Cuban Missile Crisis

• When did Batista come to power in Cuba?

  1933 and dominated Cuban politics for the next 25 years as dictator
• Under Batista, American investments continue and both the investors and the hugely corrupt Cuban government made lots of money
• How did American businessmen make huge investments in Cuba?

  Bought much of their land and industry
• What are some examples of how much American companies owned in Cuba?

  • half Cuban sugar production
  • almost all cattle ranches
  • 90% Cuban mines
• Examples of Batista's corruption and brutality:

  • censored press and had a secret police who carried out wide-scale violence, executions and torture
  • for cash, let US mafia run casinos, drug trafficking and prostitution
  • amassed a personal wealth of 30 billion dollars, whilst half of the country lived off 5 dollars a week
• Who was Fidel Castro?


  A young lawyer who, in 1953, called for a revolution. He was imprisoned and forced in exile to Mexico, but as Batista's government became ever more violent and unpopular, Castro and his growing number of supporters planned their next move
• What was the "26th of July Movement"?

  The group of 81 people with which Castro returned to Cuba in December 1956 that launched a two-year campaign of guerrilla warfare
• What was the "26th of July Movement"' aim?

  Overthrow Batista and take back power from American businessmen
• When did Batista's regime collapse (and he fled the country)?

  1 January 1959
• What happened after Batista's regime collapsed?

  The next day, Castro and his supporters entered Havana and declared a new Cuba
• How had Castro try to make his revolution seem more appealing?

  Avoided references to communism, positioning his uprising as a fight by ordinary Cubans against a corrupt and oppresive regime
• Why did, in the months following Castro's gain of power, his policies caused concern in Washington?

  • he completely reorganised Cuba
  • he took business and industry into state ownership
  • the new government seized control of many American-owned businesses and land in Cuba
• How did the USSR help Cuba as Castro turned to her to ally against growing US hostility?

  provided loans and oil
• What did the US do in response to Cuba's alliance with the USSR?

  declared a total embargo on Cuba, banning all trade with the country
• Why was Cuba being under Soviet influence cause tension in the US?

  It was only 90 miles away from the coast of the US
• Why was Castro's overtaking embarrassing for the US?

  The revolution in Cuba had happened without American opposition was embarrassing for a government that was committed to stopping the spread of communism
• What was the Domino Theory?


  The belief that if one country fell to communism, neighbouring countries would also fall. In this case, the US government was weary of growing revolutionary movements in South America
• What was the CIA's plan to deal with Castro?

  A large group of Cuban exiles in Florida, who had trained with the CIA, would launch an invasion of Cuba with the support of the US Air Force. The invasion would inspire other Cubans, whom the Americans assumed hated Castro, to revolt and overthrow the regine
• Why did the US armed forces doubt that their plan to overthrow Castro would work?

  • it became clear that most Cubans supported Castro and would not help in a revolt
  • some members of the American government were suggesting that any sort of intervention would be illegal
• Why could the CIA not abandon their plan of overthrowing Castro, even after doubts that it would work?

  They had already spent $5 million on training military exiles
• When did the Cuban exiles land on the beach in the Bay of Pigs?

  17 April 1961
• Why did the US's invasion of Cuba turn out to be a disaster?

  Kennedy changed his mind at the last moment about involving the US Air Force and Cuban exiles were left completely exposed
• Example of why US's attempt of overthrowing Castro was a disaster

  Of the 1500 ground troops, 200 were killed upon landing on the beach and a further 1197 were captured
• Why was the US's failure in the Bay of the Pigs embarrassing to Kennedy?

  • made himself look weak and inexperience shortly into start of presidency, especially heading into his first meeting in Vienna with Khrushchev in June
  • Castro was able to claim a victory against a much more powerful country
• Why did the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion push Castro's Cuba into a closer relationship with the USSR?

  • ideological reasons
  • Cuba's poor relationship with US
  • for Khrushchev, having a communist ally so close to the USA was an opportunity to seize and would help his aim of increasing Soviet influence in South America
  • possibility of installing missiles in Cuba
• Since the 1950s, US nuclear weapons had been stationed in Eastern Europe, in Turkey, meaning the USA had the ability to launch a nuclear attack on Moscow or any other Soviet city at any time. There was no Soviet location near enough to the USA from which the USSR would pose a similar threat
• When were the first nuclear warheads transported to Cuba?

  summer of 1962
• How did the US find out about the USSR's missiles in Cuba?

  In October 1962, a U2 spy plane photographed a number of sites taht clearly contained nuclear missiles
• How did Kennedy reveal the existence of missiles to the American people?

  after discussions with his advisors, a committee known as ExComm, Kennedy made a speech
• What was entailed in Kennedy's speech to his people about the missile site in Cuba?

  • no ships from any country would be allowed to visit Cuba
  • anyone who broke the quarantine would face serious consequences including military action
  • US ships blockaded Cuba and ordered to fire on any ships that try to pass through
• How did the people of the US react to Kennedy's handling of the missile site in Cuba?

  protesters took to the streets calling for Kennedy to show restraint and avoid war, but most watched events unfold
• When did a fleet of Soviet ships approach Cuba, carrying more missiles, as Khrushchev was convinced that Kennedy would invade Cuba?

  23 October 1962
• How was a crisis between the US and USSR narrowly avoided due to a fleet of Soviet ships?

  UN Secretary-General, U Thant, called for a compromise and Krushchev ordered the ships to stop
• When was DEFCON2 2 declared?

  When a fleet of Soviet ships carrying more missiles tried to enter Cuba
• Example of Kennedy not wanting to provoke Khrushchev

  on 25 October 1962, a Soviet ship entered the quarantined zone. It was stopped by US ships but when it became clear that it was a tanker, delivering oil, it was allowed to pass
• How many troops did Kennedy gather, ready to invade Cuba in October 1962?

  120,000 troops in Florida ready for the order to invade
• What did the letter that Khrushchev sent to the US entail (that arrived on October 26th 1962)?

  The Soviets would withdraw the missiles from Cuba if the Americans promised not to invade
• On 27 October, the USS Randolph detected a Soviet B-59 submarine close to Cuba. To try to force the submarine to the surface, it began sending small depth charges into the water (bombs that send shock waves through the water, damaging or destroying submarines). There had then been no contact from submarine to the outside world for days.
• What happened on the USS Randolph submarine after small depth charges were fired at it?

  Many on board feared that a war had begun and the captain wanted to launch a nuclear torpedo in retaliation. A more senior officer, commander Vasili Arkhipov, overruled the captain
• What also happened on the same morning as the submarine crisis?

  the Cubans shot down an American U2 plane, killing the pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson. The order to shoot the plane down had been given by a lieutenant general in the absence of the commanding officer