The Influence Of Nuclear Weapons During The Cuban Missile Crisis Essay

     Did you know that our world was one time at the edge of total nuclear warfare, and a a push of a button the world as we know it could be decimated?  That was the life for some people during October 1962.  This major event in history is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

How did the world become so close to full-blown nuclear war? It all started with a deep routed conflict between the United States and Soviet Union. The U.S and the Soviet Union had different views on political and economic systems. The United States believed in Democracy, which means the people have say in what the government does. While the Soviet Union believed in Communism which means the government controls everything and ultimately leads to a dictatorship. After World War II the superpowers need to talk about post war goals. July, 1945 Churchill Brittan’s (Prime Minister), Truman (the President of the United States) and Stalin (the Soviet Union’s Dictator) all met at what is known as the Potsdam Conference. Truman and Churchill are determined to preserve Democratic government. After losing 20 million men and suffering widespread destruction. Stalin wanted to punish Germany, impose Communism on his entire nation and pay reparation for war damage. He would do this by establishing satellite nations. This meant that Germany could still be their own country, but the Soviet Union would have control over their decisions. Truman, on the other hand, believed that they should not punish Germany’s people for what Hitler had done and that Germany’s industry was critical to Europe’s recovery. Paralyzing Germany would only hurt Europe as a whole. Nearly three decades later the Potsdam Conference did nothing to bridge the divide. These two competing ideas caused tremendous conflict

Three more days and everything would have been gone. The Cuban Missile Crisis could have led to the end of the World. The Cuban Missile Crisis almost led to the end of the Earth and life because Russia tried to put missiles in Cuba causing the U.S. to set up a blockade, and almost started WW3.

History is imperative to John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

John F. Kennedy said at the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 that, “It is insane that two men, sitting on opposite sides of the world, should be able to decide to bring an end to civilization.” (Kennedy, 1963). The Cuban missile crisis was a detrimental event in the course of history. On October 22nd, 1962, John F. Kennedy gave his Cuban missile crisis oval office address. Kennedy gave this speech to inform Americans about the nuclear missile sites that the Soviet Union established in the island of Cuba. (Kennedy, President Kennedy 's Cuban Missile Crisis Oval Office Address, 1962) I chose this speech because did I not only find it very interesting, but it described very well the events that were happening at the time. In addition, the way that Kennedy informed the public and presented the speech was great in getting their attention and presenting the facts. Kennedy’s speech was televised and radio transmitted in order to better reach the general public. My father, having lived in Cuba during the Cold war and the Cuban missile crisis, has told me many stories about how life was like in the country and things that were going on. However, there was only so much that he could remember and was able to tell me. Due to this I decided to choose this speech in order to learn more about the situation in which my father grew up in and how this affected not only the later years in his life but also the ones of the other people in both Cuba and the United States. I also

Wars have been going on since the beginning of time, whether it is fighting for your religions, fighting for land, and fighting for your rights and freedoms. Some wars cause dramatic amounts of deaths, but the Cold War resulted in none. The reason there were no deaths is due to the fact that the Cold War was just that, cold. The conflicts never heated up enough per say to cause a real war. Though the Cold war itself wasn’t a war fought in battle, there were parts caused by it such as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, all of which resulted in deaths. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major factor in the Cold War and possibly the most memorable in relation to the Cold War.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13 day standoff in Cuba during the Cold War that struck fear into many American people. Joseph Roblat said, “The most terrifying moment in my life was October 1962, during the cuban missile crisis. I did not know all the facts - we have learned only recently how close we were to war - but I knew enough to make me tremble”. Missiles were in Cuba, in range of the U.S.. The world has never come so close to being in a full out Nuclear War. If the Soviets launched one of those missiles, then the U.S. would have retaliated back with the only thing as powerful as a nuclear missile, a nuclear missile. If the world were to have a nuclear war, it could wipe out civilization. The fact that the Soviet Union had the fate

The Cuban missile crisis in 1962 nearly brought a nuclear confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union. This is due to the fact that the Soviet Union put nuclear missile into Cuba and US installing missile in Turkey. The Soviet Union made friend with Cuba’s President, Fidel Castro because the US wanted to overthrow Castro. After coming to a compromise a nuclear war was averted between Cuba and the US. The sequence of events occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis begins on August 31, 1962 which eventually came to an end on October 28, 1962. However, it was not until July 1963 that the Atmospheric Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed.

A one-party socialist state was then established, and Castro became the leader. The new regime executed hundreds of people involved with the ousted government. Later, Castro formed an alliance with Russia. Cuba, a little Caribbean Island, almost caused a nuclear war. Under Castro’s request, Russian president Nikita Khrushchev agreed to deploy nuclear missiles to Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis, a crucial event in the Cold War, was resolved with an agreement between Khrushchev and

It was a battle of beliefs between leaders of powerful nations. It was a battle between Communism and Democracy. A battle that could have caused a nuclear war…...The event that I am referring to is the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban missile crisis was just one of the important events that came in the beginning of the Cold War. Some of the other events that occurred at the beginning of the Cold War were the Space Race, the Berlin Wall, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. We will look at each of these events in some detail, but the main focus is going to be on the Cuban Missile Crisis and why it caused so much tension between the US and the USSR. To start, we will look at the impact these events had on the Citizens of the U.S. and how that

Only since the 1990’s, have we have understood the immense threat that presented itself over the course of two weeks in October of 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis, which is arguably the closest we have come to nuclear war in our history, was the result of five key entities and events. The five entities and events are the Manhattan Engineering District, Strategic Air Command, Mutually Assured Destruction, the missile gap, and the Bay of Pigs invasion. Without each of these individual components, the Cuban Missile Crisis would never have occurred or been the danger to the world that it was. This paper will examine the role MED played in the development of nuclear weapons, SAC’s presence in promoting a stronger stance on the Soviet Union, and the missile gap that created a situation in which the abundant need for missiles skyrocketed on both sides of the Cold War. It will also examine MAD’s ability to involve the entire Northern hemisphere in nuclear war, and the Bay of Pigs’ impact on Cuba’s relationship with the Soviet Union.

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.

After the Second World War came to an end, there was large controversy centering on the shifting of international power. This battle of ideology resulted in the rise of diplomatic tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Essentially, the tension between the two nations continued to rise and resulted in an intense rivalry and political hostility which was later recognized as the Cold War. The Cold War lasted for over forty years and was mostly composed of propaganda and threats. However, in October of 1962, a political and military standoff between the nations unfolded and came the closest in all recorded history to a nuclear war. This incident is now known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the Crisis, when tension was rising

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 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.