The Cuban Missile Crisis
The most serious Cold War confrontation between the United States and the USSR that took place in October, 1962. The U.S. discovered that the Soviets were in the process of positioning nuclear missiles in Communist Cuba. The United States sends naval blockade to stop Soviet ships carrying missiles to Cuba. October, 22, U.S. military alert is set at DEFCON 3 and Castro mobilizes all of Cuba’s military forces. October, 24, Soviet ships reach the quarantine line, but receive radio orders from Moscow to hold their positions while being backed up by a Soviet submarine. JFK concludes that if we invade in the next ten days, the missile base crews in Cuba will likely fire at least some of the missiles at US targets.October, 25, American military forces are instructed to set DEFCON 2 – the highest ever in U.S. history. October, 26, Khrushchev receives a cable from Castro urging a nuclear first strike against the US in the event of an invasion of Cuba.October, 27, while one U-2 spy plane accidentally flies into Russia, another is shot down over Cuba. October, 28, the crises ends. In a speech aired on Radio Moscow, Khrushchev announces the dismantling of Soviet missiles in Cuba and does not insist on his demands concerning the removal of U.S.
missiles from Turkey.From the Cuban missile crisis both sides learned that risking nuclear war in pursuit of political objectives was simply too dangerous. It was the last time during the Cold War that either side would take this risk. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the US and USSR still superimposed their competition on local conflicts in other parts of the globe.In Africa, newly independent nations such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, received military backing and other assistance from the United States and the USSR. American-Soviet competition in the Third World intensified once again, this time during the civil war in Angola and the Somali-Ethiopian war over the Ogaden region. During this phase of the Cold War, Communist Cuba played a significant role alongside the USSR, while the Chinese, now deeply wary of the USSR, participated on the side of the United States.The early 1980s was a final period of friction between the United States and the USSR, resulting mainly from the Soviets’ invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 to establish a Communist regime. In 1983, president Ronald Reagan announces the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
The Essay on Cuban Missile Cuba Soviet Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major confrontation between the United States and Russia over Soviet-supplied missile installations in Cuba. The background to the crisis was Russia's military strength in Europe. At any time Russia would be able to take over Europe through the use of a surprise attack. The US, however, made an attack of this kind very difficult due to its ...
Commonly known as Star Wars, SDI is envisioned as a satellite-based nuclear defense system, which would destroy incoming missiles and warheads in space.August 1985, the Soviet Union announces a nuclear testing moratorium. December 1987, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Reagan sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces — the first arms accord signed by both Moscow and Washington that calls for the elimination of an entire class of weapons — intermediate-range missiles. July 1991,the United States and the Soviet Union sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Act.
