Cuban Missile Crisis

Key Players

Where is Cuba?

Why is Cuba important?

• Cuba is an island in the Caribbean Sea.

• It is 90 miles (144km) away from Florida (USA)

• It was considered the ‘backyard’ of USA.

• Americans dominated Cuba- went there for holidays and had big businesses there.

• USA even had a large military base at Guantanamo Bay

Why is Cuba important?

• The geographical position of Cuba is important.

• Cuba is situated in Latin America, close to the poorer countries such as Mexico and Colombia.

• These are the poor South American countries who are susceptible to the communist ideology.

• Think: Domino theory?

Why is Cuba important?

• In 1959, it all went badly wrong for USA.• It had been supporting Batista who had been

ruler of Cuba- he was corrupted and unpopular but he was not a communist.

• Fidel Castro, a Communist, led a successful revolution against Batista.

• Soviet leader, Khrushchev was pleased that there is a communist state in USA’s ‘backyard’ and he supplied Cuba with food, advisors and weapons.

Why is Cuba important?

• USA refused to accept Castro’s government.

• Banned all trading activities with Cuba.

• CIA- led assassination attempts against Castro

• Cuba turned to USSR as a trading partner- exporting sugar and importing oil

>> Castro drew closer to USSR in the face of rejection from USA

Background to CMC

• The Cuban Missiles Crisis lasted for 14 days, a point in time which is believed to have the closest that the world has come to a nuclear war.

• US spy planes photographed nuclear missiles in Cuba.

• This discovery led to US President, Kennedy to deploy troops and US nuclear missiles to Florida and also imposed a naval blockade around Cuba.

Photos taken from US spy planes

Causes of Cuban Missiles Crisis

1. USSR’s retaliation to US missiles in Turkey

2. Protect Cuba- a fellow Communist country

3. Cuba’s fear of US invasion

1.USSR’s retaliation to US missiles in Turkey

• US had placed nuclear missiles in Turkey as both countries had a formal alliance.

• These missiles were a threat to USSR as Turkey was geographically close by.

• Khrushchev was determined to find allies near USA to build similar nuclear missiles sites. Why? To unsettle USA.

• Castro’s Cuba was the ideal location for Khrushchev

2.Protect Cuba- a fellow Communist country

• This was the official reason given by Khrushchev.

• Keeping Castro in power provided a socialist model for other Latin American countries

• Defending Cuba can improve USSR’s international standing and prove that Khrushchev was not too “soft” on the West

2.Protect Cuba- a fellow Communist country

• USSR was afraid that USA would invade Cuba again as previously, USA gave several Cuban exiles and refugees military training to stage an invasion in Cuba called the Bay Of Pigs Invasion which angered existing Cuban citizens and Castro

• However, Khrushchev knew that if USA decided to invade Cuba, there was nothing he could do to stop

• Think: missile gap and financial disparity

3.Cuba’s fear of US invasion

• Castro had been fearful of an USA invasion since he took over Cuban leadership by force in 1959.

• Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961.• Use the incident to import more weapons

for protection.• This fear led him to accept Soviet’s

protection of nuclear missiles in Cuba to prevent US invasion.

CRISIS !

• Previously, American President Kennedy had warned the USSR of creating offensive capability in Cuba but Khrushchev had consistently denied it despite having photos taken by spyplanes

• USA imposed naval blockade on 24th October 1962 which involved the stopping of all ships going to Cuba within 800 miles of the country.

• The blockade only stopped the reinforcement of Soviet weapons to Cuba but it did not secure their removal of missiles

• Despite the blockade, the construction of missile base in Cuba continued

CRISIS !

• On 26th October, Khrushchev sent a telegram to Kennedy which asked for an end of the blockade and an assurance from USA not to invade Cuba in exchange for the removal of missiles from Cuba

• Kennedy agreed to the terms and in informal talks with Soviet ambassador in Washington, he also agreed to remove American missiles in Turkey

• On this, Khrushchev agreed to ship all Russian missiles back to USSR

CRISIS !

• USSR offered to stop the construction of missile bases in return for US pledge to not invade Cuba

We see proper negotiation and cooperation between the two superpowers here. Tensions decreased significantly.

Impact of Cuban Missile Crisis on Cold War

Impact of Cuban Missile Crisis on Cold War

• The tensions generated by the crisis and the realization that they moved too close to the brink of a nuclear disaster produced a desire on both sides to reduce Cold War tensions

• A ‘hot-line’ was set up- allowed for direct communication between Moscow and Washington.

• Overall, the CMC was the beginning of a ‘thaw’ in the Cold War- improvement of relationship between the East and the West.