Cuban Missile Crisis

• The Cuban Revolution:

  • Cuba was an ally of the USA

  • 1959 - a revolution overthrew the pro-US government and was replaced by Fidel Castro (a Communist)

  • USA banned import of

  Cuban sugar which was the biggest

  export

  • turned to the USSR for help - offered economic aid to help industrialisation

  • Cuba and the USSR now had a very close relationship

  • USSR sent weapons to Cuba
• The Bay of Pigs:

  • 1961 - planned a revolution to overthrow government and replace it with capitalism

  • planned for the CIA to train Cuban exiles as soldiers to invade Cuba and seize control

  • 1500 soldiers - La Brigada 2506.

  • 20,000 Cuban ground forces fought bravely and the US was defeated

  within 2 days

  • Castro’s position strengthened • Kennedy humiliated over the defeat • USSR increased their military force in Cuba
• Missile Bases on Cuba:

  • Cuba felt weak and vulnerable

  • 1962 - Khrushchev continued to send military supplies

  • US stationed missiles in Turkey

  • 14th October 1962 - U-2 spy

  plane took photographs of a

  USSR missile base in Cuba and estimated the missiles

  would be ready to use by

  November

  • missiles could reach all major US cities

  • the US were under direct threat - USSR could attack the USA quickly and directly

  • if the US retaliated it would begin a

  full-scale nuclear war
• In October 1962, the US found out that the Soviets had placed missile sites on Cuba.
• Kennedy did not want to invade Cuba as that could provoke a nuclear war.
• Kennedy instead decided on a naval blockade to stop Soviet Ships delivering the nuclear missiles.
• Khrushchev warned that the Soviet Union would see this as an act of war.
• Secretly, America suggested that it would dismantle its missile bases in Turkey if the Soviets did the same in Cuba.
• The Russians made the first public move, the ships heading to Cuba turned back.
• Khrushchev sent a telegram to the US offering to dismantle the Cuban bases if Kennedy lifted the blockade and promised not to invade Cuba.
• Khrushchev then sent a second telegram demanding the USA withdraw nuclear weapons from Turkey bases.
• Kennedy agreed publically to Khrushchev's first telegram and secretly to the second.
• On 28th October 1962, after 13 days, the crisis was over.
• Many believed that Khrushchev had backed down and Kennedy had won the war of words. The deal with Turkey was not made public, and people saw Kennedy as a great statesman who stood up to Communism.
• Khrushchev saw the crisis as a victory as he was able to have US missiles moved from Turkey. However, many believed that Khrushchev looked weak and it contributed to his removal as leader in 1964
• The superpowers had nearly gone to war and communication had been poor during the crisis, leaving the world on edge. To ensure better communication, a ‘hotline’ was set up which was a telephone link directly from the Whitehouse to the Kremlin.
• Multiple treaties were signed including; the Limited Test Ban Treaty, the Outer Space Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty whereby both sides agreed to stop testing nuclear weapons. Both superpowers intended to try and prevent nuclear war in the future, a policy that became known as détente.
• In 1963, the USA sold grain to the USSR following poor harvests there. This seemed to show that there was easing of tensions. However, the French left NATO in 1966 as they were not happy that Kennedy was acting alone without consulting other countries in NATO.