Key Factors of the Cuban Missile Crisis
What were the key factors in the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis?
The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 is said to be the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war, even now in present times when arms are both more advanced and somewhat dispensable. It was “the single most dangerous crisis of the cold war era” and centred around Cuba in which the Soviet Union were found by the United States to have secretly installed ballistic missiles. For fourteen days the fate of the world lay in the hands of the two superpower leaders, namely the President of the United States, John Fitzjerald Kennedy, and the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, while they deliberated whether or not to take military action against one another. Resolution of the crisis came about as a result of both leaders coming to an agreement that said missiles would be dismantled and military action would not be taken. Having said this there was conflict, tension and complication to endure prior to this agreement. It is important to have a background understanding of what brought about the crisis before describing the resolving factors leading up to settlement. Carroll Quighey described how the pattern of a classic diplomatic crisis has 3 stages which are confrontation, recognition and finally settlement and we shall look at the Cuban missile crisis with help from this pattern.
As mentioned above, the first stage of a diplomatic crisis pattern is that of confrontation, described by Quighey as “a dispute- a power struggle in an area of conflict”. In the case of the Cuban missile crisis the power struggle was between the United States and the Soviet Union and the area of conflict was Cuba. At this time, the Premier of Cuba was Fidel Castro. Relations between Cuba and the United States were poor and on April 17th, 1961, John F. Kennedy authorised an attempt to overthrow the Cuban dictator in an event known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. Kennedy’s anti-Castro rebellion failed but
The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 is said to be the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war, even now in present times when arms are both more advanced and somewhat dispensable. It was “the single most dangerous crisis of the cold war era” and centred around Cuba in which the Soviet Union were found by the United States to have secretly installed ballistic missiles. For fourteen days the fate of the world lay in the hands of the two superpower leaders, namely the President of the United States, John Fitzjerald Kennedy, and the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, while they deliberated whether or not to take military action against one another. Resolution of the crisis came about as a result of both leaders coming to an agreement that said missiles would be dismantled and military action would not be taken. Having said this there was conflict, tension and complication to endure prior to this agreement. It is important to have a background understanding of what brought about the crisis before describing the resolving factors leading up to settlement. Carroll Quighey described how the pattern of a classic diplomatic crisis has 3 stages which are confrontation, recognition and finally settlement and we shall look at the Cuban missile crisis with help from this pattern.
As mentioned above, the first stage of a diplomatic crisis pattern is that of confrontation, described by Quighey as “a dispute- a power struggle in an area of conflict”. In the case of the Cuban missile crisis the power struggle was between the United States and the Soviet Union and the area of conflict was Cuba. At this time, the Premier of Cuba was Fidel Castro. Relations between Cuba and the United States were poor and on April 17th, 1961, John F. Kennedy authorised an attempt to overthrow the Cuban dictator in an event known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. Kennedy’s anti-Castro rebellion failed but