The Cold War saw one of its most tense moments when the USSR decided to send long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Cuba, in the event known as Missile Crisis. This fact occurred in 1962 and made the world aware of the occurrence of an imminent nuclear war.
John F. Kennedy acted diplomatically to prevent a world war with the 1962 missile crisis.*
Cuba had known a revolution that overthrew the dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, led by guerrillas led by Fidel Castro. In 1961, the US decided to invade Cuba to destabilize the new revolutionary regime and, with that, overthrow Fidel Castro. The US objective was to prevent US investments in the Caribbean island from continuing to suffer after the nationalizations of companies and the agrarian reform carried out after 1959. In addition, the US had cut imports of Cuban sugar and broken diplomatic relations.
This US stance against Fidel Castro's government brought Cuba closer to the USSR. In May 1961, Fidel Castro publicly announced the deepening of the revolution, claiming that Cuba would become the first socialist country in the Americas. The rapprochement with the Soviets was aimed at obtaining financial, technical, economic, diplomatic and military support. On this last point, the Soviets helped in the formation of the Cuban army and would use Cuba as a strategic point against US enemies.
Cuba's strategic geographic position was due to the fact that the island is located about 150 km off the south coast of the state of Florida. During a spy flight, the US Air Force discovered the existence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. For 13 days, between 16 and 28 October 1962, the danger of war between the US and the USSR became imminent. The missiles detected were the SS-5, whose range reached 4,000 km, making cities such as New York, Washington and Chicago possible to be hit. The missile placement in Cuba was possibly in retaliation for the US doing the same in Turkey, Britain and Italy.
Two types of operations were initiated by the US. The military operation consisted of preparations for war, with the US Navy creating a cordon of maritime isolation around Cuba, preventing the arrival of any vessel to the island, as well as the control of airspace, with U-2 planes ready to attack both Cuba and the USSR A US spy plane was even shot down by the Cuban anti-aircraft battery on October 27th.
Military tension would only be resolved with the other type of US operation, diplomatic action. The aim was to prove the existence of the missiles and pressure the USSR to remove them. The US managed to prove to the UN Security Council the existence of the missiles on Cuban soil, which led the USSR to become commit to withdrawing the missiles and interrupting the construction of the launch pads, in exchange for the US promise not to attacking Cuba.
On October 28, 1962, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev reached an agreement and ended the tension. However, some results of diplomatic and military actions were achieved. In 1963, the US and the USSR signed an agreement to ban nuclear tests by countries, which would give rise to the Non-Proliferation of Weapons Treaty in 1968. In relation to Cuba, the maritime blockade of the USA to the island continued, being even intensified after this period. The maritime blockade ended up being used as a way to guarantee the economic embargo on Cuba, which is still in force to this day.
* Image Credit: nephthali and Shutterstock.com
By Tales Pinto
Graduated in History
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/guerras/crise-dos-misseis-guerra-nuclear-1962.htm