The Cuban Missile Crisis

Question 1

What happened in 1959?

Answer 1

• In 1959, a rebel named Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. The revolution he headed was born of resentment towards the existing president Batista.
• Batista’s government was corrupt and inefficient, it left wealth in the hands of a small elite and did little to alleviate the poverty of the wider population.

Question 2

How did the USA have influence in Cuba?

Answer 2

• The Cuban economy was also heavily reliant upon the sugar trade, but the seasonal nature of the industry meant that many Cuban workers were unemployed and unpaid for large parts of the year.
• Many Cubans also resented the fact that much of their economy was owned by American businesses, with profits goiing back to America.

Question 3

Why was the USA worried about Castro seizing power of Cuba?

Answer 3

• When Castro seized power in 1959, he nationalised US companies and increased taxes on good imported from America.
• Castro was forced to look to the USSR for help, the USSR seized the chance to secure an ally in the Western hemisphere. They promised to buy 1 million tonnes of sugar every year.

Question 4

What happened in January 1961?

Answer 4

• In Januray 1961, the USA severed all diplomatic relations with Cuba entirely.

Question 5

When did President Eisenhower replace John F. Kennedy?

Answer 5

• 1961

Question 6

What was the Bay of Pigs?

Answer 6

• Einsenhower had approved a plan to topple Castro using around 1,300 Cuban exiles and President Kennedy was fully briefed.
• In April 1961, the rebels landed in the Bay of Pigs, but they were easily defeated and the USA did not help, the USA was humiliated. Castro became increasingly insecure about America.

Question 7

What happened in September 1961?

Answer 7

• In September 1961, Castro asked Russia for weapons to defend Cuba against America. This led to the development of nuclear weapon launchers on Cuban soil in 1962.
• The US discovered the missile sites on the 15 October 1962, when a U2 flight captured images of the sites under construction.

Question 8

What was agreed at a UN meeting involving the USSR and USA?

Answer 8

• Increasing pressure was put on Khrushchev and the Soviets during the Un council debate, where evidence of the missile development was put on display, in spite of this, a deal was struck between the US and the USSR. The missiles would be removed, in exchange for the promise that the US would not invade Cuba. Secretly, the. US also promised to dismantle missile in Turkey, which bordered the USSR.

Question 9

What were some of the diplomatic measures and legal treaties passed to prevent another Cold War?

Answer 9

• The USA and USSR agreed to only conduct nuclear tests underground as part of the Test Ban Treaty signed in July 1963.
• In 1967, an Outer Space Treaty, prohibited tests in space as well as the stationing of nuclear weapons oon the moon.
• This was followed in 1968, by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, this attempted to prevent nations that did not possess nuclear weapons from getting information and technology to build nuclear weapons.