Summary
Summary Cuban Missile Crisis IEB History
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- History
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- University Of Cape Town (UCT)
Cuban Missile Crisis
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The Cuban Missile CrisisThe Background and Lead Up To The Crisis
What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Crucial flashpoint in the Cold War
The Cuban Revolution
Cuba was an American ally and it had – for many years – been politically
and economically dominated by the USA
o It was a favourite holiday resort for Americans
o Americans owned most of the businesses on the island
o They had a huge naval base there
However on 1 January 1959 after a three year guerilla campaign, Fidel
Castro and his supporters overthrew the American- backed Cuban
dictator Fulgencio Batista and took control of Cuba
For two years Cuba and the USA maintained frosty relations without any
direct confrontation
When the new Cuban government began seizing and taking control of
land and other assets (many of which were foreign-owned) the USA
formally ended its diplomatic relations with Cuba and imposed an
economic embargo on the island
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
In April 1961 the US government backed and assisted an invasion of Cuba
by anti- Castro Cubans at the Bay of Pigs
They intended to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro
This force was defeated by the Cuban governments troops within a
few days and surrendered xs
To Cuba and the Soviet Union the failed invasion suggested that the USA
was unwilling to get directly involved in Cuba
Khrushchev was scornful of JFK’s attempted invasion
The Cuban government now turned to the Soviet Union for greater
support and moved to become a Communist State
The Development of Missiles
From the summer of 1960 Castro began receiving arms from the Soviet
Union
o However publicly he assured Americans that they were safe living
in Cuba- he merely wanted to run his country without interference
In 1962 the Soviet Union set up bases with nuclear missiles on Cuba
They shipped the required materials during September and October
By mid- October American spy planes detected the nuclear bases and
informed the American government
If the bases came into operation, many American cities would be within
their nuclear range
, Why did the Soviet Union place nucleur missiles on Cuba?
The Soviet strategy was extremely risky and they must have known that it would
cause a crisis. Additionally the Soviets made no attempt to camoflauge the sites
and even allowed the missiles to travel on open deck.
Historians have five possible explanations for this risky decision:
To bargain with the USA
o Khrushchev wanted the missiles as a bargaining counter
o If he had missiles on Cuba, he could remove them but in return for
some American concessions
To trap the USA
o The missiles were a trap: Khrushchev wanted America to find them
and be drawn into a nucleur war
To defend Cuba
o The missiles were genuinely an attempt to protect Cuba
To test the USA
o In the strained atmosphere of Cold War politics the missiles were
designed to see how strong America truly was
To see if they would back off or face up
To get the upper hand in the arms race
o Khrushchev was so concerned by the missile gap between the
USSR and the USA that he would seize any opportunity he could to
close it
o With the missiles on Cuba, it was less likely that the USA would
ever launch the ‘first strike’
The Thirteen Days
The closest the world ever came to WW3
What were Kennedy’s options?
Do Nothing
o For:
Overreacting could easily cause WW3.
US nuclear weapons were far more powerful which would
deter
o Against:
USSR lied about the Cuban missiles.
Kennedy had issued a warning already.
Sign of weakness to do nothing.
Surgical Air Attack
o For:
Would eliminate the soviet threat.
o Against:
Elimination of all threats is unlikely; some nuclear stations
may survive the attack.
Attack would kill soviet soldiers, thus the USSR would
retaliate.
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