CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS: CAUSES, DEVELOPMENT, CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2025

The Cuban missile crisis was an escalation of prewar tension between the United States and the Soviet Union in the framework of the Cold War. It took place in October 1962, when the Americans discovered preparations to install Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

After the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union became the two global superpowers. The two then began a confrontation that affected the entire planet. Although they never went to open war, they did participate indirectly in numerous conflicts.

Range of the Soviet missiles that were intended to be installed in Cuba - Source: James H. Hansen

Cuba, for its part, had entered the Soviet orbit after the 1959 revolution. US attempts to end Fidel Castro's government prompted him to request help from the Soviet Union, which offered to install nuclear missiles on the island.

The reaction of the United States was to establish a blockade around Cuba to prevent the passage of Soviet ships. After eleven days of tension, in which the world feared the beginning of a nuclear war, the leaders of the United States and the USSR, reached an agreement, with concessions from both parties.

Historical background

The Missile Crisis, which involved the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba, was not an isolated incident at the time. What happened in October 1962 was one more, albeit more serious, of the confrontations between the two great powers since the end of the Second World War.

The Cold War

Although they had fought together to defeat Nazi Germany, when World War II ended, the Soviets and Americans, with their respective allies, began to compete for world hegemony.

This confrontation was called the Cold War and it divided the world into two blocks. On the one hand, the US and most of the West, with a capitalist economy and representative democracies. On the other, the USSR and the eastern bloc, of communist ideology and undemocratic regimes.

The Cold War lasted about four decades. During this time, both blocks embarked on an arms race, with the development of powerful nuclear arsenals as the greatest exponent.

The two superpowers, knowing that a nuclear war represented mutual destruction, never openly clashed with each other. Instead, they instigated or participated in most of the conflicts that erupted in the world, supporting the side that was ideologically closest to them.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the times when the possibility of an all-out war was closest.

The Cuban Revolution

Since its independence, obtained in 1898, Cuba had seen Americans gain great influence in their governments and in their economy.

The 1959 revolution totally changed this situation. At first, the revolutionaries, starting with their leader, Fidel Castro, did not seek to establish a communist regime, but the events after their triumph eventually brought Cuba closer to the Soviet sphere of influence.

The new government that emerged from the revolution began to carry out a series of reforms that the Americans did not like. Measures such as the nationalization of land or industries (almost all of them in the hands of US businessmen) caused the breakdown of relations and the imposition of a blockade on the island.

In addition, the US began financing actions that sought to end the government of Fidel Castro. One of the best known was the attempted invasion by Cuban exiles in April 1961, which ended in failure.

All these circumstances caused Cuba to get closer to the Soviet Union, with which it signed commercial and military agreements.

Causes

From before Castro opted to approach the Soviet Union, the US government, led by President Eisenhower, began to support opponents who were trying to end the regime.

Bay of Pigs

Although there was a previous invasion attempt from the Dominican Republic, the first serious attempt to end the Castro government was in April 1961.

A group of anti-Castro members, financed by the United States, tried to enter the island through the Bay of Pigs (Playa Girón). The result was a great failure, but Castro, fearing that the attempt would be repeated, asked the Soviet Union to help defend the island.

Operation Mongoose

The United States, after the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion, began to prepare a new plan to take the island: Operation Mongoose. Unlike the previous time, the planned plan was for the US military to participate directly.

Operation Mongoose never took place. The KGB, the Soviet intelligence agency, discovered the plan and passed the information on to the Cubans. Castro, again, reiterated his request for military aid to the Soviet Union.

US missiles in Turkey

Another cause of the crisis developed far away from Cuba, in Turkey. This country, bordering the USSR, was a close ally of the United States and was the place chosen by the Americans to install missiles that could reach Soviet soil.

The threat this posed led the Soviets to seek a response at the same level. Cuba, a few kilometers from the US coast, was the best option to balance the military balance.

