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Strategic importance of Cuba to the USA

• By the 19th Century, the USA was concerned with expanding its own territory and ensuring its security.
• In 1823, US President James Monroe announced a foreign policy that became known as the Monroe Doctrine. According to this Doctrine, the USA viewed attempts by European powers to interfere or colonise territories in the Americas as acts of aggression, and the USA would take all actions necessary to protect its interests.
• Cuba’s geographical proximity to the USA and its status as the gateway to the Caribbean made it extremely important to the USA.
• When Cuba was struggling for independence against the Spanish, the USA intervened in 1898, supporting the Cuban independence fighters.
• When the USA won the war, it promised to hand over power to an independent and democratic Cuban government, However, the USA only did so after it had established a government that was friendly to American economic and political interests. Cuba could not establish relations with other countries without the approval of
the USA.

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cruel ruling of batista
- controlled using police
- cared more of his wellfare then people
- cubans really didnt like him
- USA had control of cuba's economic policies ( sugar selling etc)
- usa had alot of land there ( american businesses )

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Rise of Castro and the Cuban Revolution

In July 1953, in response to Batista’s corrupt and dictatorial rule, Fidel Castro, together with a group of rebels, started the Cuban Revolution. It was an armed revolution against the Batista
government.
• They were successful in overthrowing Batista’s government and Castro established a new government in 1959.
• Initially, Castro did not identify himself as a communist. Castro and his supporters were not members of the Cuban Communist Party, even though it was one of the many parties that had supported
Castro in overthrowing Batista.
• However, the USA suspected that Castro supported communist ideologies and stated that it would only recognise Castro’s
government if he held elections to establish a democratic government in Cuba.

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castro comes into power
-cuban revolution
- had strong support of cubans

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Castro’s Land Reform Law
In May 1959, Castro introduced new land reform laws:
▪ Owners of very large estates had to return their lands to the government in return for financial
compensation.
▪ Private ownership of large estates was banned. Large tracts of estate land would be redistributed or run as communes by a new state agency.
▪ Foreign ownership of sugar plantations was terminated.

Castro wanted to fulfil his promise to the peasants who had supported him during the revolution. He also wanted to
break up the private land estates and redistribute them among the poorer farmers to solve the problem of
inequality. However, as many large sugar and tobacco plantations
were American-owned, these measures worsened tensions between USA and Cuba. Castro’s Land Reform Law confirmed the USA’s suspicion that Castro was leaning to communist tendencies.

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Nuclear warheads that had the capability to strike Moscow were deployed in Turkey in 1961.

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17 April 1961 - Bay Of Pigs (What was its significance?)

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17 April 1961 - Bay Of Pigs (What was its significance?)

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Made it clear to Castro that US wanted to overthrow Castro's regime.
-> Hence Cuba seeks support from the USSR
-> USSR can now plant the nuclear missiles in Cuba

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Bay of Pigs invasion
o The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also developed a plan called the Bay of Pigs invasion by sponsoring and training anti-Castro Cuban exiles to
overthrow Castro.
o In 1961, the new American President, John F. Kennedy revoked the USA’s recognition of Castro’s government and
severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.
o The Cuban rebels began their revolution on 15 April 1961 with the bombing of Cuban airfields by American bombers.
o However, the Bag of Pigs invasion was a military disaster.
As Castro had been warned of by the incoming attacks, he was able to outnumber the exiled Cuban fighters and put down the rebellion.
o It was a diplomatic disaster for the USA. Despite the USA’s insistence that it was not involved, it humiliated the Kennedy administration and resulted in angering the
international community against the USA.
o In contrast, Castro used this as an opportunity to rally the Cubans around the defence of his government against
further American intervention.
o The invasion also gave Castro the opportunity to arrest and silence all opposition to his regime in Cuba.

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Operation Mongoose
o The failure of the Bay of Pigs strengthened USA’s determination to remove Castro from power.
o Kennedy approved Operation Mongoose in November 1961. This secret operation was led by the CIA and called for sabotaging Cuban industries and assassinating Cuban leaders, including Castro.
o Operation Mongoose was also a failure, as the CIA failed in both destroying Cuba’s economy and in assassinating Castro.

