Reasons why USA and USSR went to the brink of Nuclear War over Cuba

Soviet Installation of USSR Missiles in Cuba

Cuba's and USSR's motivations

• Cuba: boost defence and deterrent against political invasion
• USSR: use Cuba as bargaining chip for concessions and narrow the 'missile gap' by having missiles near USA

USA's discovery of missile launch sites in Cuba (15 Oct)

• American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union
• Kennedy did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles

Escalation of Tensions during CMC

American response to missiles in Cuba

• Kennedy felt betrayed by Khrushchev as Kennedy was promised that Soviet deployment was fully defensive
  • Khrushchev felt that he was not lying, as they were only there to counter the presence of US missiles in Turkey
  • Kennedy saw the missiles as offensive as they could target the heart of USA
• Not sure if Khrushchev had lost control of USSR's govt
• USSR may be taking a 'first-strike' approach
  • may cause Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), where 2 nations send nuclear missiles to each other, destroying each other

Kennedy's response

• Brinkmanship: pushing a dangerous situation to the limits of safety before stopping
• Demanded USSR to remove the missiles in Cuba
• Set up a Naval Blockade around Cuba (19 Oct decided, 22 Oct announced, 24 Oct implemented)

USSR and Cuba's immediate response

• Angered at blockade
  • Khrushchev saw this as an illegal act of war
• USSR assured Cuba that the USSR would still support Cuba
• Soviet forces placed on high alert, allowed to use nuclear missiles if USA invaded
• Cuban army mobilised, Castro declared to die fighting

World was on the brink of a full-scale nuclear war