The Cuban Missile Crisis
One of the Biggest Moments in History
Who
The two main people involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis is John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s, and Cuba but they really had no choice, but to let the soviet union put missiles in their country, because they couldn't fight back with how small they were.
What
The Cuban missile Crisis is also known as the October crisis, because this moment in history began in October. What the Cuban Missile Crisis is, is that the soviet union had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba and the U.S felt threatened by this so we engaged by surrounding Cuba and to be ready at any moment to invade, but JFK tried to reason before he used military action.
Important People
When
the missiles are first sited on October 14th, 1962, President JFK announces the next day (October 15th, 1962) on television that U.S. spy planes have discovered that Soviet Union missile bases are in Cuba. He says "These missile sites are under construction but nearing completion, they house medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in the US, including Washington, D.C." Kennedy announces that he was ordering a naval "quarantine" on Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more offensive weapons to the island
Where
Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union over Cuba had been steadily increasing since the failed operation Bay of Pigs invasion, in which Cuban refugees, armed and trained by the United States, landed in Cuba and attempted to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Though the invasion did not succeed, Castro was convinced that the United States would try again so they set out to get more military assistance from the Soviet Union. And during the next year, the number of Soviet "advisors" in Cuba rose to more than 20,000. Rumors began that Russia was also moving missiles and strategic bombers onto the island, which became true.
Why
There are many theories on why the Soviet Union had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, but the two main reasons they had done this is (1) to boost the Soviet Unions power threatening the U.S. with nuclear attack from the Caribbean and (2) to bolster the Soviet Unions bargaining position in its attempts to force West Berlin to join East Germany.