The US president refused to apologise for spying on Russia.
The 1960 summit meeting, which was held to try and resolve the problem collapsed when the two nations refused to settle an agreement.
In 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected. It was built because so many people were escaping from Communist east Berlin. Anyone who tried to scale the wall to escape was shot instantly. It looked like Russia was winning, which made America even more determined to overthrow them.
Communication between the two sides had almost completely broken down, as each side was ignoring the other. This was a very tense time.
In April 1961, Kennedy and the U.S.A. trained and supplied a group of Cuban rebels to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
Kennedy thought that the Cuban people would help to overthrow Castro, but in fact the opposite happened, and the U.S.A. were easily defeated by the Cubans, and this made Castro even more popular with the Cuban people. Kennedy was very embarrassed by the defeat, and this made Castro worried that the U.S.A would attack at any time. He turned to help from president Krushchev for help.
By the summer of 1962, the two nations were not speaking, and were spreading rumours about each other.
The future looked very bleak, and nuclear war seemed a strong possibility.
Question 2. Why did a crisis develop about Cuba in 1962?
Before 1959, Cuba had firm relations with the U.S.A., and was led by General Batista. A lot of Cuban profits were exported to the U.S.A.
In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew Batista, with a promise to the Cuban people for a better quality of life.
He nationalised all of Cubans businesses, which meant that they kept the profits. Connections with America were starting to fray. The U.S.A. then refused to buy Cuban sugar.
Cuba would surely collapse without a buyer for their product, so they turned to Russia, who then started to buy their sugar.
Cuba was very important to the U.S.A, as it is only 90 miles off the coast of Florida. Now that the U.S.S.R had moved in, the Americans described it as having ‘communism at your back door.’
In an attempt to overthrow Castro, Kennedy and the U.S.A sent Cuban rebels in to attack at the Bay of Pigs, in 1961.
However, things went terribly wrong, and the U.S army was easily defeated by the Cuban people. This embarrassed Kennedy, but made Castro wary of another attack, but this time bigger. Naturally, he turned to Russia for help.
From the summer of 1962, soviet missiles were arriving in Cuba, which worried the U.S.A., and a spy plane was shot down over Russia, and the U.S.A. refused to apologise. This angered Russia, and made the situation even more tense.
By the summer of 1962, relations between the U.S.A. and Russia were at an all time crisis. Cuba had firm connections with Russia, and Russia was sending supplies of weapons to Cuba, for there defence. However, American agents kept a watchful eye on what was arriving into Cuba, and saw convoys of lorries, carrying large objects.
An American spy plane took photos of missile bases being set up. Russia was helping Cuba to do this.
The U.S.S.R. now had the capability to hit almost every major city in America with a missile, due to their bases on Cuba. Kennedy was a young, inexperienced president compared to Krushchev, and it showed. After all, Krushchev had shot down one of his spy planes, he had built the Berlin wall, and the Bay of Pigs invasion had backfired greatly on him.
Now it seemed that Krushchev had ‘first strike capability’ on him from Cuba.
From all angles, it looked like Russia was winning the cold war. This made Kennedy even more determined to show Krushchev how powerful he was. The situation was now very serious, as the superpowers were now at the brink of nuclear war.
This in the long term, could mean the end to both superpowers. If one president decided to drop just one missile on the other nation, nuclear war was an almost certain possibility.
Question 3.
Why were the superpowers able to resolve the crisis without going to war?
By 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis was in full flow. Fidel Castro was in power in Cuba, and Cuba was close allies with Russia. This looked to the Americans that Cuba was now a communist country, which it was not. Cuba had needed to set up connections with Russia after America had pulled out of all sugar agreements, and had left Cuba with no source of income.
An American spy plane had been shot down flying over Russia, and the Americans had refused to apologise, which had enraged the Russians even more.
The U.S.S.R. had set up missile bases in Cuba, which made America very vulnerable, as Krushchev had the capability to reach almost every major city in America with a missile, hence having first strike capability. The U.S. sent a convoy of ships to blockade Cuba, and stop Russian boats from depositing more missiles there.
The Cold War was now beginning to look very hot indeed, as the threat of nuclear war became even more present.
There were however, many ways that the two powerful nations were able to resolve the crisis;
Kennedy had several options about what he should do about the missiles in Cuba, he chose to blockade Cuba, as I have already mentioned, instead of attack Cuba conventionally, perform an air strike on the bases, or even declare nuclear war on Cuba. The latter of the options would of surely ended in self destruction for Kennedy. Krushchev diverted the ships, and sent them back to Russia.
The option to blockade Cuba was a decision well made, as it prevented actual combat, prolonging to the relative peace.
It was, however, clear that both leaders did not want nuclear war.
Between the days of October 22nd and October 28th 1962, the war was hotter than it had ever been.
Both leaders had prepared weapons, and it seemed as if a ‘high noon’ or ‘shoot out’ was on the cards.
Kennedy was under great pressure at home, due to him being a young and inexperienced president, compared to Krushchev. He felt as if he had the whole nation resting on his shoulder, and he really had to make a success of himself.
