The Cuban Missile Crisis was the most dangerous passage of the Cold War. It was a tense thirteen day stand down between the United States and the Soviet Union. The world held its breath as these two hegemons teetered on the brink of nuclear war. The events of the crisis reflect the ideals and values of realpolitiks.
In order to fully understand the events of Cuban Missile Crisis, one must first appreciate the essence of Realpolitiks. Realpolitik, better known today as realism, is a diplomatic approach that is largely concerned with the acquisition of power. The term realpolitik was coined in the mid 19th century by Ludwig von Rochau, a German writer and politician. He described it as , ” The study of the forces that shape, maintain and
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Both the United States and the Soviet Union were the hegemonic powers of the world. The United States was being led by President John F. Kennedy while the Soviet Union was being led by Premier Nikita Khrushchev. During the crisis, each nation created respective allies. The United States had ties with Turkey and Italy while the Soviet Union became increasingly friendly with Cuba. This was a way of balancing power. These allies had a lot in common and were therefore able to link cohesively. First, The Soviet Union was interested in allying with Cuba because both nations resented the United States in some type of way. The next reason that the Soviet Union was eager to ally with Cuba was due to geopolitics. Considering Cuba is only ninety miles off the coast of Florida, it made for a perfect place to put nuclear missiles. Finally, the Soviets were quick to ally with Cuba because they both shared a common political identity, communism. This loyalty is obvious when Fidel Castro declared, “I am a Marxist-Leninist and I will be one until the last day of my life”. In no way was this bond a one way street. This alliance was mutually beneficial to both countries. Cuba was thrilled to be allying with the Soviets as it had plans to advance its own communist agenda. There’s no better nation to do this with than the Soviet Union, a communist hegemony. Similar to the Soviets, the Cubans also …show more content…
First, the United States used escalation when it imposed the “quarantine” and other various trade embargos. The U.S. also used a form of deterrence when President Kennedy declared that any missile fired from Cuba would warrant a full scale retaliatory attack towards the Soviet Union. This mutually assured destruction (MAD) mad the international arena extremely volatile. Deterrence is dangerous as there is always the risk of a nation’s second strike capabilities. However, Kennedy’s threats would be made in vain, as it was ultimately reciprocity that resolved the crisis. On October 28th, 1962, the Soviets agreed to immediately disarm and remove their nuclear missiles from Cuba so long as the United States agreed to remove its missiles from Turkey and Italy over a six month period. The United States also agreed to never again attempt to invade Cuba. All in all, the crisis was diffused due by a combination of statecraft
The U.S.’s relationship with Cuba has been arduous and stained with mutual suspicion and obstinateness, and the repeated U.S. interventions. The Platt agreement and Castro’s rise to power, served to introduce the years of difficulty to come, while, the embargo the U.S. placed on Cuba, enforced the harsh feelings. The two major events that caused the most problems were the Bays of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
Thomas G. Paterson's essay, "Kennedy's Fixation with Cuba," is an essay primarily based on the controversy and times of President Kennedy's foreign relations with Cuba. Throughout President Kennedy's short term, he devoted the majority of his time to the foreign relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union. After the struggle of WW II, John F. Kennedy tried to keep a tight strong hold over Cuba as to not let Cuba turn to the Communist Soviet Union. Kennedy seen Cuba and the Soviet Union as a major threat to the United States. As Castro fell farther and farther into the Communist party, he inched his way closer and closer to becoming a close ally with the Soviet's, As Kennedy seen this happen before his eyes, he was astonished. Kennedy, a newly formed president, did not want to seem like the kind to just sit back and roll with the punches, he wanted immediate action taken for these measures. "As someone said, Cuba was one of the four-letter words of the 1960s" (268). Cuba was not viewed as a very potential power before Fidel Castro took office. It was viewed more as a neutral country that we sent aide and military supplies to in exchange for sugar and other products. When Castro took office, things drastically changed. He started taking back land that we had set aside for military bases, he wanted the American forces no more than what they had in Washington, and he openly defied orders from America. Unknown to Kennedy Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, was also watching everything that played out between Cuba and the United States. President Kennedy, later realizing, would make a few decisions for the worst. These decisions would haunt him for the re...
The quarantine would place American naval ships around Cuba to prevent Soviet supply ships from bringing materials to Cuba. This act was called a quarantine as a blockade would constitute an act of war thus escalating the conflict with Cuba. The second solution to the missile crisis was diplomacy. The United States had aging missiles stationed in Turkey which they planned on removing. Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, demanded Kennedy withdraw the missiles from Kennedy from Turkey.
The Soviet Union and the United States were very distant during three decades of a nuclear arms race. Even though the two nations never directly had a battle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, amongst other things, was a result of the tension. The missile crisis began in October of 1962, when an American spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union in Cuba. JFK did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles, so he made his decisions very secretly. Eventually, Kennedy decided to place a ring of ships around Cuba and place missiles in Turkey. Eventually, both leaders superpowers realized the possibility of a nuclear war and agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba if the US didn't invade Cuba. Even though the Soviets removed took their missiles out of Cuba and the US eventually taking their missiles out of Turkey, they (the Soviets) continued to build a more advanced military; the missile crisis was over, but the arms race was not.
Robert F. Kennedy's chilling account of his experiences with his brother, President John F. Kennedy over thirteen days in October of 1962 give an idea to the reader of just how alarmingly close our country came to nuclear war. Kennedy sums up the Cuban Missile Crisis as "a confrontation between two atomic nations...which brought the world to the abyss of nuclear destruction and the end of mankind."1 The author's purpose for writing this memoir seems to be to give readers an idea of the danger confronted during the Cuban Missile Crisis and to reflect on the lessons we should learn from it as a country, and for future members of government.
