Cuban Missile Crisis🌺 Flashcards
Describe causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis. What happened in July 1962?
What was captured in October and what did Khrushchev claim?
July – Khrushchev visited Raul in Cuba and decided to develop medium range nuclear missiles with nuclear warheads.
16-17 Oct 1962 – A U-2 plane captures photos of the missiles with capabilities of over 1600 km.
Khrushchev claimed it was for defensive purposes, and had no intention of fighting the US with Cuba as Cuba was 11,000km away and they had poor sea and air communications.
What happened on…
Oct 22?
Oct 26? (Threat of invasion + letter)
October 27th?
Oct 22 – A blockade is announced by Kennedy.
Oct 26 – The USSR heard reports that US invasion of Cuba was imminent, and Khrushchev wrote to Kennedy asking for him not to invade, promising he would remove his weapons.
Khrushchev had written bitter letters every day to Kennedy, accusing him of banditry and imperialism.
The next day, the Premier awoke to news that an invasion wouldn’t happen, as heard in two meetings between Soviet embassy official Georgi Kornienko and reporter Warren Rogers, and Khrushchev felt he had given way to nerves. He wrote on the 27th demanding the withdrawal of Jupiter missiles in Turkey which were a ‘pistol pointed at the head,’ of the USSR. The US ignored the second and on terms of the first, ended the crisis.
What were positive results of the crisis?
The US promised non-invasion and withdrew missiles, though they would replace these with nuclear rockets which could be launched by submarines.
USSR had ally in Cuba as US had failed with assassination and invasion plots. A hotline between Moscow and Washington was developed, alongside the test-ban treaty of 1963 to ban testing in the atmosphere, space, and underwater, receiving 77 signatures by September.
Détente commenced.
What were the consequences?
USSR had to buy sugar from Cuba as the US stopped exporting oil and buying sugar, and by 1980s they were a £4.5b liability per annum.
Jeremy Suri – the withdrawal of Soviet missiles discredited Moscow’s commitments to allies, in particular China.
July 1963 Summit meeting failed.
Peter Kenez – Khrushchev’s submission to the US was humiliating and by October 1964, he was removed from power and replaced by Alexei Kosygin, stating he would not put up a fight at the meeting with high-up officials.
