The Cuban missile crisis

The Cuban missile crisis was the closest the world has come to a nuclear war. After the World War II, the United States and the Soviet union were building up arms to show the world which nation that was the most powerful. The arms race included nuclear weapons. It was lead by the American president John F. Kennedy and the Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev. This period of time is known as the Cold War.

In 1962, America lead the arms race and had missiles powerful enough to strike Soviet from American ground. They did not know that Soviet had placed intermediate-range missiles in Cuba, aimed towards the United States. Soviet cooperated with the present dictator in Cuba, Fidel Castro. The United States had failed to invade Cuba in 1961 and Castro felt a second attack was inevitable. Consequently, he approved of Khrushchev's plan to place missiles on the island.

On October 15, 1962, reconnaissance photographs revealed that Soviet missiles under construction in Cuba. This was the start of the crisis for the United States. After seven days of surveillance, Kennedy concluded to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba. Kennedy announced the discovery of the missiles to the public, and his decision to quarantine the island. He demanded that Soviet removed all of their missile installations from Cuba. He also declared that a missile launch from Cuba would be seen as an attack towards America. The tension began to build.

On the 27th of October, a U-2 missile was shot down over Cuba. Consequently, Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy demanding the removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey, in exchange for Soviet missiles in Cuba. Finally, tensions began to ease the 28th of October when Khrushchev announced that Soviet would dismantle the installations in Cuba if the US would not invade Cuba. Further negotiations were held to implement the October 28th agreement, including a United States demand that Soviet light bombers should be removed from Cuba, and specifying the exact form and conditions of United States assurances not to invade Cuba.