Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
Cause
- The Bay of Pigs Invasion brought Castro much closer to USSR.
- In
response to US missiles in Turkey,
USSR placed missiles in Cuba, when U2 spy planes took photographs of Cuba showing
the IRBM missiles, everything changed.
What Happened
- It was decided to place a naval blockade/quarantine to
prevent anymore Soviet equipment going into Cuba.
- Kennedy told Khrushchev he would stop any military equipment going into Cuba and send it back to USSR
Consequence
- Kennedy was successful as he had stood up to Communism
and had removed presence of missiles in Cuba
- Khrushchev
was criticised by many as he sent missiles but backed down and as result he was
sacked as a leader in 1964
- The
leaders had almost gone into a nuclear war which would have ended the world,
which greatly reduced tension between the two sides
Extra Information
- Further improvements in relations between the two superpowers
came with the Test Ban Treaty, which was signed in August 1963
- This agreed to
stop testing nuclear weapons unless underground
- The arms race had nearly brought a nuclear war,
so the superpowers began to consider limitations
- In 1969, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) began and later included a Treaty
- Détente (attempt to improve relations). An improvement in
relations can be seen by the sale of grain permitted by the US to the USSR in 1963
