More handpicked essays just for you.
Cuban missile crisis impact on cold war
Impacts of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Impacts of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
In 1962, an American spy plane discovered the Soviet nuclear missile
bases in Cuba. Castro had turned to the USSR for military assistance
in fear of a US attack. It was the sighting of these missile bases
that marked the beginning of the Cuban missile crisis. There were many
reasons why the Cuban missile crisis came about, and undoubtedly the
USSR and America's history played major roles in the coming about of
this incident.
The Soviet bitterness towards America following the Second World War
was amongst others one of the definitive causes of this crisis. Such
events as the Berlin blockade and airlift, the Berlin Wall and the
arms race had divided the two countries and left a remaining tension.
The blockade and airlift is evidence of the struggle for dominance
between the two super powers and the total difference in ideologies.
This surly relationship between the countries is likely to be why
Khruschev agreed to help Cuba when Soviet aid was requested. The
opportunity of access into the Western hemisphere would have been
appealing to the Russian leader, as it would clearly go against the
wishes of the USA, who had not long previously had very close
connections with the small country.
The Berlin Wall was also a cause of the Cuban missile crisis in
recognition of the confidence Khruschev gained in respect to the lack
of response shown by America. The fact that Kennedy made no attempt to
halt the building of the wall suggested that he was a weak president
to Khruschev; this would have contributed to his decision to aid Cuba.
With Kennedy as a President it is likely that Khruschev felt to get a
footho...
... middle of paper ...
...en
a Cuban missile crisis.
Although it seems logical, as it was called the Cuban missile crisis,
that the crisis should mainly involve Cuba, it is more accurate to say
that it was a collision between the two Super Powers; the Soviet Union
and the USA. It was after all the American decision to cease trade
with Cuba that was the most important trigger to the incident and it
was the Russian missiles based in Cuba that caused the actual crisis.
It appears that this crisis is yet another run in between a country
with Communist ideas and a country with Capitalist beliefs. In
conclusion, it seems that the difference in ideologies between these
two main Super Powers has been the cause of many casualties and the
Cuban missile crisis seems to be exactly the same, the two powers
struggling with a peaceful co-existence.
“The distinct differences in the political systems of the two countries often prevented them from reaching a mutual understanding on key policy issues and even, as in the case of the Cuban missile crisis, brought them to the brink of war” (Library of Congress). The Soviet Union and The United States were complete opposites, The United States was a democracy whereas The Soviet Union was a dictatorship. This only began their differences though, their economies, beliefs, goals, and even their fears, everything about them made them different except for their enemy. The
... Cuban attack with all-out nuclear retaliation. In response to the increased Soviet ships coming with weapons, JFK ordered a blockade, which he called quarantine because a blockade is an act of war, around Cuba. For 13 days, the world held its breath as the threat of a nuclear war hung over the world, but the Soviets eventually turned back and Khrushchev agreed to remove weapons from Cuba in exchange for no US invasion of Cuba. Meanwhile in Berlin, the city was in turmoil between the East (Soviet) and the West (US controlled). In order to stop the mass exodus of East Berliners, the construction of the 90-mile Berlin Wall began. Both Kennedy and Khrushchev sought ways to ease the tension between the two groups, establishing a hotline between the White House and the Kremlin, and later this led to the Limited Ban Treaty, which banned nuclear testing in the atmosphere.
The main reason why the Berlin Wall caused the USSR to lose the Space Race to the United States was because the USSR was a communist nation, and therefore so was East Germany. The East Germans did not like living in a communist society. This caused hundreds of thousands of East Germans to flee to the West to live in a democracy (Burgan 14). With this being the case, the USSR had no civilian support in Germany, and often had to stop East Germans from fleeing west to freedom. This caused the USSR to employ more border control, which cost the government more money, and therefore hurting the economy of East Germany, as well as in the USSR. In addition to no civilian support, Communist Germany was not granted Marshall Plan (Burgan 32). Marshall Plan was the economic aid provide...
The U.S.’s relationship with Cuba has been arduous and stained with mutual suspicion and obstinateness, and the repeated U.S. interventions. The Platt agreement and Castro’s rise to power, served to introduce the years of difficulty to come, while, the embargo the U.S. placed on Cuba, enforced the harsh feelings. The two major events that caused the most problems were the Bays of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
...ity of the blame went onto Kennedy's record as not being the one that had planned it out and not giving the go ahead for the second air raid. It was later proven that no matter what the outcome of the second air raid would have been, it would not have mattered. The CIA also released a document taking the full responsibility and blame for the incident at the Bay of Pigs. The Cuban Missile Crisis not only worried the U.S. but also worried the rest of the world as to how it would turn out. The Soviet's backed Cuba as an ally and fed them missiles and the supplies to build the missile silos in Cuba. The Soviet's said they did this as a counter measure incase we did in fact invade Cuba. Between these two major conflicts of the time, it can be said that the two countries were not battling over Cuba in itself, but more or less battling over the belief of Communism.