Development

The sending by the Soviet Union to Cuba of various military advisers had not gone unnoticed in the United States. In addition, some media outlets claimed that the Soviets had begun installing medium-range missiles on the Caribbean island.

John F. Kennedy, president of the United States at the time, ordered an investigation into these allegations.

Operation Anadir

Operation Anadir, the code name given by the Soviets to the shipment of war material to Cuba, began months before the crisis broke out. Thus, beginning in June 1962, they delivered two dozen launch pads, more than forty R-12 rockets, and 45 nuclear warheads.

Likewise, they brought antiaircraft defense material, fighter planes, and various infantry detachments to Cuba. In total, as of October of that year, there were about 47,000 Soviet soldiers on the island.

All these deliveries had been made in secret at the express wish of the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev. Castro, for his part, would have preferred to publicize the matter, but his request was not accepted.

Apart from the Anadir, the Soviet Union also began to develop Operation Kama. This consisted of sending submarines with nuclear weapons to Cuba, with the mission of establishing a base on the island. However, the Americans discovered the ships and the attempt was paralyzed.

Discovery of the facilities

The missile crisis had its first act on October 14, 1962. On that day, one of the planes that the United States used to spy on military activity in Cuba, took photos that confirmed US suspicions about the installation of Soviet nuclear weapons. in Cuba.

The images, taken in Pinar del Río, were meticulously analyzed the next day. The conclusion was that they showed launch pads for ballistic rockets that could easily reach US territory.

Kennedy's first reaction was to give the order to increase covert operations against the Cuban government.

Meeting of the National Security Council

Kennedy convened on the 16th the Executive Committee of the National Security Council to debate what response to give to the Soviets. According to experts, the positions within this body were disparate. Some were in favor of giving a tough answer, while others preferred to use diplomacy to solve the crisis.

Among the proposals studied were the imposition of a naval blockade on the island to an air attack on the facilities that were being built. The option of invading Cuba was even raised.

For their part, the Soviets claimed that the weapons being installed had a purely defensive purpose. In addition, Khrushchev took the opportunity to remind the United States that they had established their own missiles in Turkey.

Diplomacy

In those early days, Kennedy decided not to go public with the attempt to install nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Diplomatic activity began to accelerate. On October 17, Adlai Stevenson, the US representative to the UN, proposed establishing a direct communication channel with Castro and Khrushchev.

On the other hand, Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense, was in favor of establishing a naval blockade of the island as soon as possible. Faced with this position, other members of the National Security Council warned that the Soviets could respond by blocking Berlin.

Taking advantage of the fact that a UN plenary session was being held; Kennedy arranged a meeting with the Soviet foreign minister, Andrei Gromyko. Meanwhile, US intelligence confirmed that the rockets in Cuba would be operational very soon.

Adlai Stevenson's Proposal

Finally, those in favor of establishing a blockade on the island were victorious. McNamara even began planning a possible attack on the island, although Kennedy did not think it was necessary.

Stevenson, for his part, made the first offer to the Soviets: to withdraw US missiles from Turkey in exchange for the USSR not installing the rockets in Cuba.

Kennedy's speech to the nation

President Kennedy made the crisis public on October 22 through a television appearance. In it, he informed the Americans of the decision to impose a naval blockade on the island starting on the 24th, at two in the afternoon.

His words were as follows: "All ships of any nation or port will be compelled to return if they are found to be carrying offensive weapons."

In addition, US bombers began to fly over Cuba without interruption. All aircraft participating in the operation were equipped with nuclear weapons.

Response of the Soviet Union and Cuba

Nikita Khrushchev waited until the 24th to reply to Kennedy. The Soviet leader sent him a message in which he stated the following: "The USSR sees the blockade as an aggression and will not instruct the ships to divert." Despite these words, the Soviet ships heading to Cuba began to slow down.

Both leaders knew that any incident could trigger open conflict, so they tried to minimize the risks. In addition, discreetly, they began to hold conversations.

