Cuba- bay of pigs and Cuban missile crisis

Why did Kennedy order an invasion on Cuba

Didn’t want an ally of communism close to US territory

Upset Castro is taking over US businesses

What was the plan for the bay of pigs invasion

17th of April

Invasion force of around 1400 Cuban exiles landed at the bay of pigs

Hoped they would over throw the Castro regime and put a new us friendly government in control of the island

It was a complete failure

What actually happened at the bay of pigs and why did it fail

The volunteers had very little military experience, received some training but could not compete with the Cuban revolutionary army.

The USA wanted to present the attack as a Cuban effort to get rid of Castro, as a result, they could not send us ground forces or air strikes to support the attack

Castro government found out about the invasion plans, there were 20000 soilders ready and waiting to fight the 1400 invaders

The USA and the exile army wrongly thought that most Cubans would support them but many ordinary Cubans felt happy with Castro and did not want to help overthrow him.

Why was Cuba important to the US

160km from the south of USA “backyard”

It was a us ally

Us had a naval base there

Americans owned most of the businesses and land in Cuba.

Who ruled Cuba?

General Batista

He was a dictator

Corrupt and unpopular

He was a hardline anti communist

What happened to Batista

Fidel Castro overthrew Batista in 1959 after a 3 year campaign

What changes did Castro implement that caused tension between the us and Cuba

1. Castro appointed communists to his goverment

2. In may 1959 the Cuban government took over all land in Cuba owned by foreigners

3. Took over some American owned businesses particularly agricultural. He took the land and distributed it to his supporters among Cubans peasant farmer population

4. Thousand of Cuban exiles fled to the USA which pressurised the us goverment to act against Castro

How did the USA under president Eisenhower respond to castro’s changes?

• authorised the US central intelligence agency to investigate ways to overthrow castro

• CIA supported and gave funds to the cuban exiles

• investigated ways to disrupt the Cuban economy such as damaging sugar plantations

• American media broadcasted relentless streams of criticism about castro and his regime

• american companies working in cuba refused to cooperate with any cuban businesses that use oil or any other material that had been imported from the USSR

how did castro respond to the us hostility

• mixed approach

• he assured americans living in cuba that they were safe and he allowed the us to keep there naval base

• he said he wanted to run cuba without any interference

• by summer 1960 he had allied cuba with the USSR

• Khrushchev signed an agreement giving cuba 100 billion dollars in economic aid

• castro began receiving arms from the soviet union, american spies knew about this.

what was the impact of the bay of pigs invasion.

• demonstrated to cuba and the USSR that the USA was unwilling to get directly involved in Cuba, the us didnt want to use their troops

• made the US look weak and humiliating, pathetic attempt to remove communism from cuba. Castros position in cuba was strengthened. Castro showed wrecked us plans and other evidence of cuban victory to journalists across the world

• US was presented as hypocritical, the us accused the ussr of building an empire in eastern europe, it looked like the americans were acting in the same way to restore american influence in an independent country by supporting an armed uprising against its government.

• demonstrated the popularity of communism, the cuban people did not rebel against castro and did not support the invasion of restoring the pro-american government, many people were happy under castro’s rule, showed that communism was popular.

• Led to stronger relations between Cuba and USSR, after defeating the invasion, castro declared himself to be a communist, he asked Khrushchev to help defend him against any other attack moving forward, 1961 khrushchev announces he is going to send arms to cuba

what did the USSR do following the bay of pigs in 1961

may 1962- USSR announced publicly it was supplying cuba with arms

july 1962- cuba had the best equipped army in latin america

sept 1962- it had thousands of soviet missiles, patrol boats, tanks, radar vans, jet bombers, jet fighters.

what was the USA worried about in 1962

worried about the USSR putting nuclear missiles on cuba, but the CIA didn’t believe the USSR would put missiles on cuba as no satellite state had nucleur weapons and it was to risky

what did kennedy do on the 11th of september and how did the USSR respond?

kennedy warned the USSR that he would prevent cuba from becoming an offensive missile base

the USSR responded saying they had no intention of doing so

what happened on the 14th of october 1962

an american spy plane took detailed photos of nuclear missiles in cuba

why did the usa become very worried over the next couple of days in october 1962

• more photos of nuclear missile site were taken

• comfirmed that some sites were nearly finished and some were still beijng built, some already supplied with missiles