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1961 - Establishment of a formal alliance between Cuba and Soviet Union

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1961 - Establishment of a formal alliance between Cuba and Soviet Union

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After the Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuba was determined to look for allies to prevent a large-scale American invasion.
• The Soviet Union was the logical solution to Cuba’s security given that it was America’s Cold War enemy.
• Khrushchev sent a letter of support to Cuba and in December 1961, Castro announced the establishment of a communist government along Soviet lines.
• Cuba’s formal membership in the communist bloc was the
turning point in which Cuban-American relations became part of the Cold War conflict.

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4 October 1962 - Missiles transported to Cuba

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4 October 1962 - Missiles transported to Cuba

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Missiles transported to Cuba, construction of launch pads and bases.

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US spy plane discovers launch pads as evidence about the missiles

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The USA was aware of increased Soviet presence in Cuba, but was unaware that the Soviets were placing nuclear missiles in
Cuba.
• However, on 14 October 1962, the US spy plane ‘U2’ took reconnaissance photographs over Cuba that revealed the
presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.
• Kennedy felt betrayed by Khrushchev, as Khrushchev had given personal assurances that Soviet actions in Cuba were purely for
defensive purposes. Kennedy saw the missiles as offensive weapons due to its capability to strike at major cities in USA.
• To Khrushchev, the placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba was indeed for defensive purposes. He hoped that the presence of the missiles would act as a deterrent against the presence of USA’s
nuclear missiles in Turkey.
• Kennedy was worried that the Soviet Union was planning a ‘first strike’ nuclear attack against the USA. If this happened, a nuclear response from the USA would not guarantee that a significant number of the enemy’s arsenal would be destroyed.
• More importantly, the use of nuclear strikes would result in the fulfilment of the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).
This meant that a full-scale nuclear war would not only destroy the USA and the Soviet Union, but also the whole world.
• Kennedy formed an Executive Committee (EXCom) to help him decide on the best course of action. On 19 October 1962, the
ExCom decided to go with a naval blockade around Cuba. The blockade would give the USA time to negotiate with the USSR.

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Discovery of missiles in cuba that is able to hit america

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soviets denies the sending of nukes and there is even more increased tensions

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us ex-com meets up to discuss how to respond to the missiles

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Nuclear brinkmanship and Naval blockade of Cuba

o On 20 October 1962, Kennedy was informed that the Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba were operational.
o Kennedy decided to commence on a strategy of
brinkmanship. He hoped that this strategy would act as a
deterrent to perceived Soviet aggression.
o On 22 October 1962, Kennedy addressed the American
public on television. In his address, Kennedy:

▪ Revealed that the Soviet Union had placed nuclear
missiles in Cuba in secret
▪ Demanded that the Soviet Union remove all nuclear
missiles from Cuba
▪ Declared that he would be imposing a naval
blockade around Cuba. This meant that US naval
ships would stop and check all naval vessels bound
for Cuba.

o The naval blockade came into effect on 24 October 1962.
o Kennedy also authorised the mobilisation of US troops in
Florida, the state closest to Cuba.

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US president Kenedy announced its naval blockade and demand Khrushchev to remove their missiles in Cuba

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Khrushchev wrote his first letter to USA. He offered to remove his missiles from Cuba if USA did not invade Cuba

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Khrushchev took a harder stand for his second letter by demanding USA to remove their Jupiter missiles in Turkey-there was no immediate response from USA
-> This made USA alarmed

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-the second letter from khrushchev
-American U2 plane shot down, nearly caused a nuclear war

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27 October 1962 - U2 Plane shot down: The Realisation - People will die.

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27 October 1962 - U2 Plane shot down: The Realisation - People will die.

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First death of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Both countries nearly went into nuclear war (elaborated by other tabs), but this event made them realise the number of casualties and deaths that will result from the war.

A truce was announced the following day. No more war.

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Truce announced on public radio by Khrushchev (USSR), stating that missiles in Cuba would be removed.

(USSR also had a secret agreement with USA to remove Jupiter missiles from Turkey.)