Cuban Missile Crisis Flashcards
what was one of the origins of the crisis
arms race: each side always wanted to develop even bigger, more dealy, and more flexible weapons that the other
how did each side tend to spy on the other
USSR: spies
USA: U2 spy planes - flew so high that could not be shot down but took incredibly detailed photos of the ground
what did the nuclear deterrent mean
enemy would not dare to attack since they would both be destroyed. both had enough nuclear weapons to destroy the other (MAD)
situation in Cuba pre revolution
leader was provided by americans and was very anitcommunist, however unpopular
why did tensions soon arise
- thousands of cuban exiles in USA that fled from castro demanded action against him
- castro took over some american owned businesses to distribute their land
what had castro done by summer 1960
allied with the ussr, he signed a trade giving 100 million dollars in aid to cuba. USA knew about this
what did kennedy do in jan 1961
broke off diplomatic relations with cuba, he was preparing to invade as he did not want a soviet satelite state in the USA’s sphere of influence
how did kennedy plan on invading cuba
supplied arms, equipment and transport for 1400 anti castro exiles to ivade cuba and overthrow him
what happened in april 1961
exiles landed on the bay of pigs and the invasion failed disastrously
what happened at the bay of pigs
- cuban exiles were funded and trained by the CIA
- cuban security services knew the invasion was coming
- invasion was a failure - US intelligence that said that cubas people would rebel against castro, were wrong
impact of bay of pigs
- suggested that USA was unwilling to get directly involved with cuba
- khrushchev was scornful of kennedy’s pathetic attempt
what was the start of the october crisis
soveit union announced it was supplying cuba with ams - missile, tanks, jets, etc but no nuclear missiles/weapons. ussr assured USa that it had no intention of putting nuclear missiles on cuba
what happened on october 14th 1962
an american spy plane that flew over cuba showed that there were nuclear missile sites being built by the ussr
what did kennedy do about the october crisis
blockade on cuba calling the soviets to withdraw it missiles. he announced that any nuclear missile launched from cuba against any western nation would mean war against the USA
timeline
23/10 - letter: soviet ships would not observe blockade and did not admit to missiles in cuba
24/10 - soviet ships stopped or turned around
25/10 - construction of bases still proceeded
26/10 - letter: missiles were purely defensive but he would consider removing them if USA did not involve itself in an attack.
27/10 - letter: changed conditions to withdrawing its missiles from turkey
27/10 - U2 plane shot down, pilot killed. kennedy delays attack but replies to khrushchev agreeing with 26/10 terms
28/10 - missiles removed from cuba
