The Cuban missile crisis

Question 1

Who were the revolutionaries in Cuba led by?

Answer 1

Fidel Castro

Question 2

What was Fidel Castro’s aims?

Answer 2

He wanted to free Cuba from USA control

Question 3

What were the tensions after the Cuban revolution?

Answer 3

• the American government reluctantly recognised the new government by refused to provide economic aid unless they followed guidelines
• May 1959 the Cuban government took all land that was owned by foreigners
• February 1960, Agreement with the Soviet union to provide economic support and buy sugar, also a secret clause stating that Cuba would receive arms from the soviet union

Question 4

What was the Bay of pigs invasion?

Answer 4

On April 17th 1961, A group of Cuban exiles was trained to launch an invasion to overthrow Castro, by using Cuban exiles the USA didn’t have to be seen as involved

Question 5

Why did the Bay of Pigs invasion fail?

Answer 5

• The volunteers had little experiance
  -The USA couldn’t send US ground forces or air force to support the attack
• Castro’s government found out about the attack
• The USA and exile army wrongly thought that Cubans would support them

Question 6

What was the effects of the Bay of Pigs invasion?

Answer 6

• embarrassing failure for America
  -Khrushev used this as evidence for the popularity of communism
• Castro declared himself as a communist
• Khrushev publicly announced that he would provide arms for Cuba

Question 7

What was the Cuban missile crisis?

Answer 7

14th October US spy planes photographed the building of a missile launch site in Cuba and fleets of soviet ships on their way to Cuba

Question 8

What were the reasons for the missile crisis?

Answer 8

• in Europe, NATO had missiles based in turkey , and they placed the soviet union under threat
• The Berlin wall was seen as a failure for Khrushev and they could restore their reputation over Cuba
• Khrushev feared another Soviet failure of the USA overtaking Castro

Question 9

What was the Response to the Crisis?

Answer 9

For 13 days Kennedy called together a committee to discuss the American reaction
On October 22nd Kennedy created a naval blockade around Cuba, On October 23rd Khrushev ordered the return of Soviet ships but Kennedy did not know this.

Question 10

What was the agreement of the missile crisis?

Answer 10

Khrushev sent a telegram saying that they would remove Cuban missiles if the USA agreed not to invade
on October 28th Khrushev sent his agreement

Question 11

What were the Impacts of the missile crisis?

Answer 11

• June 1963 a direct communications line was set up between the USA and the soviet union known as the ‘Hotline’
• in 1968 the Nuclear non-proliferations treaty was signed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons

Question 12

What was the context to the Prague spring?

Answer 12

In 1968 Alexander Dubeck was appointed as head of the Czech communist government, As the soviet government trusted him to lead the communist party out of the unpopularity

Question 13

What was the Prague Spring?

Answer 13

A set of reforms Dubeck introduced
- censorship was relaxed
- trade union were given wider powers
- more power was given to the Czech regional governments
- Trade with the West increased
- the idea of multi- party elections was discussed

Question 14

What was the reaction to Dubecks reforms?

Answer 14

In Czech they were very popular, but the soviet leader Brezhnev disapproved, because many other leaders within the warsaw pact were refusing to attend warsaw pact meetings

Question 15

What was the Soviet reaction to the reforms?

Answer 15

20th August 1968, Warsaw pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, Dubeck was arrested and sent to Moscow, he was ordered to reverse his reforms

Question 16

What was the Brezhnev Doctrine?

Answer 16

26th September 1968, Brezhnev said that the actions of any individual communist country affected all communist country’s