Why did a crisis develop in 1962 about Cuba?

History coursework 2

Charlotte Brunning

A crisis developed in 1962 for many reasons involving Cuba, the Soviet Union and the United States. These mainly occurred because of the worsening situation between the superpowers. The USSR installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, which antagonised the Americans and led to a disagreement and a crisis that could of lead to nuclear war.

In 1962 soviet equipment began to arrive in Cuba in the form of 40,000 soviet troops and technicians. This happened because Khrushchev was determined to defend Cuba and find the Americans pressure point. This would deter the United States and strengthen the Soviet position as America had missiles off the coast of turkey. The missiles were targeted on the United States and 24 missiles were capable of hitting American cities, they had a range of over 1000 miles. The US administration thought at first that they were conventional weapons. U2 reconnaissance photographs of the site discovered the missiles on the October 15. They showed that the missiles were under covers and it also showed clearings in the jungle and bulldozer tracks. This was a caused by the disagreements between the two superpowers and the race to be better and have more control over one another. The Vienna meeting was a strong influence of the installation of the missiles as was the growing differences of issues such as the Berlin wall and the Soviet ‘ big bomb’ test.

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Certain action was taken as the US felt threatened and President Kennedy summoned an emergency meeting the executive committee (Excom) to deal with the crisis. The Americans would not accept the missiles but the problem was how to secure their removal. The idea of air strikes to knock out all the missiles could not be used as any missiles not hit would be certainly used and an invasion would be strongly resisted as Kennedy learnt in the Bay of Pigs in 1961. This led to Kennedy coming out in the open and announced the discovery of the missiles. Several measures would be taken. The US navy would turn back any ships heading for Cuba and containing missiles and that the Soviet Union withdraw all the missiles in Cuba already. As a result of this the USSR accused the US of aggression and continued to install weapons. This again helped to develop the crisis. There were anti American protests around the world including in Britain. The USSR would not comment on the installation of the missiles in Cuba at the UN summit.

The crisis developed as the US went on high alert as Soviet shipments headed for Cuba. US missiles were placed on readiness and the aircraft were loaded with nuclear weapons. The Warsaw pact forces were placed on full alert. This was the worst part of the crisis as the slightest mistake could result in a nuclear war. The crisis started to settle and several soviet ships were turned back. Khrushchev sent a message to Kennedy and made a deal that the USSR would withdraw the missiles from Cuba provided that the US did not attack Cuba and that they withdrew their missiles from turkey. This process was interrupted when a high altitude aircraft was shot down over Cuba and thus making the US angry and ready to attack Cuba. The US aircraft were fully prepared on aircraft carriers and the pilots awaiting the command. Castro then revealed that he would use 6 short-range missiles against the US if they attacked. Kennedy took a gamble and resolved the crisis in which the missiles in Cuba would be removed.

All of these factors help the crisis develop and become resolved.