Was the Cuban Missile Crisis a Soviet Victory? In 1962 the USSR began constructing nuclear missile bases in Cuban territory, this has been described by many historians as the closest the Cold War came to nuclear conflict and although it was resolved peacefully it still had a major impact upon the development of the Cold War. Much debate has been held as to whether the Cuban missile crisis can be described as a Soviet victory as Fidel Castro, a stalwart soviet ally, remains in power to this day. This essay will evaluate the claim of soviet victory by looking at the aims of both superpowers with regards to Cuba, the events themselves and how the crisis was resolved and by looking at the consequences for both the USSR and America. Following the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, Fidel Castro sought even more support from the USSR to prevent any further attempts to overthrow him.
In this essay it will be argued that indeed the Cuban Missile Crisis was the point of highest tension during the Cold War and also that Kennedy benefited the most from the outcome as opposed to Khrushchev who was the leader of the USSR. Firstly the Cuban Missile Crisis began on the 16th October 1962 when an American U2 spy plane photographed Soviet missiles sites in Cuba. The fact that the USSR had responded to appeals for help from Cuba following the Bay of Pigs invasion was a large problem for the USA and straight away increased the tensions of the Cold War. It was an issue because Cuba was lead by Castro, a communist who had already overthrown the pro- American government in 1961 and so he was motivated to possibly harm the United States of America and working with Khrushchev gave him the means to do so. Furthermore Cuba was only 90 miles off the coast of America, which meant these missiles, particularly the long-ranged weapons could reach major American cities.
Khrushchev thought that by moving nuclear missiles to Cuba, he would not only help close the missile gay with the U.S but that it would also prevent another American invasion of Cuba. Kennedy thought that he was left with only two options. One was to attack Cuba. The second was that they would call for a Navy blockade to keep soviet ships from sending in any more missiles to Cuba. Kennedy decided to the blockade.
attack on Cuba the equivalent of a world war, and claims to be receiving lots of aid from the USSR. But once the USSR and Cuban governments began building missile bases in Cuba, it became an immediate threat to the United States. The bases being built for these IRBM missiles were capable of launching them to practically any area of the continental United States. We responded by transporting 100 US missiles to Turkey and Italy, which were in striking distance of Moscow. By mid October, a U-2 photoreconnaissance plane retrieved pictures of missile sites in Cuba, giving Kennedy hard evidence that they existed.
It focuses on the diplomatic and legal efforts of the Kennedy brothers in resolving the issue of Soviet nuclear missiles inside Cuba. They strived to get some type of legal approval for any actions they took. This was done through the United Nations and the Organization of American States, or OAS. This memoir highlights the access and influence that Robert Kennedy had in the Kennedy administration. Thirteen Days takes a rational actor approach1 to the problem and tends to give less weight to organizational pressures2.
One of President Reagan’s biggest achievements was the end of the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987. The Treaty agreed to eliminate all intermediate and short-range ground-based missiles and launchers from Europe. This Treaty came after a summit meeting that Pres. Reagan and Gorbachev had in the fall of 1986, in which each country was considering what type of missiles they would maintain in Europe.
How Did Bay of Pigs Lead To Cuban Missile Crisis Riham Attalla Professor Tsung Soo Hoo Seminar on National Security New Jersey City University Abstract During the first and the Second World War both the USSR and US, Union of Soviet Socialist Republic were on the same side of alliance, the Triple Entente France and Britain also forming part of the alliance. The alliance was opposed to the Triple alliance, which constituted Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany as the de-facto leader. Immediately after the Second World War, two countries emerged super powers; the US and USSR (Jones, 2008). US apparently had used atomic bomb in two of the Japanese cities the Hiroshima and Nagasaki and USSR was determined to develop atomic bomb. The situation that followed the Second World War was the period of Cold war that lasted up to early 1990s and when the Soviet republic disintegrated.
How was President Truman Important in the Build up to the Cold War? Harry S. Truman was the president of the United States just before and during an early period of the Cold War (1945-1953). Truman's presidency was very eventful in foreign affairs. He was involved in the defeat of Nazi Germany, made the decision to drop the Atomic Bombs in Japan, the founding of the United Nations, the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, the Truman Doctrine to attempt to contain communism and help aid Greece, the beginning of the Cold War, the Berlin Airlift and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Truman made some decisions that ultimately had a huge effect in the build up to the cold war.
In 1960 President Eisenhower game the CIA order to begin training Cuban exiles to lead resistance groups in Cuba. This was so when the United States invaders landed, there would already be a force slowing down Cuban forces. After John F. Kennedy was elected president, he was briefed on the latest plan and ended up giving the order for the Bay of Pigs invasion. About 1500 Cuban exiles landed on April 19, 1961. They were hoping to get support from the local population and intended to cross the island to Havana.
1962: A Cold War event known as the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. The Cuban Missile Crisis was when the Soviets put missiles in Cuba, JFK requested the Soviets to remove them, and the Soviets would only do so as long as JFK were to promise not to invade Cuba and remove the US missile bases in Turkey. 1963: JFK established a hotline between the Soviet Union and the White House, sent advisors to Vietnam sparking the involvement of the US in Vietnam, and sent a US led coup to remove the leader of South Vietnam due to his corruption. JFK was assassinated three weeks later on November 22 by a man named Lee Harvey Oswald. 1964: Johnson took over for JFK and the 24th amendment was passed which was the abolition of poll tax.