12.Confrontation between the superpowers

Cuba’s significance

Cuba was regarded as the USA’s ‘backyard’.
The US was therefore determined to maintain stability there to protect its national interests.
The Cuban constitution gave the USA rights of intervention and Cuba provided land for naval bases.
The US had a lot of influence over a supposedly independent state, but the relationship was presented as benevolent.

Nationalist Cuba

The Cuban nationalist was Fidel Castro, who returned to the country in December 1956 with his brother and 79 supporters.
His support grew after a guerrilla campaign against Fulgencio Batista’s regime, which ended up collapsing on the 1st January 1959 leaving Castro victorious.

US response

The US has showed little support for Batista during Castro’s revolution.
For as long as the revolution looked like a nationalist, non-communist uprising with no external aid from communist states they were willing to let it run its course.
Nixon’s visits to Latin American states in May 1958 shifted US policy toward the region.
Economic stability was the target, and the US supported the creation of Inter-American Development Bank and regional common markets.

Post-revolutionary Cuba

Castro wanted to reduce US economic and political influence in Cuba, and therefore needed substantial support in order to manage the inevitable response from the USA.
It was important to maintain his own authority and also Cuba’s independence, meanwhile not upsetting his powerful allies.

US fears

In May 1959 Castro introduced a programme of agrarian reform - considerable amounts of US property in Cuba were seized by the state.
This did not cause a major, hostile US response.
However, when Soviet First Deputy Premier, Mikoyan, visited Cuba in February 1960 and arranged $100 million in credits with Castro, US fears of Cuba becoming a Soviet satellite in the Caribbean were heightened.
Cuba were now in both a political and economic relationship with the USSR.

Decline of US-Cuban relations

Crude oil from USSR arrived in Cuba in April 1960, but US oil companies refused to refine it so Castro nationalised them.
America imposed economic sanctions on Cuba.
Reduced their imports of Cuban sugar by 95%.
Castro seized $1 billion of US assets in October 1960.

The Bay of Pigs

Planned under Eisenhower but inherited by Kennedy.
Plan was to enable 1500 anti-Castro exiles to land in Cuba and carry out a military coup to remove him.
They were to land in the Bay of Pigs.
It was a disaster and an embarrassment for Kennedy.
It also confirmed US intentions for Cuba, but that Castro’s power was consolidated as he’s protected Cuba from American imperialism.

Operation Mongoose

Authorised by Kennedy in November 1961.
Aimed to overthrow Castro using covert operations in Cuba.
This would destabilise him and facilitate an anti-Castro revolt.
Led by General Edward Lansdale.
An air strike known as OPLAN 312 and land based invasion known as OPLAN 314 was developed.

Operation Quick Kick

In March 1962 US military manoeuvres began in the Caribbean (Quick Kick) so Khrushchev’s defence minister, Malinovsky, concludes that in the face of a US attack Cuba would not last, and so Khrushchev deployed nuclear missiles in Cuba purely for defensive purposes.

Operation Anadyr

In order to support Castro, the USSR also provided fighter planes, bomber and 14k ground troops.
Geostrategically, Khrushchev couldn’t ignore Cuba, he knew he was behind the US with missile capability and so Soviet missiles on Cuba could level this out a bit.
Furthermore, Khrushchev could use this to expand his nuclear arsenal and also help him reduce his spending on conventional military forces.

Cuba-Berlin

Khrushchev hoped that he could develop a linkage strategy between Cuba and Berlin.
As he’d failed to remove Western power from Berlin, which was a political embarrassment for him.
And also had implications in terms of the security of the Communist bloc in Eastern Europe.

The missile crisis

USSR deployment of nuclear missiles depended on the USA not noticing.
Secrecy ended on 14th October when a U2 spy plane had spotted a missiles site in San Cristobal.
Kennedy was made aware 2 days later and immediately assembled an advisory committee known as ExComm.
This group considered policy options and their consequences.

Executive Committee of the National Security Council (ExComm)

Consisted of hawks - called for US military action
and doves - favoured a diplomatic solution
It was clear the USA couldn’t do anything that could split NATO (they couldn’t appear to ignore Europe’s interests or expose them to a Soviet nuclear response).

Kennedy’s response

Kennedy opted for a naval blockade that would prevent the flow of missiles from entering Cuba.
There were too many missiles to guarantee their destruction before the USSR would react.
The blockade was relatively successful, Soviet ships stopped dead or had to turn around, preventing their entry to Cuba.
Kennedy also put US bases on maximum alert in preparation for a possible military strike against Cuba.

Khrushchev

Khrushchev called the blockade ‘an act of aggression… pushing mankind toward the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war.’

No end in sight

Despite desire to avoid direct military confrontation, no moves toward a diplomatic settlement between Kennedy and Khrushchev were made.
Cuba was in the greatest danger of US invasion at this point - causing Khrushchev to rethink his position.

Kennedy’s options

Kennedy was keeping his options open.
He was willing to negotiate regarding the presence of US nuclear missiles in Turkey and use it as bargaining chip due to their threat they posed (equal to the threat USSR missiles in Cuba posed to the USA)
He also made it clear he’d get the missiles out of Cuba by trading or invasion.

Peace

On 26th October Khrushchev sent a telegram to Kennedy.
He was looking for a way out of the crisis, and proposed that is the USA promised to not invade the USSR would remove its military presence in Cuba.
This was ideal, but Castro made this difficult, he ordered Cuban anti-aircraft forces to start firing on planes in fear of an American attack.

The brink of nuclear war

However mutual compromise seemed unlikely.
The military presence in Turkey and Cuba was constant tension.
After a U2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba the US had committed themselves to respond to such events with US air attacks.
Things were on the brink of escalating out of control.

The final settlement

Kennedy soon made it clear to the USSR that he was willing to remove his missiles in Turkey.
However this could not become a formal public settlement of the crisis.
He could not be seen as accepting Soviet pressure.
This was a success.
On 28th October Khrushchev agreed to remove his missiles.
And Castro faced a humiliating betrayal.

Moscow Washington Hotline

The crisis brought the world closer to a nuclear war than ever before.
A consequence of the missile crisis was the creation of the Moscow-Washington hotline in 1963.
This connected the Kremlin and the White House.
A communication system was supposed to decrease the chances of getting so close to a nuclear war again.

Moscow Test Ban Treaty

It was also clear that control over the arms race needed to be established.
In October 1963, the Moscow Test Ban Treaty came into force. This prohibited all test detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted underground.
There was no obligation for states to sign (e.g. China and France didn’t).
This was major in contributing toward detente later on.

The result of the Cuban Missile Crisis

USA has appeared to have a superior military power and having pressured the USSR to withdraw missiles.
The USSR faced humiliation, and a ‘Cold War defeat’.
Therefore they became determined to restore international status.
However the survival of Cuba could be seen as a success for Khrushchev.
It also ensured the survival of West Berlin as a Western capitalist democracy
Cuba remained the USA’s ‘backyard’.
The USA’s commitment to containment had failed.