The Soviet Union During The Cuban Missile Crisis

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.

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 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

The event of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. Fifteen years into the cold war, the two superpowers continued the fierce competition to increase their military strength. In 1962, the Soviet Union was desperately behind the United States in the nuclear arms race. Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe, whereas the US missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba which would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union. The fate of millions

Three events are associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis: superpower tension, the domestic situation in Cuba, and the Bay of Pigs incident. The ideological competition between Russia and the U.S. was exemplified in the arms, nuclear and space race, the funding of anti-Communists by the U.S., the unsuccessful Vienna Summit of 1961 and the construction of the Berlin Wall.

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

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States took a bold stand against the Soviet Union, Communism, and the installation of nuclear arms in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that occurred between October 14 and October 28, 1962 (“Cuban Missile Crisis Timeline”). During the Cold War Era, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were already high because of the way that World War II ended. The Soviet Union’s decision to put nuclear arms in Cuba escalated tensions between the countries and brought the United States and the Soviet Union as close to war as they have ever come (Byrne 69). The world leaders during this time were President John F. Kennedy of the United States, Russian Premier – Nikita Khrushchev and Communist Leader, Fidel Castro of Cuba (Donaldson Thirteen Days). The Cuban Missile Crisis represents a period of history where the United States took a strong stand against the Soviet Union, Communist ideology and Cuba.

Many agree that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war; but exactly how close did it come? The Crisis was ultimately a showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union from October 16 to October 28, 1962. During those thirteen stressful days, the world’s two biggest superpowers stood on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. The Crisis started as a result of both the Soviet Union’s fear of losing the arms race, and Cuba’s fear of US invasion. The Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, thought that both problems could easily be solved by placing Soviet medium range missiles in Cuba. This deployment would double the Soviet arsenal and protect Cuba from US invasion. Khrushchev

1. SUMMARY: The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the scariest moments in United States history and was quite possibly the closest the United States has come to all-out nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Starting with the Cuban Revolution in the 1950’s, which lead to our failure at the Bay of Pigs, and eventually culminating with the thirteen-day confrontation between our government and the government of the USSR regarding the placement of ballistic missiles in our close Caribbean neighbor, Cuba, the Cuban Missile Crisis was truly a terrifying experience. The placement of ballistic missiles in Cuba by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev not only had massive implications in the Western hemisphere, but in Europe as well, specifically Berlin.

This historical study will define the dual hostility of the Soviet Union and the United States in the instigation and resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The nuclear arms race of the early 1960s defined a period of history in which a stalemate occurred between superpowers. The United States and the Soviet Union were continually seeking to build larger nuclear arsenals and to also expand their territorial influence over lesser nations. The Cuban Missile Crisis defines also defines the minor role of Cuba that served to facilitate the expansion of communist influence on the eastern seaboard to the United States. In this manner, Cuba could not be blamed for being a pawn in the Soviet plan to move missiles 90 miles off the coast of

The first and most significant of the key background causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the development of the two Cold War ideologies after World War 2. It can be argued that these ideologies underpinned the Cold War conflict between the two superpowers and set the conditions for the Cuban Missile Crisis to occur. The first example of this is the differing opinions in how the world should be run between the USA and USSR. The USSR believed in communism, a system in

History Assignment – Nikita Khrushchev The Cuban missile crisis in October 1962 was one of the most significant events of the twentieth century. Because of the actions of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and the U.S. President John F. Kennedy, nuclear devastation of the world was just avoided. Khrushchev had a significant role in the crisis and his role led to the downfall of his power and the relations between the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States to rapidly change.

In October of 1962 the U.S. entered a conflict called the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is arguably the closest the U.S. has ever come to nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union resulting from the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis was considered the climax of the Cold War, a period lasting from about 1947 to 1991, in which a political rivalry between Eastern and Western Allies surfaced. The Soviet Union was being run by Joseph Stalin, who wanted to expand communism through Eastern Europe and make a group of united communist countries, while the Western Allies favored capitalism and strongly abhorred communism. The Cuban Missile Crisis came about due to relations between the communist countries of Cuba and the Soviet Union, the American fear of Communism, and placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. The Cold War brought the U.S. and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war and the countries held their breath for a tense 13-day deadlock.

In order to understand the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis in American history one must first understand the Cold War drama, Castro’s rise to power, and the American operations that set up the crisis. “The term Cold War refers

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 reflects possibly the most precarious moment in nuclear history. For the first time, the world’s two nuclear super powers, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, were poised to destroy each other in a war of unprecedented proportion. On the brink of what may have escalated into a nuclear war, the leaders of two nations showed courageous restraint and diplomacy to avoid an exchange of brute force and unimaginable desolation. The situation was preempted by the Bay of Pigs, an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro, Prime Minister of the Republic of Cuba. Castro had gained authority through a rebellion against Fulgencio Batista, the previous Cuban dictator (Bay of Pigs). America was displeased with Castro, mainly because he was a Communist leader so close to American shores, so a plan to depose him was made, without official United States military support.