‘The Hossbach memorandum confirms the continuity of Hitler’s thinking: the primacy of force in politics, conquest of living space in the east, anti-Bolshevism, hostility to France. Hitler’s warlike intentions were now explicit’ (A.P.Adamthwaite, 1979). Unlike Castro, Hitler had embraced in a more aggressive foreign policy to expand its empire (lebensraum) to stretch throughout Europe. Many historians would argue that Hitler’s expansionist foreign policy had contributed to the outbreak of the Second World War and this was significant as it shaped the world politics as well as causing millions of casualties.
According to the historian Thomas Patterson, ‘the United States’ sanctions against Fidel Castro and his government provided the rationale and the catalytic action which accelerated close economic, political and military relations between Cuba and the USSR’. The improved Cuban-Russian relations meant that Khrushchev was able to place nuclear weapons in Cuba to safeguard both Cuba to prevent it from future invasions and Russian interests. The Cuban Missile Crisis has created a shift in the Cold War balance of power because previously, only the Americans had missiles targeted on the USSR in Turkey, but now Russia also had its nuclear weapons targeted at the United States. This was significant as it gave Khrushchev greater leverage in negotiations concerning Berlin but also the situation of stalemate or ‘brinkmanship’. The crisis has shaped the world we live in today as it brought the world close when both leaders agree to establish diplomatic relations and talks as well as measures to prevent such crisis reoccurring in the future. Furthermore, the crisis made the people in the world to realize how close the world came towards a nuclear war and that they should work towards disarming.
‘Castro’s influence in the Cold War politics was twofold. Firstly, it was largely his doing that the power came close to clashing than they ever had before, and it was largely in spite of him that this clash never took place’ (Tony Howarth, 1979). Thus to conclude, Cuba did not have much control over its foreign policy as its economy was crippled by the American embargo. It was only able to survive through Russia’s economic aid and that has meant that Cuba has become a tool used by Khrushchev to gain an upper hand in the Cold War crisis. The Cuban missile crisis has clearly proven this assertion as the missiles in Cuba threatened American homeland security. Arguably, what was more significant was that Cuba did not intend to follow an aggressive foreign policy similar to that of Germany, but was dictated by desperation due to the circumstances. This was not to say that Cuba itself did not play a large role in world affairs as ‘Castro’s influence in the Cold War politics was twofold’ because the Cuban Missile Crisis marked the closest point when the world has come to a nuclear war resulting in a thaw in the Cold War. In contrast, Germany was in a much better position with regards to its control over its foreign policy largely due to its strong industrialized economy and Hitler being an aggressive expansionist dictator. Without doubt, Germany had a large impact on world affairs as Hitler’s policy of lebensraum was partly responsible for the outbreak of the Second World War and dictated world politics several years to come. Therefore, it is evident to say that Hitler and Castro followed different foreign policies due to their differing views in ideology and because of the political, economical and social situation they were faced with. Perhaps Castro would have adopted a different foreign policy if its economy were stronger and was placed differently geographically. Regardless, we can say that both the single party states had an immense impact on world affairs to the extent that there are some remnants of it left, such as the creation of the United Nations after Second World War.
