers and the reach of the superpowers into the Middle East was evident in the years both prior and following 1978. But even despite the influence and interests of the superpowers between and including 1948-1967 being undeniably evident, the extent of this influence cannot be said to have “fuelled the conflict”.