The Cuban missile crisis can be argued to be one of the most dangerous events in the history of the United States. The United States was on the verge of nuclear warfare with Cuba and the Soviet Union. A United States’ spy plane discovered missile silos being constructed in Cuba. This raised suspicion for the president at the time, John F. Kennedy, and the rest
...hed between the two countries to end the possibility of a nuclear war. America agreed to never invade Cuba and Russia agreed to remove all of the systems support and missiles from Cuba. The quarantine ended on November 20, 1962 after the Russians removed all of their missiles systems and support equipment and left the Cuban island. This dispute ultimately led to the Moscow-Washington Hotline, and American deactivated their weapons systems eleven months after the standoff.
During the Cold War Era, the United States and Soviet Union were placed in a very tense standing when the Soviet Union placed their nuclear-armed missiles on Cuba, which was just a 90 miles away from the United States (Cuban Missile Crisis). The Soviet Union aimed to have their nuclear missiles in Cuba as a way to ensure a more even playing field given from the weapons’ set up from Western Europe and Turkey (since the United States also had their nuclear missiles placed in Turkey as well). In order to come to a closing means on the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union agreed to remove their missiles in order to avoid Cuba getting invaded, while the United States secretly removed theirs from Turkey (Cuban Missile Crisis). However, the Cold War’s impacts still carry on to this day due to the relationship between the United States and Cuba. This is seen from the United States establishing, and still upholding the country’s political, economic, as well as financial embargo on Cuba. The Cold War left the relationship between the United States and Cuba nearly nonexistent from 1961 until just this past year when both countries reopened their respective embassies for one another on July 20th (U.S and Cuba Re-Establish Relations). Consequently, the impacts of the Cold War still must be studied by experts in the
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major event in U.S History that almost led to nuclear destruction. It was over a period of thirteen days in which diplomats from the U.S and the Soviet Union were trying to reach a peaceful resolution so that they wouldn’t have to engage in physical warfare. The crisis was the hallmark of the Cold War era which lasted from the 1950’s to the late 1980’s. The Cold War was a power struggle between the U.S and Soviet Union in which the two nations had a massive arms race to become the strongest military force. The U.S considered Communism to be an opposing political entity, and therefore branded them as enemies. Khrushchev’s antagonistic view of Americans also played a big role in the conflict. The Cold War tensions, coupled with a political shift in Cuba eventually lead to the military struggle known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the point of most tension and near collapse causing the Cold War to almost shift from a passive and underground struggle to a violent and catastrophic one.
The Cold War had lots of confrontations that involved using principles and practicing them. One example is the Cuban Missile Crisis. Cuba was coming off the failed invasion by the United States at the Bay of Pigs. They allied themselves with the Soviet Union and, in order to protect Cuba, The Soviet Union sent missiles to Cuba. The Americans found out using a spy plane. They warned Russia not to do this because it threatened the USA. However, the Soviet Union wasn’t stopping. This event was quickly called The Cuban Missile Crisis. Principles in the Cuban Missile Crisis were the ideas/thoughts that occurred without going into action like when the United States said they would have peace talks with the Soviet Union but instead waited until the Soviets offered them a plan. Practices in the Cuban Missile Crisis were that ideas that went into action like their plan to quarantine Cuba from the Soviet Union. During this crisis, it was clear that the United States had a lot more principles than practices.
To view this crisis I chose the individual level of analysis because it is very easy to take that approach when you have three major key players as I mentioned above. Each and every one of those men held an excruciating amount of power which could have changed the total outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis if not used correctly. They all had the highest influences on how the crisis would end. The relationship between countries can be compared to a puzzle. One leaders relative power depicts one single piece to the dynamic puzzle made up by all respective countries and leaders. I drew to the conclusion that the individual level of analysis and international relations theory of realism combined together and allowed me to describe the situations of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the best way possible. The powerful leaders such as Preside...
The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted two weeks in the midst of the Cold War, and brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before. In October of 1962 multiple nuclear missiles of the Soviet Union’ s were discovered in Cuba, a mere 90 miles south of the United States. Given the communist ties between Cuba and the USSR, this poised a considerable threat to our national security. Throughout the 14 days the two leaders, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev struggled to clearly understand each others‘ genuine intentions. Actions taken by each state during this crisis demonstrates the realist point of view, in a variety of ways. The fundamentals of Realism will be explored and explained along with actions taken during this crisis from a realist point of view.
Realism is one of the important perspectives on global politics, it is a notion about the conservative society and political philosophy (Heywood 2011: 54; Shimko 2013: 36). Besides, Gilpin (1996) claims that “realism…, it is not a scientific theory that is subject to the test of falsifiability, therefore, cannot be proved and disproved.” (Frankel 1996: xiii). The components of the realist approach to international relations will be discussed.
Roger Donaldson’s film, Thirteen Days dramatizes the Kennedy administration reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film discusses a time when the United States had come close to a nuclear war with other nations. The film mainly focuses on showing the audience the United States perspective of the crisis. The Cuban Missile crisis was a thirteen-day long confrontation between the United States, Cuba, and the Soviet Union. This crisis started out when both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to be seen as the most superior nation in the world. Therefore, both nations decided to use the technology they had in order to produce nuclear missiles and other weapons to show the globe how powerful they were as nations. The United States and
Stern, Sheldon M. The Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory: Myths versus Reality. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ., 2012. Print.