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Cuban Missile Crisis: Review Lesson

Reasons for Cuban Missile Crisis

Background factor: Cold War Rivalry in the 1960s

Germany and the Berlin Wall: Khrushchev was angry that West Germany was armed and allowed to join NATO. In 1961, Khrushchev gave approval for East Germany to build the Berlin Wall to prevent East German refugees from fleeing to the West. This wall symbolized the ideological differences between Eastern and Western Europe.

British Cartoon, 17 Oct, 1962

US cartoon, 1957

Nuclear Rivalry: The Soviet Union and USA competed with each other to see which side had the most number and most destructive kinds of nuclear weapons. They included short range to long range missiles which could be fired from submarines, high altitude bombers or from missile silos which could be fired from miles away.

British Cartoon,29 Oct 1962

Title : OK, Mr President, Let’s Talk.

Local events in CubaThe Cuban Revolution: In 1959, Cuban rebel

leader Fidel Castro overthrew the government of President Fulgencio Batista. Within the year, US-Cuba relations began to get worse over economic policies which Castro introduced.

Cuban nationalization reforms: Cuba’s main industry was sugar, tobacco and oil refining.

US embargoes: The USA tried to get back at Cuba by introducing various economic embargoes One example is the Cuban Sugar Quota which limited the sale of Cuban sugar in the USA.

Worsening US-Cuban political relationship: Bay of Pigs Invasion: In April 1961, US President Kennedy approved the Bay of Pigs Invasion on Cuba. This was a CIA-plan to arm Cuban exiles with funds, weapons and landing craft to land in Cuba, rally the Cubans to their side and overthrow Castro. The Cuban army defeated the Cuban exiles

Operation Mongoose: The USA continued to make plans to overthrow the Cuban government through Operation Mongoose

Closer USSR-Cuban Relationship

Missiles in CubaThe USSR secretly placed tactical

nuclear missiles for the following reasons:

To show Soviet sincerity and willingness to defend communist countries like Cuba

To address the Soviet sense of insecurity especially because Jupiter Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles were based in Turkey which threatened cities in the Soviet Union.

To use the missiles in Cuba to call for further negotiation on other Cold War issues, perhaps over Berlin and other places.

US Cartoon, Nov 1962

German cartoon, 30 Sept 1962. ‘What do you mean: a menace? Surely it’s all right to go fishing, isn’t it ?’ O

On October 14 1962, an American U2 spy plane flying on a routine mission discovered the first evidence of Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba but,

USSR refused to admit that they had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba.

USAUS military advisors

repeatedly wanted to use military action to resolve the conflict which could have led to a nuclear war.

US forces were at DEFCON 2

British Cartoon, Oct 26, 1962

USSRUSA reacted with a 800 mile naval blockade around

Cuba But Soviet ships however continued to head towards

Cuba which could have led to international incidents which could lead to war.

Soviet forces in Cuba were also put on high alert and permission was given to use their tactical nuclear missiles if attacked

Accidents which almost led to war: A U2 spy plane was shot down by a Soviet missile. The pilot was killed and the US army wanted to retaliate by destroying the Soviet missile site. Kennedy decided against it.

A US warship dropped non-lethal depth charges on a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine to force it to surface.

Going against the advice of military generals

Both Khrushchev and Kennedy understood the dangers of nuclear war and ignored their commanders who advised the use of military attacks to resolve the conflict.

Willingness to compromise The USSR agreed to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba in exchange for a promise from the USA not to

invade Cuba and to remove Jupiter missiles from TurkeyThe USA give more assistance to authoritarian and repressive but pro-US governments like in South

Vietnam. This led to the Vietnam War.

Use of secret back-door diplomacy The USSR and the USA changed to use secret back-door

diplomacy to defuse the crisis.Kennedy’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy and the Soviet

Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin worked behind the scenes and met secretly three times to iron out issues.

Role of the United Nations : U Thant appealed for Soviet vessels to stay away from the blockade area for a limited time. U Thant also appealed to Kennedy to instruct US vessels to do everything possible to avoid direct confrontation with Soviet ships.

Improved US-Soviet relations Within the year, a direct "hotline" telephone link

was set up between the White House and Kremlin to improve communications between both superpowers

Nuclear disarmament In August 1963, a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed between the USA, the Soviet Union and

Britain. This agreement only allowed nuclear tests to be carried underground and was later extended to other nuclear powers.

More proxy wars in Third World Countries

The Cuban Missile Crisis made US policy makers more confidant of Containment doctrine.

It led to more support for authoritarian, US allies in countries like South Vietnam, leading to the Vietnam War.

Cuba remained a Communist state

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy also promised in a 'gentleman's agreement' that there would be no US invasion of Cuba.

Fall of Khrushchev from powerIn October 1964, Khrushchev was removed

from power and kept under house arrest for seven years, till his death in 1971.