Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cold War is home to the closest threat of a total annihilation of the world’s largest superpower countries in history, The Cuban Missile Crisis. One mistake in this nuclear epidemic would have cost millions of innocent civilians their lives. Although there are many different reasons for the tensions that triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis it is fair to state, as Castro the leader of Cuba still does to this day, that its roots lay in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, 1961.

Since the failed Bay of Pigs invasion by the USA, the small island of Cuba under Castro’s rule had been desperately seeking a way to defend itself against another imminent invasion. Castro knew that America hated and feared a communist takeover as shown in Kennedy’s famous inaugural speech, and therefore had been against him since 1956 when he overthrew the Batista dictatorship in favor of a communist government. Castro was also aware of many attempts by the CIA to oust him and knew that since the Bay of Pigs invasion had failed, America still had something to prove. All this as well as Castro’s disastrous visit to the USA, where he was looked down upon by the American government and its people and was left feeling “upset and hurt” all added to a build up of uneasy tension between the two. Amongst all the uneasiness, Krushchev saw a golden opportunity with in America’s enemy, Cuba.

By 1962 the USSR were desperately behind in the arms race. The US had developed strategic missiles with power and capability to strike almost all of Russia; however the Russian missiles could only reach Europe. Khrushchev also knew that Castro was afraid of an American invasion and that they were in need of help. Using diplomatic relations in Cuba’s time of need the USSR befriended the small island with an alterea motive in mind. Although Castro initially rejected the idea, in the middle of July, 1962, Khrushchev successfully made a deal with Castro, promising protection against