Castro, Independent Participant or Soviet Pawn?

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Internal Assessment

Internal Assessment

Castro, Independent Participant or Soviet Pawn

Key Participants: Fidel Castro (Cuba)

                             Nikita Khrushchev (USSR)

                             John F. Kennedy (United States of America)

Plan of Investigation

The Cuban Missile Crisis took place between the United States of America, Cuba and the Soviet Union in 1962, during the Cold War. The crisis became public knowledge when President John F. Kennedy appeared on a televised announcement to the American people, declaring that “ large, long range, clearly offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction” had been stored in recently built missile storage installations on the island of Cuba. President Kennedy also stated that their suspicions indicate that these missiles had been placed there by the Soviet Union and that these were not regular stinger missiles but nuclear missiles and that the number of nuclear missiles was quickly growing. Were these missiles placed in Cuba under Soviet orders or had Castro requested their presence? Throughout this thesis I will present facts and details that will provide an answer to this lingering question. This is where the Cuban Missile Crisis begins.

Summary of Evidence

There is much controversy over the subject of whether Fidel Castro was in fact being manipulated by Soviet Union officials, such as Nikita Khrushchev. It has never been possible to prove this theory in light of conflicting opinions and facts. Such facts as the first offensive manoeuvre when Castro ordered his troops to fire on an American U2 spy plane. It was this event that forced President Kennedy to act in protection of the USA. Apart from the use of Russian missiles to bring down the plane, there is no evidence to prove that Russia was involved in the making of this decision. It is strongly believed that Castro made this decision based on the spur of the moment when the US spy plane entered Cuban air space. Despite this theory it is well known that Fidel Castro issued many warnings to President Kennedy that any and all American presence in Cuba would be dealt with with lethal force, but President Kennedy still insisted on spying on Cuba. Due to the destruction of the spy plane, President Kennedy issued a Naval quarantine around the island of Cuba.

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May 2nd, Nikita Khrushchev devises a plan to station intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba in order to counter act the increasing power of the United States of America. This increasing power was in actual fact their potential power, in that the United States had increased their development in nuclear missiles and then deploying them to stations around the world. Cuba had also been told that this use of their storage space was also due to their interest, as a fellow communist state, in protecting Cuba from an invasion which had been sponsored by the United States, similar to their previous ...

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