1 / 14

THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. Lobj: to consider how close the world came to war in the 1960’s. CUBA. 160 kilometres off the coast of Florida Before 1959 –a poor country controlled by big American businesses led by Batista Batista was cruel and was kicked out of power by Fidel Castro

mignon
Download Presentation

THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS Lobj: to consider how close the world came to war in the 1960’s

  2. CUBA • 160 kilometres off the coast of Florida • Before 1959 –a poor country controlled by big American businesses led by Batista • Batista was cruel and was kicked out of power by Fidel Castro • Castro nationalised all industries & made alliances with the USSR • The USA now had an enemy on its doorstep

  3. The Bay of Pigs 1961 • The CIA persuaded President Kennedy that Castro could be overthrown • The rebels (Batista) landed on Cuba’s south coast • The attack was a disaster • The locals supported Castro & Kennedy was massively embarrassed

  4. THE USSR ARMS CUBA • Dec 1961 – Castro declared himself a Communist • This convinced the USA that Cuba was a satellite state of the USSR • USA launched “operation Mongoose” aim to disrupt the Cuban Govt – destroy bridges, power plants, oil refineries • Even consider blowing up a US plane – blaming Cuba & invading

  5. Cuba depended on USSR for help • Sept 1962 – medium range nuclear weapons and bomber planes arrived in Cuba • 14 Oct – US spy planes photographed Soviet launched pads in Cuba • Photo proved these missiles were offensive not defensive • Missiles had a range of 4000km – meant every US city could be destroyed • More ships carrying missiles were on their way from USSR = CRISIS

  6. JFK became President because he promised he would be tough on the Communists • By placing missiles in Cuba – the Soviets were testing how strong he was and how far he was prepared to go • USA was based in Turkey – next to USSR • Khrushchev believed he was doing something similar

  7. NAVAL BLOCKADE • Place boats around Cuba to stop Soviet missiles getting there • If this did not succeed JFK was prepared to use options 5 & 6 • 24th October 1962 – Soviet ships encountered US ones • If USSR defied the blockade there could have been war – Khrushchev ordered the ships to return home

  8. RESULTS OF THE CRISIS • Gave the world a shock – on the brink of nuclear war! • Both the USA & USSR claimed victory • REALITY – Khrushchev was the victor - Cuba stayed Communist & the Turkish missiles were gone • July 1963 – a ‘hot line’ (phone link) was established between Moscow & Washington

  9. What is happening? Who is winning?

More Related