Why Was There A Crisis In Cuba And How Was It Resolved?

Why was there a crisis in Cuba, and how was it resolved?

For long, Cuba had been an ally of the west. The Americans owned most of the business there; they also owned a naval base in Cuba. However this all changed after a three year guerrilla campaign which eventually saw Batista overthrown and replaced by Fidel Castro. Within Cuba, Castro promoted communism and it eventually became a pro-communist state with its own “sphere of influence”. Due to the circumstances, geographically and historically, it was always going to be a test for the American foreign policy of self containment.

There were earlier attempts at self containment. For two years from 1959-1961, there was a certain degree of relationship between Castro and the US though it was an uncertain one. Castro took over the American owned businesses in Cuba, but he let the Americans keep the naval base. He assured Americans living in Cuba that they were safe and assured that he was simply trying to run Cuba without interference or without otherwise getting into any problems. This soon changed though when American spies learned that Cuba was receiving arms from the Soviet Union in the summer of 1960.

As a result of this the USA broke down diplomatic relations in January 1961 with Cuba. Castro became paranoid at the prospect of a US invasion (though this wasn’t to happen). It was getting to a stage though where the US were not going to tolerate a Soviet influenced state so close to home.

In April 1961 President J.F Kennedy supplied arms, equipment and transport for 1,400 soldiers to invade Cuba and get rid of Fidel Castro. They landed at the Bay of Pigs and so began the Bay of Pigs Fiasco. It is given its appropriate name because as these soldiers landed on the Bay of Pigs, they were met by 20 000 well armed, well equipped Cuban soldiers (armed with tanks and modern weapons). These 1400 soldiers sent in by the US were captured of killed by Castro immediately. The attempted invasion by the USA came under immense criticism from Khrushchev who described it as “pathetic”. It also showed the unwillingness of Kennedy to engage in a direct conflict with Cuba. These incidents and the coming of power for Fidel Castro increased tension between the small nation and the USA and indeed the tension between the USA and the Soviet Union.

When these incidents had occurred, it was evident that when looking back it was clear that US foreign policy had been a major factor in the spread of communism as it backed the previous dictator, Batista, who had been hated among Cuban people. Also it would probably be fair to say that the attempted invasion by the Americans also encouraged the spread of communism. After this the Cubans and the Soviets became increasingly suspicious of American foreign policy and the tension rose further.

Following the Bay of Pigs Fiasco, questions were asked including “What was the Soviet Union ...

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Following the Bay of Pigs Fiasco, questions were asked including “What was the Soviet Union doing in Cuba?”. Soviet arms continued to make their way into Cuba after the Fiasco and thought it seemed that the Americans were prepared to tolerate the incoming of conventional arms (Soviet missiles, patrol boats, tanks, radar vans, missile erectors, jet bombers, jet fighters and 5000 soviet technicians to maintain weapons) it was then on the minds of the Americans if the Soviets would ever dare to put nuclear missiles on Cuba. The US intelligence assured Kennedy that the USSR would not do this as they would consider it too risky to do in Cuba. On the 11th of September Kennedy made it clear to the Soviets that he would go by any means required to prevent Cuba becoming a nuclear base. On the same day the soviets assured the Americans that they had no intentions of doing this.

Events took a worrying turn for the Americans next in what was known as the “October Crisis”. This was the stage at which the Americans found out (by means of U-2 plane) that the Soviets had indeed been building nuclear missiles on Cuba. This crisis left Kennedy with five main options. Number one- he could do nothing. This could work in that the USA still had more missiles than the USSR and that there could be a mutual agreement between the two nations if the USA did not over react to the discovery of missiles on Cuba. On the contrary, the USSR had lied about Cuban missiles and to do nothing would be a sign of solemn weakness.

His next option would be to order a surgical air attack. This would destroy the missiles before they were ready for use by the Soviets. However the destruction of the sites could not be guaranteed and the risk of a counter attack was too great. To attack without advance warning was also viewed upon as immoral.

Kennedy’s third option would be to launch an invasion. This would not only get rid of the missiles but Fidel Castro as well as the soldiers were trained and available. The downside to this option however, was that it would almost certainly guarantee an equivalent Soviet response in retaliation.

Kennedy’s fourth option was to increase Diplomatic pressure on Khrushchev. While this would avoid conflict, the USA would seem weak if it had to back down.

Kenney’s fifth and final option was to form a blockade of Cuba. It would show that the USA was serious, it would not be a direct act of war and it would put the burden on Khrushchev, not Kennedy to decide what the next move was going to be. The USA also had a strong navy so if something was to go wrong, they would not be left without options. The downside to this option was however, the fact that it would not solve the main problem. The missiles were already on Cuba and the Soviet Union might retaliate by blockading Cuba like they had Blockaded Berlin in 1948.

During the next couple of weeks from the 16th of October, the world held its breath as the tension between the US and the Soviets mounted and mounted. After finding out about the missiles on the 16th, Kennedy decided to go ahead with the blockade on the 20th of October. On the 23rd, Khrushchev informs Kennedy that the Soviets would not acknowledge the blockade and the blockade begins the next day. Soviet ships begin to approach the blockade zone but then at 10.32 a.m. the 20 ships closest, stop or turn around. New aerial photography issued on the 25th of October reveals the speed of which the nuclear missiles were being developed on the island.

The next day, Kennedy receives a long personal letter from Khrushchev which claims that the missiles placed on Cuba are there for purely defensive purposes and that if assurances were given from the USA that they would not participate in an attack on Cuba and that they would remove the blockade, then the question of the removal of the missile sites would be an entirely different question (this was the first time that Khrushchev admitted to the missile sites in Cuba).

On the 27th of October, Khrushchev sends another letter revising his proposals made on the previous one. This letter says that the condition for removing the missiles from Cuba would now be changed to the US removing their missiles from Turkey. Kennedy could not accept this. On this day an American U 2 plane is shot down over Cuba. The pilot is killed and though Kennedy is advised to launch an attack, he delays it. He also decides to ignore the second letter sent by Khrushchev but to accept the conditions put out on the first letter.

The potential conflict evaporates on the 28th October when Khrushchev replies to Kennedy “in order to eliminate as rapidly as possible the conflict which endangers the cause of peace… the Soviet Government has given a new order to dismantle the arms which you described as offensive and to crate and return them to the Soviet Union”. The Cuban Missile Crisis was over.

The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred because of the introduction of Fidel Castro and the Soviet influence to Cuba and the foreign policy of the Americans to get rid of it. There were a number of incidents which occurred such as the October Crisis and the Bay of Pigs Fiasco which fuelled tension on both sides whose trust of each other waned as the crisis developed. Originally it is fair to say that American Policy itself could have been responsible for the onset of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was finally resolved by a series of letters sent between Kennedy and Khrushchev who finally came to an understanding before the worst could happen… nuclear ware fare. One thing which would have been a main preventative of this was the fear of nuclear war fare, not just in the USA and the USSR but in the entire world over those two weeks in October, 1962.