Book 4: Part 2 Cuban Missile Crisis Flashcards
What alliances were made that caused tension? (4)
NATO 1949
WARSAW PACT 1953
SEATO 1954 (allies and south east Asia)
CENTO (Britain and the middles east)
What was the missile gap?
America told the Americans they were falling behind in weapons to scare them so they take more of their money. This made them get more weapons to potentially use against eachother
What technologies were developing that caused tension in the 50s?
ICBMS
intercontinental ballistic missiles - long range to cross the world
Polaris - undetectable submarines
Hydrogen bomb- both sides had these
What caused the arms race?
USSR produced their own atomic bomb
Growing tensions between east and west
What were relations like in Cuba before 1961? ( 4 )
Batista was overthrown by Castro which
America didn’t like because Batista got on with the USA as he wasn’t communist
Cuban businesses were nationalised
Shows relations were distancing as Cuba were removing connections to USA
Cuban exiles were in the USA and demanded action which caused relations to break down as it put pressure on the USA to do something
In 1960, Eisenhower provided funds for exiles and used CIA to think of ways to overthrow Castro
What happened in 1961?
Eisenhower was replaced by Krushchev
What was MAD?
Mutually assured destruction
What had Cuba been receiving before the missile crisis?
$100 million in economic aid and arms
What was the bay of pigs?
April 1961
Trigger cause
USA supplied 1400 anti Castro exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow him
They were met with 20,000 Cuban troops who killed and captured the exiles in a few days
Impact of invasion of the bay of pigs ?
made JFK seem weak
Suggested that the USA would not get directly involved in Cuba
The same day JFK said he wouldn’t get involved
Made Castro stronger as people lost trust in JFK
Why did Krushchev put missiles on Cuba? ( 8 mark
To defend the only communist state in the west
It became communist in 1960 without invasion so Krushchev would want to protect his asset as it could lead to more communism
He wanted to further communism and it was more likely that states in South America would turn if Cuba was successful
Krushchev was aware of the missile gap
The USA has missiles on turkey and far more long range missiles. USSR had more medium range missiles so putting it on Cuba (160km away) matched them
He restored balance and threatened the USA
He wanted to protect Cuba
The USA supplied and armed 1400 anti Castro exiles to invade Cuba. They landed at the bay of pigs, were met with 20,000 troops and were killed/captured in a few days
This caused Krushchev to put missiles
on Cuba as it would threaten America and any other country that could potentially invade
To strengthen his position
Missiles were already on Turkey which was close to USSR. Putting missiles 160km away strengthened the USSR’s position as it directly threatened America as missiles were so close.
When did the Cuban missile crisis start?
16th October 1962
When a photo of Cuban missiles alarmed Americans
Who were ex comm?
Kennedy’s advisors that found the missile crisis
What happened on Tuesday 16th October?
Kennedy is informed of missiles
What happened on Monday 20th October
Kennedy decides to blockade Cuba despite the hardliners in his advisors that wanted war
