What happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

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By 1962, the Cold War was in full swing. The Soviet Union and the United States were locked in a struggle for global supremacy.

 

Each side tried to outdo the other in terms of military power and political influence.

 

This led to a major standoff between the two superpowers, known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 

For thirteen days in October 1962, the world held its breath as it waited to see if a full-blown nuclear war would break out.

The Cuban Revolution

Before the 1960s, Cuba was ruled by a corrupt dictator named Fulgencio Batista. Under Batista's rule, American businesses had a great deal of control over the Cuban economy.

 

However, in 1959, a revolutionary group led by Fidel Castro overthrew Batista's government. The new Cuban government nationalized American businesses.

 

The United States was not happy about this turn of events. The American government saw Castro's regime as a threat to its interests in the region.

 

In response, the U.S. began working to overthrow the Cuban government. 

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The Bay of Pigs Invasion

In 1961, the CIA hatched a plan to overthrow Castro. The plan was to train and arm Cuban exiles and then send them back to invade their homeland.

 

The exiles were trained in Guatemala and then flown to Cuba in CIA-owned aircraft. They landed in April 1961 at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, but the invasion was a complete disaster.

 

The exiles were quickly defeated, and many were captured or killed. The debacle served as a humiliating embarrassment for the United States.

 

Following the invasion, Castro turned to the Soviet Union for help. He knew that the Soviets had nuclear weapons, and he hoped that they would be deter the United States from trying to overthrow his regime.

Secret missiles to Cuba

In 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev decided to take advantage of Castro's vulnerability.

 

He secretly ordered Soviet ballistic missiles to be placed in Cuba, just 90 miles off the US coast.

 

The missiles were capable of reaching most of the United States, including major cities like Washington D.C., New York City, and Miami. 

 

This was in response to the U.S. stationing Jupiter ballistic missiles in Turkey, which was aimed at the Soviet Union.

 

These American missiles had been placed in Turkey in 1961, and the Soviets saw them as a direct threat.


The crisis begins

On October 14, 1962, a US U-2 spy plane captured photographic evidence of the Soviet missile sites under construction in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy was informed of the discovery on October 16.

 

Kennedy was faced with a difficult decision: should he order a strike against the missile sites, or should he try to negotiate with the Soviets? 

 

The president assembled a group of advisors called the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (ExComm).

 

The group weighed various options, ranging from doing nothing, launch a military attack on Cuba, or impose a naval blockade on Cuba. 

 

After much deliberation, Kennedy decided on the last option. On the 22nd of October, he appeared on American TV and announced that the United States would impose a naval blockade of Cuba until the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles.


The quarantine comes into effect

This was known as a "quarantine" rather than a blockade, so as not to provoke the Soviets into taking military action.

 

The quarantine took effect on October 24, and the world anxiously watched as Soviet ships approached the blockade line. 

 

In a tense moment, the ships stopped and turned back, avoiding a direct confrontation.

 

Simultaneously, Kennedy and Khrushchev exchanged a series of letters discussing potential resolutions to the crisis.

 

On October 27, the crisis reached a critical point when a U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba, and another U-2 plane strayed into Soviet airspace.


The end of the crisis

Despite these incidents, both sides continued to negotiate, finally reaching a secret agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union.

 

In this deal, the United States agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey and promised not to invade Cuba.

 

In return, the Soviet Union agreed to remove its missiles from Cuba and to not place any more nuclear weapons on the island.

 

The crisis formally ended on October 28, when Khrushchev announced that the missiles would be dismantled and removed from Cuba.

 

The world breathed a sigh of relief as the threat of nuclear war subsided.


Consequences

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a turning point in the Cold War. It showed that both sides were capable of destroying the other, and that diplomacy was necessary to avoid such a catastrophe.

 

The experience also led to increased cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union in order to prevent future conflicts.

 

It led to the establishment of the Moscow-Washington hotline, a direct communication link between the two superpowers, to prevent future misunderstandings.

 

The crisis also contributed to the signing of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which sought to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons.


Further reading