Cuban Missile Crisis
In October 1962 the world came closest to a nuclear holocaust than it has ever done before or since in a critical standoff between the two major nuclear powers (the U.S. And the U.S.S.R.) over the deployment of missiles in Cuba by the Soviet Union. This paper discusses the causes and consequences of the Cuban Missile Crisis and assesses President Kennedy's handling of the crisis.
Causes
After the Spanish-American War of 1898 that ended the Spanish Empire and Spain's control of Cuba, the United States had given itself the right to intervene in the internal affairs of Cuba and U.S. businesses established extensive interests on the island. All of this ended with the Cuban Revolution under Fidel Castro in 1959. The U.S. was not prepared to accept a leftist revolution so close to its borders and the CIA carried out several covert and overt attempts to dislodge Castro, which culminated in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. The failure of the invasion did not deter the U.S. And it continued to threaten the Cuban regime with covert operations and hostile acts and the Cubans feared another imminent invasion by the U.S.
The...
Cuban Missile Crisis The reports of the arrival of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to the island of Cuba. These warheads are capable of reaching almost any part of the continental United States. The presence of these warheads represents an escalation of the conflict with the Soviet Union and its allies, and it represents an existential threat to the United States. For the first time since the arms buildup between
Cuban Missile Crisis: Why we need more balance of power in the world. Cuban Missile crisis in 1960s may raise a serious political question in retrospect i.e. should America be allowed to exist as the sole superpower and what could be the repercussions of such an existence? Now fifty years or so later, we are in a much better position to answer this question. United States or any other nation for
Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was a major cold war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided to install ballistic missiles in Cuba although they had made a promise to the U.S. that they would not (Chayes). When the U.S. discovered the construction of missile launching sites, President John F. Kennedy publicly denounced the Soviet actions, demanding that they remove the nuclear missiles
Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 is widely regarded as the most dangerous moment of the Cold War, and one which, "brought the world to the brink of the unthinkable" (Blight & Welch, 315). Although the successful resolution of the crisis led to an immediate improvement in relationship between the superpowers, and focussed the world's attention on the issues surrounding nuclear capability and deterrence, it also led to the development
In the tense days that followed, Khrushchev offered to withdraw the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba and to remove U.S. missiles deployed in Turkey. Kennedy privately assured the Soviets about withdrawal of missiles from Turkey but publicly gave only a non-invasion pledge. The crisis was averted when Khrushchev, also wary of the danger of a nuclear confrontation, announced on October 28 that he
Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe but U.S. missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union." (ThinkQuest Team, 1) This provides us
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