Cuban Missile Crisis
Who? |
The Cuban Missile Crisis involved two different parties but three different countries. It was essentially part of the Cold War where America was attempting to oppress communism which the USSR did not like. So in other words, the Cuban Missile Crisis involved Democracy and Communism, America on the side of Democracy and Cuba and the USSR on the side of Communism. However, it almost involved the whole world in WWIII if things did not go the way they did.
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Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev holding hands in unity under communism (1962)
What? |
The Cuban Missile Crisis is exactly as it sounds. The USSR was secretly shipping pieces to build a nuclear arsenal over to their ally: Cuba. America had just happened to be flying a spy plane, the U-2 Dragon lady, over Cuba when they spotted over 40 different warheads that had the ability to fire to anywhere in the US (with the exception of Seattle). When we first discovered it, the USSR and Cuba had no idea we knew but needless to say, Kennedy, who was the president at the time, was terrified. He met with Castro to see if he would give him information but he denied the existence of any nukes in Cuba. When the United States deployed a "quarantine" (a fancy word for blockade) on Cuba to prevent more nukes from arriving in Cuba, the tension between the three nations rose. Kennedy put America in a Defcon 1 alert to ensure the safety in case the crisis did escalate into a full on war. This lasted for 13 days before Kennedy and Khrushchev came to an agreement:
"As I read your letter, the key elements of your proposals…are as follows: 1) You would agree to remove these weapons from Cuba under appropriate United Nations observation and supervision; and halt the further introduction of such weapons systems into Cuba. 2) We, on our part, would agree…a) to remove promptly the [blockade] now in effect and (b) to give assurances against an invasion of Cuba, I am confident that other nations of the Western Hemisphere would be prepared to do likewise." - John F. Kennedy, 27 October 1962 At this point, we also had nukes of our own aimed at Moscow, Russia that the USSR knew about. That is what Kennedy was talking about when he talked about disarmament later on in the letter. Since it was not public knowledge, he couldn't say the United State's nukes by name to keep it private. |
When? |
In total, the official Cuban Missile Crisis lasted for thirteen days in October 1962. Over these days, Kennedy and Khrushchev tried to settle on the terms of a treaty.
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Types of missiles in Cuba that were spotted from the American spy plane.
Where? |
There was no specified place that all of this happened. The missiles were in Cuba but Kennedy was contacting Khrushchev from America to the USSR. That's why it took so long and Kennedy restated everything that Khrushchev said in his letter. There were also other complications other than time because of the language differences. Khrushchev did speak English but he wasn't certain it was as he wanted so he also sent a Russian version to Kennedy. Castro was not very involved in these discussions because he was too preoccupied shining his new nukes.
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Part of the blockade around Cuba to prevent more nukes arriving in Cuba from the USSR.
Why? |
Originally, the USSR started sending missiles to Cuba to strengthen their power and alliance with Cuba, to threaten America with nuclear warfare, and boost their bargaining position in attempt to make West Berlin to join East Germany. Since the US is the only country that has ever used an atomic bomb in war, they did not take the threat lightly. After that, America prepared for war and set out blockades which made Cuba and the USSR uncomfortable, raising the tension. That is about the time when the actual Cuban Missile Crisis happened. Only when the USSR and America came to an agreement, the tensions started to fall.
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Khrushchev and Kennedy in an "arms race" as they arm wrestle while sitting on their atomic bombs.