The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962

What are the five factors for the Cuban Missile Crisis essay?

1. Castro’s victory in Cuba

2. US foreign policy

3. Khrushchev’s domestic position

4. Khrushchev’s view of Kennedy

5. The arms race

What is the most important factor being argued throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis essay?

Castro’s victory in Cuba

What is the main argument being made throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis essay?

How each factor made tensions rise, leading to a crisis between the key decision makers (the USA and the USSR)

What is the context and background knowledge for the Cuban Missile Crisis introduction?

In October 1962, there was a crisis over nuclear missiles in Cuba. As part of the Cold War, both the USA and the USSR were trying to get nuclear first strike capability. As a result, the USSR placed missiles in Cuba to threaten the USA, while the USA aggressively reacted and forced Khrushchev to backdown and remove the missiles

What is the first piece of knowledge and analysis for the factor - Castro’s victory in Cuba?

In 1959, Castro overthrew the US sponsored dictator in Cuba and nationalised Cuban businesses, causing problems for American companies such as Texaco… This was an important factor in causing the Cuban Missile Crisis because the USA felt threatened by a seemingly hostile communist presence in their ‘sphere of influence’ and therefore they were hypersensitive to the area, thus making them more likely to spot any issues and react aggressively, making a crisis more likely

What is the second piece of knowledge and analysis for the factor - Castro’s victory in Cuba?

Castro also switched their trade partnership from the USA to the USSR as they made a 1 million tonne sugar deal with the USSR… This was an important factor in causing the Cuban Missile Crisis because it created an opportunity for the USSR to spread their ideology to the USAs ‘sphere of influence’ and to place nuclear missiles within close proximity to the USA, thus sparking a crisis

What is the counter analysis for the factor - Castro’s victory in Cuba?

However, while this explains why Cuba became involved, it does not explain why the Cuban Missile Crisis ever became nuclear as at no point did Castro request nuclear support from their new communist ally

What is the first piece of knowledge and analysis for the factor - US foreign policy?

Since the 1820s, the USA claimed influence over the Western Hemisphere and in the 1960s, they showed this by using U2 spy planes to survey independent nations like Cuba… This was an important factor in causing the Cuban Missile Crisis because without the surveillance from the USA, the nuclear missiles would have taken longer to identity and the USA would not have been so angered, thus reacting so aggressively resulted in a crisis

What is the second piece of knowledge and analysis for the factor - US foreign policy?

The USA held a public military drill practising the invasion of a Caribbean island and named it Operation Ortsac (Castro backwards), which saw the USAs attempt to assassinate Castro… This was an important factor in causing the Cuban Missile Crisis because this shows the USAs intended aggression over Cuba, leading to Castro being threatened and forced to ask for help from the USSR who were then given the opportunity to place missiles in Cuba, thus allowing a crisis to originate as each side took aggressive approaches

What is the counter analysis for the factor - US foreign policy?

However, this factor does not explain why Khrushchev chose to take a nuclear response to the issue in Cuba. As this explains why there was a crisis in Cuba, it does not explain why the crisis had to be a missile crisis

What is the first piece of knowledge and analysis for the factor - Khrushchev’s domestic position?

Khrushchev was under pressure to increase the availability of luxuries such as sugar, and to improve the living conditions of those in the USSR and in Eastern Europe as evident by the riots in Poland, Hungary, and the migration out of East Berlin… This was an important factor in causing the Cuban Missile Crisis because this prompted Khrushchev to look at building a trading relationship with Cuba, giving him the opportunity to widen his partnership to include nuclear missiles, which therefore raised tensions leading to a crisis

What is the second piece of knowledge and analysis for the factor - Khrushchev’s domestic position?

Khrushchev was under pressure to show that the USSR was the worlds communist leader, instead of the alternative of China, thus he had to be seen supporting other communist revolutions such as in Cuba to keep the USSRs title… This was an important factor in causing the Cuban Missile Crisis because this forced Khrushchev to get involved in the Cuban issue to prove that the USSR was the worlds communist leader, which made him more aggressive to assert his power, thereby escalating the crisis

What is the counter analysis for the factor - Khrushchev’s domestic position?

However, while this explains Khrushchev’s motives, it does not explain why the USA reacted in such an aggressive way which escalated the conflict to a crisis

What is the first piece of knowledge and analysis for the factor - Khrushchev’s view of Kennedy?

At the Vienna Summit in 1961, Kennedy and Khrushchev met, and Khrushchev formed the opinion that Kennedy could be bullied… This was an important factor in causing the Cuban Missile Crisis because Khrushchev felt confident enough to adopt a more aggressive approach, thus willingly escalating tensions to the point of a crisis, believing that Kennedy would back down

What is the second piece of knowledge and analysis for the factor - Khrushchev’s view of Kennedy?

Khrushchev thought that Kennedy was a weak leader that made lots of mistakes, for example, his reaction to the Berlin Wall was to say, “Ich bin ein Berliner”. Which he thought meant ‘I am a Berliner’, however what he was truly saying was ‘I am a donut’… This was an important factor in causing the Cuban Missile Crisis because the Soviets believed that once again the USA would not take any action against them, thus giving them the confidence to take a risk which would ultimately spark a crisis

What is the counter analysis for the factor - Khrushchev’s view of Kennedy?

However, while this partly explains the USSRs actions, it does not explain why it was Cuba in particular that the USSR targeted or why the USA decided to actually take action

What is the first piece of knowledge and analysis for the factor - the arms race?

The USA had over 30,000 missiles (more than the USSR) and so Khrushchev was worried about the USA gaining first strike capability, meaning he put missiles in Cuba to balance the missile gap through proximity… This was an important factor in causing the Cuban Missile Crisis because this showed that the USSR were pressured into escalating the arms race, thus bringing the world closer to a crisis over nuclear weapons

What is the second piece of knowledge and analysis for the factor - the arms race?

In 1961, the USA placed Jupiter missiles within close proximity to the USSR by placing them in Türkiye… This was an important factor in causing the Cuban Missile Crisis because this aggressive approach to the arms race by the USA meant the Soviet government consequently felt threatened, thus making them feel compelled to react by doing likewise to the USA, which made them decide to place missiles in Cuba, bringing the world closer to a crisis

What is the counter analysis for the factor - the arms race?

However, this does not explain why the crisis specifically happened in Cuba as it does not account for why Cuba became involved as an option for nuclear missiles