In Cuba, meanwhile, Fidel Castro affirmed the following: "We acquire the weapons that we want for our defense and we take the measures we consider necessary."

Start of lock

Historians agree that the day of greatest tension during the crisis was October 24. The blockade was to begin at two in the afternoon, with some Soviet ships approaching the area.

Khrushchev, from the Soviet Union, claimed that they were ready to attack American ships that tried to stop his fleet. In addition, in the area there was also a submarine escorting the ships that were heading to Cuba.

However, when it seemed that the confrontation was inevitable, the Soviet ships began to retreat. As President Kennedy's brother Robert later recounted, the leaders of both countries had been tirelessly negotiating to find a solution.

Although Khrushchev continued to maintain that the blockade amounted to aggression, he sent a message to Kennedy to hold a meeting with the purpose of avoiding an open confrontation between their countries.

Resolution

During the following days, the Soviet Union and the United States continued negotiating to find a solution acceptable to both countries. These conversations did not include Cuba, which felt slighted by its own ally.

Downing an American plane

Although the tension had eased a bit, a serious incident was on the verge of again increasing the risks of a nuclear war breaking out. Thus, on October 27, one of the antiaircraft defense posts installed by the Soviets in Cuba shot and shot down a US spy plane.

The reaction of the two leaders was definitive to avoid a new escalation of tension. Kruschev informed Kennedy that the USSR agreed to withdraw all nuclear material from Cuba in exchange for the United States not invading the island. For his part, the US president gave the order not to respond to the downing of his spy plane.

Talks

Khrushchev's offer had a second point: the withdrawal of the US nuclear rockets installed in Turkey, although this was not made public at the time.

The negotiations accelerated during the following hours of the same day 27. Castro, ignored by both sides, asked Kruschev not to give in to the Americans, as he feared an invasion of the island.

While the talks continued, the entire nuclear arsenal that had already been sent to Cuba remained in the hands of the Russian military, without the Cubans having access to it.

End of the Crisis

The agreement was reached on October 28, at dawn. Basically, the United States accepted the deal proposed by the Soviets to end the crisis.

Thus, the Soviets agreed to withdraw the nuclear missile facilities in exchange for the United States pledging not to invade or support an invasion of Cuba. In addition, Kennedy also agreed to dismantle his missiles from Turkey, although this last point was not made public until six months later.

That same day, Khrushchev made public that his country was going to withdraw the missiles from Cuba. The Americans, during the first days of November, continued to send spy planes to confirm that the withdrawal was taking place, with positive results.

. Consequences

The agreed solution to stop the crisis allowed neither of the two superpowers to give an image of weakness. In addition, they managed to avoid open conflict between them.

Creation of the red telephone

The risk that a new crisis could put the world, once again, on the brink of nuclear war, convinced both superpowers that it was essential to establish direct lines of communication.

This gave rise to the appearance of what is popularly known as the red telephone line, a direct communication channel between the presidents of both countries to avoid delays in possible negotiations and the possibility of misunderstandings.

Helsinki Conference

This new climate of peaceful coexistence allowed a conference to be held to discuss nuclear weapons reduction.

The Helsinki Conference, which took place between 1973 and 1975, opened the doors for the two countries to eliminate part of their nuclear arsenal. Furthermore, both the Soviet Union and the United States promised not to be the first to use nuclear bombs in the event of conflict.

Relations with Cuba

Although Castro showed his discontent with the way the crisis had ended, his relations with the Soviet Union remained good. Cuba remained in the Soviet area of ​​influence and they continued to provide the island with military aid, although not including nuclear weapons.

For its part, the United States fulfilled its commitment not to try to invade the island. However, it did continue with its economic blockade and with the financing of opponents of the regime.

References

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2. National School College of Sciences and Humanities. Missile crisis in Cuba. Obtained from portalacademico.cch.unam.mx
3. Vicent, Mauricio. When the world stopped spinning. Obtained from elpais.com
4. History.com Editors. Cuban Missile Crisis. Retrieved from history.com
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