The Cuban Missile Crisis erupted on October 16, 1962 between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, after the Americans discovered the secret deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuban soil, which is 90 nautical miles from the coast of Florida.
Since the announcement of this discovery, the world has watched the first direct confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, following the outbreak of what was known as the Cuban missile crisis, which made the world stand for 13 days on the brink of a nuclear war that would have ravaged humanity and pushed life on Earth into the unknown.
tense global circumstance
Despite the years of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, what happened on October 16, 1962 was considered the most dangerous confrontation between two superpowers, whose roots go back to the political and military balance of power created by the Second World War.
The confrontation was between the communist camps led by the Soviet Union and the liberal camps led by the United States of America, in the context of the Cold War (1947-1991), as the two countries sought to compete to extend their ideological and military hegemony over the world in order to secure their vital areas.
On January 1, 1959, the "26th of July Movement" led by Fidel Castro overthrew Cuban President General Fulgencio Batista, who was considered an ally of the United States.
The United States represented a major market for Cuban products at that time, which witnessed political and economic harmony between the two neighbors.
The beginning of the crisis
US President Dwight Eisenhower (Republican 1953-1961), who was supplying Cuban General Batista with weapons to resist the revolutionaries, refused to meet Fidel Castro and recognize his government. Not only did he sever diplomatic relations with Cuba, yesterday's friend, but also sought to overthrow Castro.
The crisis prompted Eisenhower on March 17, 1960 to agree to a US intelligence proposal based on supporting the Cuban opposition and assembling and training Cubans - fleeing from their country after Castro's control - in airdrops, street warfare and gangs, within secret camps it established in Guatemala and Nicaragua.
This tension in US-Cuban relations prompted Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to polarize Castro - who was not a communist until 1960 - and to recognize the new Cuban government and provide support to a country that is considered the closest geographical point to the American enemy.
This crisis came after the United States deployed in 1958 - in an attempt to encircle the Soviet Union - "Thor" missiles in Britain as part of the "Amelie" project.
This Cuban-Soviet rapprochement was met by the United States by taking new escalatory steps by imposing a trade embargo on the import of Cuban goods such as sugar and tobacco, thus cutting off an important vital artery for the Cubans that provided them with oil and other basic commodities.
On April 15, 1961, after the inauguration of John F. Kennedy as President of the United States in January 1961, he gave the green light to carry out the Bay of Pigs invasion (which was launched by Eisenhower in 1960) to overthrow Castro's rule, but this attack was met with a violent response from Cuba that ended The operation was in her favour, on April 19, 1961, and he dealt a blow to the Americans.
With the growing Cuban fears of further American military operations, Khrushchev agreed in April 1961 to provide Cuba with surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, and given the United States' deployment of "Jupiter" missiles in Italy and Turkey in 1961, he also decided in May 1962 Placed nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba.
The process of transferring the missiles was characterized by absolute secrecy, so the Soviets used commercial ships to transport them to Cuba, numbering more than 60 cargo ships, escorted by 3 submarines, as part of an operation called “Operation Anadyr”, in reference to the Anadyr River in the far east of Siberia, and thus Cuba became a base An advanced Soviet military in the face of the American rival.
Before the end of July 1962, the absolute secret of the Soviet Union succeeded in delivering and delivering 24 missile launchers, more than 40 ballistic missiles and 45 nuclear warheads, in addition to nearly a thousand soldiers and experts to train the Cuban army on the use of these weapons.
The Soviet Union withdrew its missiles from Cuba in exchange for the withdrawal of American missiles from Turkey, Britain and Italy (Getty Images)
Intensification of confrontation
On October 14, 1962, the US administration was shaken by intelligence from a spy plane stating that there were Soviet missile launchers on the island of Cuba.
On October 22, 1962, US President John F. Kennedy announced, in a televised speech, the measures he had taken to respond to the Soviet move, by imposing a naval blockade on Cuba, inspecting ships heading to it, and conducting reconnaissance flights over platform sites in Cuba.
In anticipation of a nuclear military confrontation that has become almost certain with the Soviets, the US Department of Defense has installed surface-to-air missiles around Washington, DC, as a precautionary measure. In addition, the US fear was exacerbated by a military and intelligence report stating that the Soviet platforms installed on Cuban soil would be ready for use within a week at the latest. .
Defense Secretary Robert McNamera, backed by a significant number of President Kennedy's advisors, recommended a preemptive attack on Cuba to destroy the Soviet platforms, which would have plunged the world into an unprecedented Third World War, in which nuclear weapons could have been used on a large scale. The American to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, to speed up the diplomatic process and open a channel of communication with the Soviet and Cuban presidents.
The Soviet President's response was not delayed, and his message reached his American counterpart on October 23, 1962, announcing that the Soviet Union would move forward with its ships towards Cuba, and announced that his country was not interested in the American embargo imposed on Cuba.
But despite this tough rhetoric, Soviet ships began to slow down to reach the Cuban coast.
October 24, 1962 was the date on which the US naval blockade of Cuba came into effect, and despite the increase in tension and the severity of threats between the US and Soviet sides, 20 Soviet ships that were approaching the embargo area turned back after the confrontation seemed inevitable. between the two forces.
Fidel Castro delivers a radio address in 1962 after Washington imposed a blockade on his country due to the missile crisis (Getty Images)
Crisis relief
On October 26, 1962 Kennedy received a letter from Khrushchev promising to remove the missile launch sites, if the United States agreed to lift the embargo and promised not to invade Cuba, followed by a second letter on October 27, 1962 saying that the launch sites would be removed only if The United States removed its missiles in Turkey.
On October 28, 1962, the Cuban missile crisis ended after the two sides reached an agreement to remove Soviet missiles and launchers from Cuban soil, provided the United States pledged not to invade Cuba, and to gradually get rid of the Thor and Jupiter missiles installed in Britain. Both Italy and Turkey.
In implementation of the terms of the agreement, Soviet platforms and missiles were dismantled and placed on ships for dispatch to the Soviet Union between November 5 and 9, 1962, after which the naval embargo on Cuba officially ended on November 20 of the same year.
Nearly 11 months after the agreement, specifically in September 1963, the American "Jupiter" missiles were withdrawn from Turkey.
An emergency meeting of the US National Security Council following the Cuban missile crisis (photo from the John F. Kennedy Library website)
Consequences of the Cuban Missile Crisis
On the Cuban side, despite Castro's dissatisfaction with the way the crisis ended, he maintained good relations with the Soviet Union, which still considered Cuba its sphere of influence, and continued to provide it with military aid.
On the American side, Cuba guaranteed the US pledge not to invade it, although the latter continued to restrict it and fund the opposition.
For Khrushchev, he saved the communist regime in Cuba, which had become an extension of the Soviet Union, and succeeded in removing the missile arsenal from Britain, Italy and Turkey, which represented a serious threat to his country.
In the United States of America, John F. Kennedy was able to fulfill his electoral promise to stand up to the Soviet Union and remove the nuclear threat to his country from Cuba.
After this crisis, a hotline (the red phone) was established that provides direct communication between the White House and the Kremlin, and the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed on August 5, 1963.