The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world has ever been to a nuclear war which would have doomed the human race. For thirteen days the world was scared to death of what could happen. In a nutshell, the Soviet Union under leadership of Nikita Khrushchev tried to counter the lead of the United States in developing and deploying strategic missiles. The Soviet Union or USSR knew of the missiles the United States had set up in Turkey. (Garthoff) To gain first strike capabilities they reached an agreement with Cuba under the leadership of Fidel Castro set up missiles in Cuba. Cuba is just 90 miles from Florida. President Kennedy got word of this via photographs and stated that any attack from Cuba would be regarded as an attack from the Soviet Union. (www.lafayette.com) Also he setup a naval blockade on the country of Cuba preventing further Soviet shipments of military weapons from arriving there. (www.lafayette.com) On October 24, 1962 Soviet ships turned around and headed back to the USSR. Then four days later on the twenty-eighth Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles and dismantle the missile sites. (www.lafayette.com) With this, the Cuban Missile Crisis had ended as suddenly as it had begun.

There were a number of reasons the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. First, the United States had missiles in Turkey, and to counter this the Soviet Union desired some missiles close to the United States. What better place than Cuba was there? Cuba being only ninety miles South of the United States allowed for intermediate-range missiles aimed at the United States. Another reason for the near end of the world was because the lack of communication between the two superpowers. Both countries just made moves and did controversial things without consulting the other country. The United States placed their missiles in Turkey without speaking with the USSR. A third reason for the crisis was the appeal of the USSR to Cuba and vise-versa. Both these countries were communistic. After Fidel Castro took over in Cuba he quickly despised the United States along with the USSR. The USSR appealed to Cuba because they could provide protection for them after the then recent Bay of Pigs invasion. During this invasion, the United States in April 1961, more than 1000 Cuban exiles made an amphibious landing in Cuba at a place called the Bay of Pigs. (Webster’s) Their plan was to move inland and join anti-Castro forces and stage a revolt.