Monday, March 17, 2014
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile crisis was the closest the US and the Soviets got to a nuclear war in the Cold War. In a span of two weeks, both countries were stressed and overwhelmed with the idea of starting a nuclear war, the US was 6-7 hours away from possibly starting one. What started this? In 1959, Fidel Castro was the new leader brought up by a revolution in Cuba. Castro butted heads with America by nationalizing industries that cost American companies billions of dollars. That caused the US to stop trade with Cuba, only to have Castro adopt communism and become allies with the U.S.S.R. In Cuba the Soviets helped Castro with military aid and brought along medium range nuclear missiles, which gave the U.S.S.R the first strike capability. At this point I think the U.S.S.R was thinking more for themselves rather than actually helping Cuba out. The war has been going on for years and if the Soviets have missiles only 90 miles away from America they have a huge advantage. It also helps that if the US responds to their missiles most of the damage would be done to Cuba. The U.S.S.R was lucky to be allies with Cuba but took advantage of a new born naive communist country. The US did not know what to do, invading Cuba or plan an airstrike on them could lead to war. On the other side the U.S.S.R didn't want to back down because they would look bad, and Cuba did not want America to invade as it could lead to nuclear war on their land. I think another reason the Soviets didn't want to attack was they knew that the US had more missiles than them and that would lead to more damage to the U.S.S.R. Looking at the big picture the Soviets could only do partial damage while the US can do major damage. Finally Khrushchev decided to back down and remove the missiles, later he was replaced as he appeared weak to back down. The U.S.S.R had it all except enough missiles but if they did I think they would have started the war first. To have the first strike capability was a huge advantage and they didn't want to lose it. If everything was on their side they would have started the nuclear war. Do you think the Soviets took advantage of Cuba? If the U.S.S.R had the same amount of weapons as the US would they have attacked first?
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It is very possible that the Soviets took advantage of Cuba. They were trying to get a good angle on the US in order to have a first strike set up. It's hard to say whether they were to strike first if they would have had more weapons. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, they did actually create more weapons than the US, but they still did not strike then, but at the time when they didn't have as many weapons, they still might have not wanted to strike because they didn't want to start a war.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Soviets weren't willing to trade their advantage for nuclear war, as they proved by stepping out of Cuba when the United States threatened with invasion. They also wanted to get back into the balance of MAD. Before the Cuban Missile the two countries were on more neutral terms and a nuclear war wasn't a threat. But as soon as they moved missiles into Cuba the tension spiked and MAD was compromised.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Soviets took advantage of Cuba in the sense that they immediately jumped at using Cuba to their benefit when Castro wanted to ally with them. However I think that if the USSR had the same amount of weapons as the US they would not have attempted to attack first unless they were looking to conquer the US. They would not have attacked because they would not have felt threatened and therefore there would have been no need for war.
ReplyDeleteObviously the USSR took advantage of Cuba, like stated before it was only 90 miles from the US and thus gave the soviets a huge advantage, I think at this point the USSR actually had more weapons than the US, their only fear was that if they attacked the US, even with this advantage they would still be destroyed because of MAD, both sides have more than enough nukes to destroy each other, so unless the USSR could disable or destroy the nukes of the US, the USSR wouldn't dare to attack.
ReplyDeleteMost definitely, I believe that Cuba is weak without the USSR as they would not be able to have taken on the U.S. if it wasn't for the Soviets. I don't think they would have attacked the U.S. if they more weapons because it was not needed. There would have been a greater war, and the USSR would have a very small alliance. The USSR did not want to attack just yet.
ReplyDeleteI think that the USSR did take advantage of Cuba because they believed that if they were able to place their missiles there, they can have security. However, I felt like both sides needed each other so each side did take advantage of the other. I also believe that the USSR would not have attacked either way because I don't think they would want any sorts of war and especially risk a nuclear one.
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