The Soviet Union and the United States were very distant during three decades of a nuclear arms race. Even though the two nations never directly had a battle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, amongst other things, was a result of the tension. The missile crisis began in October of 1962, when an American spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union in Cuba. JFK did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles, so he made his decisions very secretly. Eventually, Kennedy decided to place a ring of ships around Cuba and place missiles in Turkey. Eventually, both leaders superpowers realized the possibility of a nuclear war and agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba if the US didn't invade Cuba. Even though the Soviets removed took their missiles out of Cuba and the US eventually taking their missiles out of Turkey, they (the Soviets) continued to build a more advanced military; the missile crisis was over, but the arms race was not.
Robert F. Kennedy's chilling account of his experiences with his brother, President John F. Kennedy over thirteen days in October of 1962 give an idea to the reader of just how alarmingly close our country came to nuclear war. Kennedy sums up the Cuban Missile Crisis as "a confrontation between two atomic nations...which brought the world to the abyss of nuclear destruction and the end of mankind."1 The author's purpose for writing this memoir seems to be to give readers an idea of the danger confronted during the Cuban Missile Crisis and to reflect on the lessons we should learn from it as a country, and for future members of government.
This buildup of weapons by the two countries started The Cuban Missile Crisis (The Cuban). Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet leader of the time, was nervous about the buildup of nuclear weapons in Western Europe and Turkey by the United States. He felt a build-up of missiles in Cuba would level the playing field.... ... middle of paper ...
The Cuban missile crisis was a major turning point in American history. It sparked conflict between two of the most powerful countries and almost led to possibly the most horrific war ever. This point in American history also caused long lasting tension between the United States and Cuba and posed as the most terrifying 13 days in United States history.
...ar of a military strike, he decided to blockade Cuba. Lucky enough, Khrushchev sent two telegrams: in the first one he offered to dismantle the nuclear sites if America would agree not to invade Cuba and in the second one he demanded the American sites in turkey to be dismantled. On the contrast, an American U2 plane was shot down in turkey at this time, but J.F. Kennedy decided to ignore the incident following the turn of events at that time. Peace was insinuated when finally President Kennedy publicly agreed not to invade Cuba and proceeded to dismantle the sites in Turkey. Though both leaders had a crisis they agreed to set up a telephone hotline to talk over the issue and in 1963 they agreed to sign a treaty that banned the testing and usage of nuclear weapons. The Cuban crisis ended up very significant as from then on the cold war started becoming insignificant.
Without the occurrence of the Cuban Missile Crisis we would may not be living in the world we are today. During the Cold War the Cuban Missile created a stalemate between the two major countries involved in the war, the Soviet Union and the United States. This event greatly known as a turning point in the it during the 1960's period of the infamous war, by being able to turn the tables and prevent a “hot” war to form out of one of the “coldest” wars in history. The Cuban Missile Crisis was an exceptionally significant event during the Cold War because of its ability to affect multitude of aspects between the two sides involved during the war.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major event in U.S History that almost led to nuclear destruction. It was over a period of thirteen days in which diplomats from the U.S and the Soviet Union were trying to reach a peaceful resolution so that they wouldn’t have to engage in physical warfare. The crisis was the hallmark of the Cold War era which lasted from the 1950’s to the late 1980’s. The Cold War was a power struggle between the U.S and Soviet Union in which the two nations had a massive arms race to become the strongest military force. The U.S considered Communism to be an opposing political entity, and therefore branded them as enemies. Khrushchev’s antagonistic view of Americans also played a big role in the conflict. The Cold War tensions, coupled with a political shift in Cuba eventually lead to the military struggle known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the point of most tension and near collapse causing the Cold War to almost shift from a passive and underground struggle to a violent and catastrophic one.
The aim of this investigation is to assess the main factors that ultimately led to the failure of the Berlin blockade, giving the Soviets no other choice but to end it. To evaluate the actions and policies of the Superpowers during the crisis that played a role in lifting the blockade. The extent to which the fact that the Western Allies did not respond with violence but with the airlift and its success was a main factor to its end will be assessed. The significance of the agreement made between the Soviets and the US in lifting not only the Berlin Blockade but also the Western counter blockade will also be evaluated. The reasons for the implementation of the blockade, the actions of the superpowers that do not contribute to the failure of the blockade and the consequences from this crisis will not be investigated. The analysis will be done by researching different views on the blockade’s failure and the events leading up to it. This analysis will be supported by a primary source, letters between the USSR and the US at the beginning of the crisis. This gives both American and Soviet perspectives. Other sources used for this investi...
The Cuban Missile Crisis exhibits the struggle for power between the two dominant powers of the time. The realist theory believes that world politics is a repetitive struggle for power and or influence. Power, in politics is largely perceived as influence and military capability. Power in mass amounts are located in objects such as nuclear missiles that have an immense influence on others. (Schmidt, 2007; Sterling-Folker & Shinko, 2007). This is clearly depicted through the actions taken by both leaders, as the simple placement of a missile had such a tremendous effect.
To view this crisis I chose the individual level of analysis because it is very easy to take that approach when you have three major key players as I mentioned above. Each and every one of those men held an excruciating amount of power which could have changed the total outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis if not used correctly. They all had the highest influences on how the crisis would end. The relationship between countries can be compared to a puzzle. One leaders relative power depicts one single piece to the dynamic puzzle made up by all respective countries and leaders. I drew to the conclusion that the individual level of analysis and international relations theory of realism combined together and allowed me to describe the situations of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the best way possible. The powerful leaders such as Preside...