Cuban missile crisis 1962
Cuba, which was only 100 miles away from the USA, had been ruled by a military dictator, Batista, since 1940. He allowed American businessmen and the Mafia to make huge profits in a country where most people lived in poverty. In 1956, a rebel named Fidel Castro attempted to overthrow the government, but was defeated and forced into exile. In 1959, Castro began a guerrilla war and soon marched on Cuba´s capital, Havana, and overthrew the government.
- Castro shut down casinos and brothels.
- He nationalised American-owned sugar mills.
The USA cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba. Castro began to cooperate with the USSR.In 1961, President Kennedy authorised an invasion of Cuba by rebels trained by the CIA. They landed in the Bay of Pigs, but they were defeated.
After this invasion Castro decided that Cuba needed Soviet military assistance: Soviet missiles were shipped to Cuba which could be used to attack US cities.
President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba. All soviet ships would be stopped and searched to prevent further missiles being transported to Cuba. Kennedy asked Khrushchev to withdraw his missiles.
The world was on the brink of nuclear war, but on the last minute Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba only if the US promised not to place missiles in Turkey near the Soviet border. Kennedy lifted the blockade and promised not to invade Cuba.
After this a telephone hot-line was set up between the Kremlin and the White House