President Khrushchev of the USSR had met his fellow communist leader Castro at a United Nations summit and the two became good allies immediately. Soon afterwards Khrushchev decided to place missiles on Cuba. He gave two reasons for doing so, one was that these missiles were a means of defence for the Cubans and the other he argued was that if America could have a nuclear missiles in Turkey, capable of wiping out major cities in the Soviet Union; it was only fair that the Soviets should be allowed a nuclear missile base near the USA.
However, Khrushchev did not reveal his ideas to the general public and especially not to the United States and denied all accusations of Soviet nuclear missile activity in the Caribbean. ‘No missile capable of reaching the United States will be placed in Cuba’. Khrushchev made this quote during a speech to the public.
On October 14, a U-2 spy plane flew over Cuba and took photographs of the missile site. President Kennedy of the United States was shown the photographs proving that Soviet missile were on Cuba. At this stage, the Americans spent six days secretly discussing and planning how to respond. They did not even consult their closest ally, the government of Britain until the 21st of October. This was shortly before Kennedy made an announcement to the American people about the crisis and the likelihood of a war.
Kennedy decided to prepare for an invasion of Cuba. But first, he mounted a blockade of the island. On 22nd October, he issued a quarantine of all ships headed to Cuba. This meant the ships would be stopped and searched. Even at this point, Khrushchev refused to accept publicly that there were missiles on Cuba. This put the Soviets in a difficult position, as Kennedy was able to show the world that they were lying. Two days later, a number of Soviet ships, which probably contained missile warheads turned back just short of the blockade.
The Americans announced to the Soviets that the missiles should be dismantled immediately or Cuba would be attacked and invaded. At this point there was a real possibility of an all out nuclear war breaking out between USA and the USSR. Castro had even suggested to Khrushchev that the USSR should launch the nuclear missiles against America to stop the imminent invasion of Cuba. Fortunately, Khrushchev did not like the prospect of a nuclear war and wrote and urgent letter to Kennedy hoping to strike a compromise. He said that if America were to remove their missiles from Turkey they would in turn withdraw the warheads from Cuba.
The Americans were unsure of how to respond. They had already considered taking their missiles out of Turkey but Kennedy did not want to lose his pride and be seen backing down in the face of the Soviets. American military leaders recommended an immediate air attack on Cuba that would consequently mean an outbreak of war. A letter was about to be sent to the Soviets refusing to do a deal over the missiles in Turkey but fortunately, at this point Kennedy changed his mind. He decided to first letter and sent another letter to Khrushchev accepting the Soviet proposal that the missiles should be withdrawn in return for an American commitment not to invade Cuba. Both countries agreed on this and the crisis was finally over.
In conclusion, there was an immense possibility of a nuclear war over the Cuban missile crisis which had accumulated over the space of two and a half years and thankfully to both Kennedy’s than finally Khrushchev’s careful judgement the war was avoided.
