The Cuban missile crisis

The United States thought that the Soviet Union was going to attack them so they set the blockade and demand to the Russians to remove their nuclear weapons from Cuba. For two weeks the two strongest powers in the world were on the edge to start a nuclear war. The events that leading up the Cuban missile crisis were the Cold War hostility and many revolutions of countries in Latin America. In 1960 the United States made an embargo that prohibited the commerce and trade with Cuba because they were afraid that Castro would make a Communist regimen. The United States made an attempt to destroy Castro’s rule with and invasion called Bay of Pigs. The Bay of Pigs was an unsuccessful attempt done by the United States to overthrow the government of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. This increased friction between the two governments and led to break the relationship. Castro’s army defeated the United States. Many Russian ships were turned back because they had missiles. United States started planning a military attack on Cuba, but the leader of the Soviet Union send a telegram to Kennedy offering to take down the blockade. Before Kennedy could reply the telegram, Khrushchev sent another letter demanding that Kennedy take down the American missile bases in Turkey. On that same day a plane form Russia shot down over Cuba.

The war was very near; Kennedy ignored the plane incident, and the second letter. He wrote a reply saying that he would take down the blockade and agree not to invade Cuba if the Soviet Union would take down the missile bases. Russia agreed and the crisis came to and end, Russian bombers left Cuba and Kennedy took down the naval blockade.

SECTION E

The Cuban missile crisis almost brought the United States into a ground war and it was nearly to become a nuclear war against Russia. This big crisis happened because of the background history of United States and Cuba like the Bay of Pigs that was an unsuccessful attempt done by the United States to overthrow the government of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. This increased friction between the two governments and led to break the relationship. This was a very important event because it was the closest the world has come to World War 3, the US was on the edge of throwing missiles to the Russians in Cuba because they thought they were going to attack first. After the crisis ended there was some consequences, they signed a treaty that prohibited testing nuclear weapons. Many new war technologies were developed. Cuba suffered economics sanctions resulting in high cigar prices, as they were illegal.

SECTION F

Sources

• Cuban Missile Crisis. - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. N.p., n.d. Thu. 10 Oct. 2013. http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Cuban-Missile-Crisis.aspx

• MILESTONES: 1961-1968." Office of the Historians. N.p., n.d. Web. Thu. 10 Oct. 2013. http://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/CubanMissile

• Michael

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