It was for this reason that on US television, on October 22nd, he made his first threat to Russia. He said that if any nuclear weapon is launched from Cuba, against any nation in the western hemisphere, the US will retaliate, by launching their weapons on to the U.S.S.R.
On October 23rd, Krushchev replied by saying that he would blow up New York.
Between the days of October 22nd and 24th, the world held its breath as some ships from Russia were boarded by the US navy. Nothing however happened. A spy plane was shot down over Cuba, but no action was taken. This was a great step in diffusing the tension.
Both Kennedy and Krushchev were able to appear tough in public, but actually agreed to talk and make concessions in private. Although they could not speak directly, they were talking. This helped to resolve the crisis greatly, as it showed both leaders were willing to take steps to prevent nuclear war. Both leaders advisors were suggesting alternatives to them fighting directly, as the nuclear power of both sides was almost frightening them into backing down from using nuclear weapons.
In major cities all over the world, there were huge demonstrations against nuclear war. The world was terrified of nuclear war, as it would mean an end to things as they knew them.
Perhaps the most important of the factors, is that Krushchev sent Kennedy two messages, giving him the option to choose which one to respond to.
On October the 26th, Kennedy receives a letter from Krushchev, making an offer to deposit no more weapons in Cuba, and destroy all the of the ones already there, if he ends the blockade.
On October 27th, Kennedy receives another letter, this time with more demanding proposals, asking Kennedy to remove missiles from Turkey.
Kennedy chooses to respond to the first letter, and on October 28th, the crisis is ended.
The U.S.S.R. removed all bases from Cuba, and destroyed all of their weapons, and the US promised not to invade Cuba. The blockade was ended, and in secret, Kennedy removes some, but not all missiles from Europe. However, the US blockade of trade with Cuba continues.
The two sides managed to avoid war at all costs. Deep down, neither side actually wanted a nuclear war, and were prepared to sort out the crisis. The various factors which resolved the crisis all worked together to keep the peace between the two nations.
Question 4
Was the Cuban Missile crisis a turning point in relations between the Superpowers?
During and shortly after World War II, Americas and Russia were allies. Differences soon arose in the correct way to run Germany, due to different beliefs and ideas about communism and capitalism.
As time went by, the superpowers became increasingly hostile, with events such as the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, the building of the Berlin wall by Krushchev, and the shooting down of the American U2 spy plane. In 1962, the U.S.S.R. erected several missile bases on to the island of Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, giving Russia the capability to strike almost every major city in America.
From the 22nd to the 28th of October 1962, things became extremely heated between the superpowers, and the world was on the brink of nuclear war.
After the crisis had been resolved, in some ways relations had improved between the superpowers;
The two nations realised the need for communication between them during a crisis. For this reason, the ‘hot line’ was set up, which was a telephone link between the two leaders, so that they could talk directly. This enables them to talk through any problems, which was a major step in improving relations.
Both countries also realised the danger of having too many nuclear weapons, and so the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were set up during the 60’s and 70’s.
A ‘Test Ban Treaty’ was also signed by both nations, in which they agreed not to test nuclear weapons above ground, and so not damaging any wildlife or harming anybody.
The U.S.S.R. removed all its weapons from Cuba, and the U.S.A removed some of its missiles from Cuba. This meant that Russia could no longer target U.S. cities, and Russia was also less at risk from a nuclear attack.
The use of nuclear weapons to threaten other countries stopped, but new and deadly conventional weapons, such as napalm, and Agent Orange were used instead.
Although the Superpowers still were not friend after the crisis, they stopped short of the brink of nuclear war, stopping themselves from not only destroying the other nation, but themselves in the process. They were entering a period of ‘Détente,’ which was an easing of tension between the two nations.
However, there were aspects that stayed the same, such as the continuing to maintain nuclear weapons and missiles still remaining in parts of Europe, in Germany, and in Berlin, where there was still a risk that war could break out.
Another hotspot arose in the mid 60’s, between communist and capitalists. They fought out their differences by supporting north and south Korea, in the Korean war.
After all that had occurred between the superpowers, they still did not see eye to eye, and were not friends, this meant that they were still hostile, but were not prepared to engage in direct confrontation.
Overall, I feel that relations were better between the superpowers after the Cuban Missile crisis. I think that them realising the need to communicate was a very big step in maintaining the peace.
Nuclear war seemed less likely after the crisis also, as all of the missiles had been taken out of Cuba, and so disallowing Krushchev first strike capability, meaning that he could not start a war.
In 1989, the Berlin wall finally came down, meaning that Berlin was reunited as a whole city, and not parted into a communist section and a capitalist section. This was a very big step in ending the troubles between Russia and America, it meant finally that the people Of Berlin could live together.
In 1991, communism collapsed in Russia. This meant that the war really was over, for good, as the capitalists had nothing left to fight over.
Although the world was at the brink of self destruction in 1962, the crisis has taught the world a lot about resolving bad situations, and avoiding war whenever possible.
