Case Study 3: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
1. Fidel Castro, a communist leader, overthrew Batista, director of Cuba.
- Castro nationalised American businesses & the US refused to buy sugar from Cuban.
- Cuba got help from the Soviet Union led by Khrushchev.
- 2. President Kennedy of the USA gave the go-ahead for the Bay of Pigs invasion, which failed to overthrow Castro.
3. Then a U2 Spy plane photographed Soviet Missile bases being built in Cuba.
- These bases would bring major US cities such as Washington D.C, & New York within the range of Soviet Nuclear missiles.
4. Kennedy decided to blockade Cuba until the missiles were removed.
- The world was on the brink of Nuclear War.
5. Then the US & the Soviet Union came to an agreement.
- Khrushchev said he would dismantle the missiles in Cuba if the USA promised not to invade the island.
- Kennedy accepted this.
Results:
6. Both sides agreed that they would never risk a nuclear war again.
7. A telephone hotline was set up between Washington & Moscow so that both leaders would be in direct communication.
8. THe USA & the Soviet Union agreed to sign a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
9. The US dismantled missiles which it had in Turkey.
Defcon 2
The Cuban Missile Crisis in ten minutes
Cuban Missile Crisis Discussion
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