12. Confrontation between the superpowers

• Jan 1959 - the Batista regime is overthrown by Castro
• Feb 1960 - Soviet Politburo member, Anastas Mikoyan, offers economic and military aid to Cuba 
• July 1960 - Castro promises to spread revolution across Central and South America 
• April 1961 - the Bay of Pigs invasion by anti-Castro rebels 
• Nov 1961 - Kennedy authorises Operation Mongoose 
• May 1962 - NK decides to send nuclear missiles to Cuba 
• Oct 1962 - American U-2 spy planes discover Soviet missile sites on Cuba; the crisis unfold during a 13-day period, 16-28 October
• 29 Oct 1962 - NK decides to withdraw the missiles
• Aug 1963 - the Moscow Test Ban Treaty is agreed
• Covert operations – involve gathering intelligence information, forms of economic sabotage and psychological intimidation through propaganda; these acts take place secrely and they are designed to damage the state against which they are applied
• Linkage – in the diplomatic sense, this means connecting one set of concessions related to one issue with concessions related to a different issue; in effect diplomacy becomes a package of issues rather than simply focused on a single issue 
• Khrushchev’s nuclear missiles on Cuba – some historians argue that Khrushchev could have used a protective force of conventional Soviet forces, configured purely for defensive purposes. This would’ve posed no significant threat to the USA. Others present the USA as the primary causal factor in determining Soviet actions. The USSR’s actions were purely defensive to address the potential for US aggression against Cuba. The nuclear option was purely defensive. 
• The blockade (quarantine) – a blockade of Cuba would’ve constituted an act of war, so the USA referred to it as a quarantine. Its purpose was to enable JFK to buy time and focus on a diplomatic solution to the growing crisis. It also forced the USSR to decide whether it would recognise the quarantine or not. Doing so would weaken NK’s position. Not doing so would force the USA to take action. This was a classic example of brinkmanship 
• Fidel Castro (Ruz) (1927-2016) – nationalist revolutionary. From the successful revolution of 1959, he assumed the title of prime minister until 1976, when he became the president of Cuba. He developed Cuba as a communist state, once it was clear that the USA was unwilling to cooperate with him, and he needed some form of external support. He is credited with raising the standard of living of many Cubans, but his regime is largely seen as a dictatorship 
• Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (1928-67) – trained as a medical student, but became committed to social revolution and communism. He joined Castro and formed the ’26 July Movement’ in Cuba. After a period in Castro’s government, he resigned in 1965 and became a guerrilla leader in Bolivia. He wrote a book entitled Guerrilla Warfare.  A committed communist and freedom fighter, he was executed in 1967 
• Fulgencio Batista (1901-73) – dictator of Cuba from 1952 until he was overthrown in 1959. He ran the country as an anti-communist stronghold and ruthlessly supressed opposition to his corrupt regime. He received economic and military aid from the USA
• Anastas Mikoyan (1895-1978) – close ally of Stalin from early in the Bolshevik revolution. He loved Castro’s revolution, saying it reminded him of his youth. He remained in office under Khrushchev. Leonid Brezhnev allowed him to stay on in government. He was a powerful influence in forging strong relations between the USSR and Cuba. 
• 1943 – American historian Samuel Flagg Bemis - ‘if ever there was an emblem of pride on the escutcheon (shield) of American idealism, it is the attitude in our century of the Continental Republic toward Cuba. The urge to annex was there for a century, but it was bridled, curbed and halted by a great and historic self-denial, checked by the common people of the United States and their opposition to imperialism.’