Cuban Missile Crisis

Introduction
After WW2 relations between the former allies U.S.A and
the Soviet Union broke down and it brought about an era
known as the Cold War, where the world was divided into
east and west. The end of WW2 had brought upon a new
stage of warfare in the form of the atomic bomb. The 1950s
saw a massive amount of nuclear testing with both powers
demonstrating how powerful they are. One incident, which
could have ended it all for everyone, was the Cuban Missile
Crisis, which occurred from October 14-27 1962.
After the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959 Cuba
who had been an ally of the US started making links with the
Soviets. America attempted to invade Cuba in the Bay of Pigs
by training Cuban exiles. But suffered a defeat. The soviet
premier Nikita Khrushchev planned to place Nuclear
weapons in Cuba to deter any future invasion. Similar to the
Jupiter Missiles the US had placed in Italy and Turkey in case
of a Soviet invasion. He also wanted the NATO [North
Atlantic Treaty Organization] controlled West Berlin which
he planned to bargain for. The missiles were secretly
shipped to Cuba and construction began to make them
operational. On October 14th an American U2 plane spotted
the missiles and the CIA alerted the president the next
morning. The medium range ballistic missiles could as far as
D.C. the long-range ballistic missiles could reach almost all of
the contiguous US. President Kennedy was faced with many
choices. The Joint Chiefs of Staff thought a full-scale invasion
was needed. But on doing these Soviets would retaliate
leaving the world in total nuclear war. Technically these new
nukes didn’t add much to the soviets arsenal of 300.
Compared to the US arsenal of 5000. But those nukes
seemed to be doing nothing.
On October 18th Kennedy met with the soviet minister of
foreign affairs, Andrei Gromyko, who assured him that any
weapons in Cuba were for defensive purposes only. They
decided to Blockade Cuba calling it quarantine because
technically a blockade was an act of war. It kept the US in
control and wasn’t the most aggressive thing to do. Any
Soviet ships found to be carrying Nukes would be turned
back. He informed his allies what was going on before
addressing the nation. The US moved to Defcon 3. The world
stirred uncomfortably wondering how bad the threat was.
The pope appealed to both Kennedy and Khrushchev
requesting them for peace. Khrushchev publicly compared
the quarantine to piracy and warned Kennedy that this was
an act of war. The photos of the missiles were shown to the

UN Security Council in front of the Soviet ambassador who

had refused to claim their existence. The US moved to
Defcon 2 and prepared for all out nuclear war. Some Soviet
ships challenged the blockade but most ships turned around.
An invasion was still an option but they decided to hold out
for diplomacy. Neither side was backing down the situation
was at a stalemate. Word reached Kennedy through Soviet
spy offering a possible solution. The soviets would remove
their missiles from Cuba if the US promised not to Invade
Cuba. A letter than appeared for Kennedy appearing to have
been written by Khrushchev himself saying that they stop
throwing the world into all out nuclear war.
Feeling an invasion of Cuba imminent Fidel Castro suggested
to Khrushchev that the soviets nuke them first. On October
27,which became known as Black Saturday, Khrushchev
publicly broadcasted a new deal. Offering him to remove the
Jupiter missiles in Italy and Turkey. The Jupiter missiles
were Obsolete and the US had planned to remove them
anyway. Though Turkey didn’t like being used as a
bargaining chip.
An American U2 plane, which was checking the progress of
the missiles, was shot down over Cuba. Neither country
decided to escalate this matter. Kennedy decided to ignore
Khrushchev’s second offer and take up the first one. He also
added the secret guarantee that the Jupiter missiles would
be removed a few months later. As they waited for their
reply they continued getting ready for war and forced their
allies in doing so as well.
A US navy ship gave warning charges towards the Soviet
submarine. The sub was armed with nuclear torpedoes but
thankfully chose not to fire. The way it works is 3
commanders have to approve in order to fire a nuke. 2 of
them ordered to shoot the missile but one commander,
Vasili Arkhipov, decided against that. In simpler words that
man saved us from all out nuclear war. Migs also chased a US
plane out of Kamchatka on an unauthorized mission. World
War 3 was so close to happening. Thankfully by that evening
the Soviets and the Americans had come to an agreement.
They would remove the missiles from Italy Turkey and Cuba.
The US also pledged to leave Cuba alone. Once the operation
was canceled and the missiles were on their way back home
the US dropped the blockade.
Khrushchev had initially left 100 tactical nukes, which were
not specified in the US demands, but in case Castro did
something rash with those nukes Khrushchev took those as
well. Months later the Jupiter missiles were also dismantled
unnoticed to the public that this was due to the crisis in
Cuba.

Conclusion
Despite avoiding thermal nuclear war the Soviet Union
appeared weak after these events and Khrushchev
ultimately lost power 2 years later. John.F.Kennedy was
assassinated just over a year after these events. The cold
war went on for decades and the US had their biggest defeat
in Southeast Asia.

MY OPINION- this crisis was a pure breakdown in

communication. The Moscow-Washington hot line was then
created for these 2 leaders to have direct communication
rather than 2nd guessing your self. I also think this event
might have prevented many wars from becoming another
World War as it showed the world how dangerous nuclear
warfare is especially know that new Nukes are 1,000 times
more powerful. They are literally 1,000 times more powerful
with the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles
being able to destroy a city half way across the world in one
hit.

SOURCES
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-
crisis
https://www.historytoday.com/john-swift/cuban-missile-
crisis
http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-
know-about-the-cuban-missile-crisis