Cuban Missile Crisis

Question 1

Unlike Stalin, Kruschev openly admitted he would do what?

Answer 1

• use decolonisation as a tool to get back at states and promote his ideology

Question 2

Background to the CMC:

Answer 2

• Cuban revolution 1959-1962
• USA long had hegemony over countries of central / latin America
• 1823 Monroe doctrine (USA had for much of the 20th century got itself involved in wars of national liberation)

Question 3

What was the Monroe doctrine

Answer 3

• saw area of influence in Latin America, USA would keep out of European affairs if Europe did the same back.

(Banana republic = country where major product is bananas , production often owned by US companies = US imperialism over economy)

Question 4

In 1954 the CIA staged a coup where?

Answer 4

Guatemala, to topple the Arbenz government, after nationalisation of the American multinational united fruit company

Question 5

in 1964 President Johnson intervened where?

Answer 5

Brazil

Question 6

1973 USA staged a coup where?

Answer 6

Chile, against the socialist allende government. Put Pinochet in power

Question 7

When did Reagan sent troops to depose marxist government in Grenada

Answer 7

1983

Question 8

When was was Reagan’s Iran contra scandal? What was it?

Answer 8

1983, financing of contra forces who conducted Guerilla war against left wing Sandinista government

Question 9

Where did Bush send troops to in 1989?

Answer 9

Panama to depose General Noriega

Question 10

How was Cuba a bit like a US protectorate?

Answer 10

The USA brought Batista to power in 1934 (ousted in 1959)

Question 11

Show US economic interests in Cuba

Answer 11

• USA brought 75% of Cuban exports
• USA provides almost 70% of Cuban imports
• USA took nearly 1/3 of Cuban sugar crops

Question 12

Why as Castro not necessarily a hardline communist?

Answer 12

• He brought people together based on economic unfairness
• He was not a communist when he took power in 1959, his nationalisation of industry was aimed at freeing Cuba from domination
  = Nationalisation of oil refineries, factories and Casinos which were all nationalised

Question 13

What was the American response to Cuba challenge?

Answer 13

• Suspension of sugar quota, trade embargo, CIA plot to kill castro
• Eisenhower in 1960 plans to invade Cuba with Cuban exiles based in Miami
• Diplomatic ties were broken off with Cuba in 1961

Question 14

Why did Castro proclaim himself to be a marxist leninist?

Answer 14

• USSR offered alternative and attractive model of rapid modernisation
• Needed an ally
• USSR agreed to supply Cuba with Sugar and oil

Question 15

what is important to note about years that end with a 0 or 4

Answer 15

• These are election years! Be evaluative when thinking about events that happen in these years

Question 16

Describe the pay of pigs invasion

Answer 16

• April 1961
• 14,000 Cuban exiles (aim was ripple effect)
• Humiliaiton for JFK (didn’t provide enough air cover)
• Pushed Castro even closer the the USSR

Question 17

What was the secret operation launched in reaction to the failure of bay of pigs?

Answer 17

• Covert action, operation Mongoose, CIA planned assassination of Castro
• Economic isolation - Ban on Cuban imports to USA
• Diplomatic isolation (e.g. removed from organisation of American states in 1962)
• Military pressure, sabre rattling in the Carribbean

Question 18

What is revisionist Thomas Paterson take on CMC?

Answer 18

• CMC seen as inevitable with the mounting hysteria within US (Kennedy hostility and Castro fear of invasion)
• Cuban actions were therefore defensive because they feared another invasion

Question 19

What did Krushchev decide to put in Cuba in May 1962?

Answer 19

• 48 medium range and 32 intermediate range missiles

Question 20

What is the theory of some?

Answer 20

That Krushchev might have been planning to announce his missiles at the UN general assembly meeting in November (NY)

Question 21

When did U2 spy plane spot missiles in Cuba?

Answer 21

• August 1962

Question 22

When was a blockade decided for Cuba?

Answer 22

22nd Ocotber 1962

Question 23

What was the difference for Kennedy that Krushchev didnt have access to?

Answer 23

Global media exposure, he won world support with his appeals. (Post revisionist?)

Question 24

When did the USA secretly remove missiles from Turkey?

Answer 24

April 1963

Question 25

What are the reasons Krushchev might have done what he did?

Answer 25

• Berlin?
• Inferiority compensation?
• Kremlin internal struggle (Post revisionist)

Question 26

What do Post revisionists say?

Answer 26

With revidence from USSR it is likely that USSR did what it did because of Berlin and to help stop a US invasion

Question 27

Why do invdividuals really matter in the CMC?

Answer 27

JFK and Krushchev didn’t want a nuclear war, Krushchev sent an open letter to JFK and a cable

Question 28

How did both sides claim victory?

Answer 28

• USA said it showed resolve and forced USSR to back down

- USSR said that they saved the Cuban revolution

Question 29

Krushchev was removed in 1964, why?

Answer 29

• It was a humiliating backdown

- The allies were still in Berlin

Question 30

What does Gaddis say about CMC?

Answer 30

• By 1962 the outcome of the CW already decided and the Russians had lost
• There was a continuing weakness of the soviet economy
• Sino Soviet Split.
• *Russia was only ever a military power, never an economic one

Question 31

According to Gaddis was the cold war prolonged by the CMC or made shorter?

Answer 31

• Gaddis says it was made longer

Question 32

How can you argue that the cold war was prolonged?

Answer 32

Although krushchev backed down, they came so close to war that open talks seemed dangerous

Question 33

What were the positive outcomes of the CMC?

Answer 33

1. Kremlin hotline
2. Limited nuclear test ban treaty 1963
3. Nuclear non proliferation 1968

Question 34

What did Russia start to do in the 1960s?

Answer 34

Started to build up militarily to redress the strategic imbalance