• experts said the most developed sites could be ready to launch missiloes within 7 days

• spy planes reported that 20 soviet ships were on there way to cuba carrying missiles.

cuban missile crisis- day 1, 16th of october

kennedy is informed of what U2 spy planes have seen when they flew over cuban missiles, also reported that 20 USSR ships were on there way to cuba carrying missiles, excomm is formed to advise kennedy on the crisis

cuban missile crisis- day 2, 20th of october

kennedy decides on a blockade on cuba and calls on USSR to withdraw missiles.

cuban missile crisis- day 3, 23rd of october

khrushchev sends a letter to kennedy and tells him that soviet ships will ignore the blockade and force themselves through, he does not admit missiles on cuba, if the blockade is lifted then they will remove missiles

cuban missile crisis- day 4, 24th of october

Despite Khrushchev’s ‘tough talk', the twenty ships approaching the blockade turn back (presumably to avoid direct confrontation with the US Navy).

cuban missile crisis- day 5, 25th of october

US spy planes report increased building work at the missile launch sites on Cuba.

cuban missile crisis- day 6, 26th of october

Khrushchev admits the presence of missiles

cuban missile crisis- day 7, 27th of october

A second letter from Khrushchev says the launch sites will only be removed if the US removes its missiles in Turkey. Kennedy opts to answer only the first telegram while privately offering to consider the removal of missiles from Turkey.

american u2 plane is shot down over Cuba. pilot is killed, kennedy is advised to launch an attack

kennedy does not launch an attack, he orders the ussr to withdraw or an attack would follow.

cuban missile crisis- day 8, 28th of october

In a public message to President Kennedy broadcast on Moscow radio, Khrushchev agrees to the removal of all missiles on Cuba and their return to the Soviet Union.

why did khrushchev place missiles on cuba

• to close the missile gap

  • khrushchev was so concerned about the missile gap that he would seize the opportunity to close it. with missiles on cuba, it was less likely that the us would ever launch a first strike against the USSR

• to defend cuba

  • cuba was the only communist state in the western hemisphere and it had willingly become communist. Just by existing Castro’s cuba was excellent propaganda for the USSR, a communist state so close to the US

• to strengthen his position in USSr

  • the superiority of the USA in nuclear missiles underlined khrushchev’s credibility inside the USSR. His critics pointed out that it was him who had urged the ussr to cue, on nuclear missiles, could he show that the USSR was a real nuclear power

• to test the USA

  • the missiles were designed to see how strong the americans really were, would they back off or face up

• to bargain with the USA

  • if khrushchev had missiles on cuba, he could agree to remove them in return for some american concessions

Cuban missile crisis- success for the USA

• kennedy came out with a great improved reputation in USA and throughout the west, stood up to khrushchev and made him back down

• kennedy resisted the hardliners in his own government, they had wanted the us to invade cuba, to turn back communism.

• khrushchev was forced to back down, he had to remove his missiles, they were forced to put missiles on decks of their ships so the us could count them , terrible humiliation.

• the ussr still; lagged begging the americans in the nuclear arms race

• khrushchev promised to keep the USA removing their missiles from turkey a secret do he couldnt use it for propaganda purposes.

Cuban missile crisis- success for the USSR

• kennedy secretly agreed to remove the missiles from turkey. awkward for him as the decision should have been made by NATO, NATO allies were unhappy that kennedy had traded them during the crisis but accepted it was better than a nuclear war

• kennedy had to accept castro’s cuba would remain communist state in americas backyard

• in public, khrushchev was able to highlight his role as peacemaker, he was willing to make the first compromise

• kept cuba safe from american attack

• USA was criticized by some of its allies, newspapers said that it was unreasonable for the us to have missiles on turkey and object to soviet missiles in cuba

• cuba stayed communist and highly armed

• castro kept control of american companies and economic resources he nationalised during his resolution

cuban missile crisis- success for both countries

• crisis helped to thaw the cold war relations between the US and the USSR. both the leaders saw how their actions had nearly ended the nuclear war. took steps to reduce risk though:

  • setting up a permanent hotline phone link from the white house to the kremlin

  • 1963 nuclear test ban treaty - didn’t stop the development of weapons but it limited tests