cuban missile crisis Flashcards
(30 cards)
when was the cuban missile crisis
1962
how long did it last
13 days
What was Cuba like pre-1959?
-regarded by the USA as its ‘own backyard’ due to its proximity just 90 miles from the edge of Florida
-Also referred to as ‘America’s playground’ consumed by the US gambling, prostitution and the Mafia
Who was Fidel Castro?
-Cuban Nationalist and eventual communist leader of Cuba after the successful revolution of 1959 when he became president
-credited with raising the standards of living of many Cubans, but his regime is largely seen as a dictatorship
What did Castro introduce in May 1959?
A programme of Agrarian Reform which led to considerable amounts of American owned property being seized by the state
how did the ussr tie itself to cuba economically and politically
soviets visited cuba and arranged $100 million in credits with castro
What happened when the first shipment of Crude Oil from the USSR arrived in Cuba in April 1960?
US-owned oil companies refused to refine it
-As a result, Castro then nationalised them
-America imposed economic sanctions on Cuba and reduced their imports on Cuban sugar by 95%
when was the bay of pigs
1861
what was the bay of pigs invasion
eisenhower gave the cia a go ahead to plan a military invasion of cuba to remove castro
- 15,000 anti castro cubans trained
- planned to land at night in a remote Cuban beach where thousands of anti-Castro Cubans would rise up and join their cause to march on Havana and force Castro out
-CIA told Cuban exiles that, as a last resort, the US navy and air force would become involved to help
-Invasion was ultimately an unmitigated disaster and a profound humiliation for Kennedy
reasons why the invasion failed
-inexperienced volunteers (compared to the battle-hardened Cuban revolutionary army)
-USA didn’t want to be seen as involved so didn’t send ground troops or promised air support
-Castro’s government had found out about invasion and were waiting with 20,000 soldiers
-USA had wrongly assumed that most Cuban’s would support them
When did Kennedy authorise Operation Mongoose?
1961
What was Operation Mongoose?
aimed to overthrow Castro’s regime, primarily through the use of covert operations
What did the U2 spy plane reveal on 14th October 1962?
-ordered to fly across Cuba, it photographed objects that were foreign to the environment
-unmistakable evidence of an R-12 missile site at San Cristobe
When and why did the 13 days and crisis start?
-at 8:45am on the 16th October 1962 the CIA informed Kennedy that, without any doubt, there were Soviet missiles in Cuba
What was Ex-Comm? What two sides did it consist of?
Kennedy’s advisory committee
-‘Hawks’ called for US military action (invading Cuba)
-‘Doves’ favoured a diplomatic solution
What course of action did Kennedy decide to take? When
On the 20th October 1962 JFK and his top advisors decide they should quarantine Cuba that would prevent ships carrying weapons from reaching Cuba
what was the result of the quarantine in cuba
-JFK shocks American’s by revealing ‘unmistakable evidence’ of the missile threat and announces quarantine in a dramatic 18 minute televised speech
-UN is informed of the crisis
When did Khrushchev reply to Kennedy’s request?
On October 23rd Khrushchev Replies to Kennedy’s request of stopping Russian ships. But Khrushchev says that Kennedy is not appealing to reason, but he is trying to intimidate others.
Who wrote to Khrushchev on the 26th October? How does he respond?
-Castro sends letter urging the USSR to launch a nuclear first strike against the US
-Khrushchev ignores instead sending a long and rambling telegram to Kennedy in which he appeals to the US president to work with him to de-escalate the conflict and ensure they didn’t ‘doom the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war’
Who was killed on the 27th October 1962? How?
-US U2 pilot, Rudolf Anderson
-shot down and killed over Cuba
How did the US ‘hawks’ respond to the assassination?
-American ‘hawks’ demand retaliation
-Paul Nitze (Secretary of Defence) says ‘they’ve fired the first shot’
-But JFK correctly assumes that Khrushchev had not, himself, given the order to shoot down plane
What did the incident prompt for the two leaders? What else then occurred on the October 27th?
prompted both leaders to realise the situation is spiralling dangerously out of control
-Khrushchev sends another letter to Kennedy demanding the removal of US missiles in Turkey
- Robert Kennedy secretly meets with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin and is authorised to inform that the US were willing to remove its missiles from Turkey but not immediately, and promises that the US would not attack Cuba after the Russians withdraw
consequences of crisis
- creation of the hotline between the white house & kremlins
- awareness of nuclear weapons
- moscow test ban treaty reducing nuclear arms
- first signs of detente
when was the moscow test ban treaty
1963
