This document provides an extremely detailed description of the Cuban Missile Crisis, whilst also giving strong analytical points and conclusions throughout. It includes the aims and perspectives of the Soviet Union, Cuba, and the US, and a detailed daily timeline of events during the crisis. The l...
Background
- Monroe doctrine 1823
- Fulgencio Batista- US-installed dictator who ensured Cuba's economy was under US control. The leisure
industry dominated Cuba's economy, and companies like the Hiltons encouraged tourism. Gambling was
illegal in the US but legal in Cuba, making the state a popular US tourist destination for “illicit fun”. The tobacco
and sugar industry (main exports) was also controlled by the US.
- After Castro assumes power in Jan 1959, the US begins to place embargoes on Cuba, which pushes them
towards the opposing superpower: the soviets
- April 1961 (4 months of Castro in office) the Bay of Pigs was a huge failure; 1500 CIA trained cuban exiles
were landed in Cuba but were defeated by Cuban forces
- US saw third world nationalists as anti-democratic, and saw their containment as “rollback”
- The US had Jupiter missiles in Turkey that were aimed at the soviet union april 1962
- Anti-US leadership in Cuba gave Khrushchev an opportunity to have a missile base close to the US in
response to Turkey’s missile
- Castro nationalised the oil mine
- May 62 ussr places the missiles in Cuba
- Symbolic importance for the USSR and communism
Soviet Missiles in Cuba
- The propaganda failure of building the Berlin Wall (admitting that communism is less desirable as citizens don't
like communism and it doesn't work) he needed diplomatic victory to make amends
- Khrushchev's actions in Cuba were increasing Sino-Soviet rivalry, and China criticised Khrushchev’s “peaceful
coexistence” theory, this act determined that the USSR was the world leader of communism
- The missile deployment was idealistic “chiefly as an effort to spread revolution throughout Latin America”
(Gaddis)
- Khrushchev wanted to defend their allies, Cuba, from US aggression, they tactically placed nuclear weapons
in Cuba to deter US invasion
- Jupiter Missiles in Turkey adjacent to the USSR (could reach moscow) angered Khrushchev as it was an
“intolerable provocation” and he thought that the US would launch the missiles, something strongly considered
during the CMC. so he placed missiles in Cuba towards the US (90 miles from Florida)
- Khrushchev wanted to balance the nuclear disparity (8:1) by utilising their short/medium range missiles
- This could also be a deterrent, as it reduces the missile gap
- Cuba was the only nation that had turned to communism in this period, so Cuba held a deep symbolic
importance to the credibility of communism and the USSR. There were attempts to assassinate Castro
(operation mongoose), and after the Bay of Pigs failure, Khrushchev was convinced he had to protect the
Cuban revolution to prove that the USSR was the global leader of communism and that communism was a
strong, stable ideology.
- By aiding Cuba and protecting them, the USSR hoped that it would encourage other us-backed governments
to be overthrown by their socialist revolutionaries, therefore giving the communists an advantage in the US
sphere of influence - Latin America
- Khrushchev wanted to decrease nuclear inferiority; the US had an overwhelming advantage over the USSR in
nuclear weaponry, (8:1 disadvantage, by 1961 USSR = 36 ICBM/US = 203 ICBM) Kennedy was also a key
factor in the nuclear disadvantage; unlike Eisenhower his speeches were directly aggressive and bold, he had
built up their nuclear arsenal from the beginning of his presidency, which scared Khrushchev.
- Another argument is that Khrushchev did not want to attack the US but to convince the world that the USSR
was outperforming the US due to the superiority of communism. This was to deflect from the economic and
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