To what extent was the Cuban Missile caused by the United States, The USSR and Cuba. Evaluate the role of Fidel Castro in this conflict.
The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, a vastly intensified 13 day nuclear conflict arising in the midst of the Cold War, shaping the history and leadership roles of the Americans, Soviets, and Cubans for several decades to come. This conflict gave rise to a renewed stance on international negotiations and diplomacy with these nations and their political leaders under the global spotlight for the entire process. The Cuban Missile Crisis in essence was a tense political and militaristic standoff between Soviet and American leaders triggered by the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet …show more content…
The government of the United States as mention earlier made numerous attempts to remove Castro from power most significantly after Castro gained support and power in the Cuban revolution in 1959. The population of the U.S. detested the form of governance as it largely threatened the economic interest of the Country. Upon the withdrawal of financial support Castro immediately turn to the Soviets for support. President Kennedy took immediate action by authorizing an invasion of Cuban by 1,200 anti-Castro Cuban exiles with the hope that a large public revolt will remove Castro. This plan named the Bay of Pigs was a complete failure with the Cuban army killing and capturing the exiles thus being a humiliation for the U.S. government. President Kennedy took full blame for the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, however continued to allow numerous CIA led assassination attempts on Castro. Thus Castro turned to the USSR for assistance ultimately resulting in an agreement to place nuclear missiles in Cuba. The placement of these nuclear missiles by the USSR was in reaction to the placement of Nuclear weapons in Turkey pointed directly at Russia by the United States. Based on historical fact, it is clear to see why the majority of historians place the …show more content…
The obvious reason as to why the USSR is partially to blame is the secret installation of nuclear missile bases in Cuba with the missiles pointed directly at the United States. The placement of these missiles only 150km from American shores naturally caused both a political and militaristic response. In addition America with its addiction to the “Land of the Free” ideology saw the communist regime of the USSR as a threat to this ideal, however the USSR spread communism to Cuba and formed an alliance with their new communist leader Fidel Castro. This USSR spread of communism made the U.S. grow anxious and thus as previously stated made several assassination attempts on Fidel Castro in an attempt to remove communism for Cuba. Furthermore the USSR was purely responsible for the supply of armaments and nuclear weapons to Cuba which were clearly able to destroy the United States being fully knowledgeable of the poor relations between these nations. The USSR was partially to blame but not to the same extent as the United States, however had the Soviets not reacted to the American placement of missiles in Turkey and not placed missiles in Cuba the cold war would have likely not reached the nuclear