Position:Home>History> Was the cuban missile crisis serious?why?

The Cuban Missile Crisis truly was a crisis!.

1!. The Russians began putting medium range nuclear missiles in Cuba at the request of Fidel Castro (who feared another US invasion after the Bay of Pigs fiasco)!.

2!. A US spyplane snapped pictures of the missiles as they were being constructed!.

3!. Initially, the US felt they had several options!. Leaving the missiles in Cuba wasn't seen as viable because the Russians/Cubans could launch a first strike quickly and in order to preserve our retaliatory ability, have to go to a hair trigger warning system (meaning: we'd launch a counter strike before the missiles hit!. Thus, a computer glitch, a satellite falling from space could trigger a nuclear exchange in the wrong circumstances because on a hair trigger system, you have to launch quickly)!.

Our initial options were seen as:
--invade Cuba with US Marines (in which case some missiles might be launched at the US)!.
--attack all missile sites with US Air Force, recognizing that we might miss some sites and they'd launch the missiles!.
--launch nuclear weapons against the Cuban sites (resulting in massive civilian casualties)!.

It was also assumed by our planners that if we struck Cuba, the Russians would feel compelled to reciprocate (so as not to appear weak)!. The most likely target was believed to be Berlin: given their superior numbers they would have attacked Berlin conventionally and seized it!. At which point we'd likely have had to use nuclear weapons in Germany (our deterrent at that time in Europe was nuclear not conventional--we just didn't have the conventional forces to match up with the Warsaw Pact)!. The assumption was that at some point, "cooler heads" would prevail and prevent this from becoming a world war or global nuclear exchange!.

Kennedy refused to commit to any of those actions!. Instead, he instituted a Naval blockade!. On it's face, this appears impotent!. But it sent a message to the Russians that we knew about the missiles, that we would not tolerate them but we put pressure on the Russians to "do something!." It also meant we weren't seen as the bad guy because we didn't take a first strike but instead sent a warning with teeth!. We also gave Kruschev a carrot, quietly promising that if he'd pull missiles out of Cuba, we'd do the same for Turkey!.

Fortunately, the Russians did not decide to test Kennedy's resolve and run the blockage!. This is the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war!. It also served to minimize Castro's power (as he wanted the missiles kept in but was ignored by Kruschev and never allowed to participate in any of the discussions)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Ignore everything TLF FO LIFE said, it is completely wrong!.

The events concerning the Zimmerman note involved Germany and Mexico and took place during World War 1, a full 50 years before the Cuban Missile Crisis!.

The Missile Crisis occured in 1962!. It was brought about when a US spy plane took photos of missile launch sites being built in Cuba!. The missile sites were being built under the supervision of Soviet "advisors" and the nuclear missiles were being supplied by the Soviets themselves!. The Cuban Missile Crisis was very serious and marks the closest the US ever came to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union!.

If you're interested, a good movie to check out about the tensions and politics involved during the Missile Crises is "Thirteen Days in October"!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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The Cuban Missile Crisis was when Russia moved nuclear missile to Cuba!. The reason why it was so big was because it put enemy Nukes within a short range of the US (Russia was our enemy during the Cold War)!. This in turn put the US in harm's way of a Nuclear fall out!.

The situation was brought to an end when President Kennedy had arranged a deal with Russia stating that the US will remove it's IRBM (Intermediate Ranged Ballistic Missile) nuclear missiles from Turkey and Russia will remove their's from Cuba!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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NO it wasn't !. the whole thing was a nothing, blown out of proportion to make the idiot kennedy look like an american hero!.

earlier in the year of 1962, kennedy and kruschev held an arms summit!. during that summit, kennedy showed himself to be a weakling, and he was easily bullied by kruschev!. during negotiations, kennedy, being the sissy that he was, agreed to remove our missiles from turkey, which were aimed at moscow, and had been placed there by eisenhower!. after the summit was over, kennedy decided he coule simply reneg on his promise, just as he was used to doing at home!. he was a kennedy, so he could do as he pleased, and get away with it!. well kruschev wasn't some stupid american housewife, and he got pretty well piss!.ed off!. so he brought some of his missiles to cuba, as a lesson in diplomacy for kennedy!. after 12days of the entire kennedy administration quaking in the cowardly boots, kenedy finally ordered the immediate removal of out missiles from turkey!. the next day, kruschev dismantled his missiles!. kennedy was made out to be the weak fool that he was, and all of the eastern bloc knew it!. but the kennedy's and the democrat party controlled the US news media, and they made up another fake story of kennedy heroism, to go with the fake story of PT 109!. there was never any REAL danger of kruschev setting off his missiles, he just demanded that kennedy keep his promiseWww@QuestionHome@Com

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HHA EXAM PERIOD!
my histo exam's tmrrw -
hmmm!.!.!. there were two types of missiles in cuba, with varying shooting distances!. they had the capability to blow up all the major cities!. it was a climax between American and USSR relationships as even a slight diplomatic trigger could result in a worldwide nuclear war!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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it was very serious!.it made the cold war worse!.communist cuba agreed to keep missiles for the USSR!.the USA at the time had missiles and the USSR felt threatened by that so they got Cuba, which is near the USA, to have their missiles to scare the USA!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Cuba is only 90 miles away from the US and a missile could be launched and strike almost any part of the US causing untold death and destruction in minutes!.

The missiles were placed there by our enemies from the USSRWww@QuestionHome@Com

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