Sequence of Events: The Cuban Missile Crisis

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The Cuban Missile Crisis was a large political and military tension among Cuba, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The crisis included many different events. The tension and secrecy almost drove the three nations to the first absolute nuclear war.

This predicament started when Fidel Castro rose to power as a dictator in Cuba on January 1, 1959 (Cuban Missile Crisis Timeline). Shortly after he became the country’s leader, on December 19, 1960, he openly stated that he agreed with the Soviet Union and their policies (Cuban Missile Crisis Timeline). This enraged the United States, as they were already in a conflict of whether capitalism or communism was better with the Soviet Union. On January 3, 1961, the United States terminated all diplomatic relations with Cuba (Cuban Missile Crisis Timeline). Then on April 17, the United States launched the Bay of Pigs Invasion, where a group of Cuban exiles, who were backed by the United States, started an unsuccessful anti-Castro rebellion (Cayton et al. 752). After about two months, Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, and ...

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