The Cuban Missile Crisis

3544 Words8 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Stalin's economic ideology

Joseph Stalin believed the world was split into two factions: The Capitalists, and the Communists. The Soviets believed that Communism is the only option, that capitalism and democracy are weak (A). But their goal was not world domination as much as it was Defensive. The soviets knew we had atomic weapon capabilities, which spawned a heavy push for the invention of their own nuclear weapons. They feared that the United States would try to restore the borders of the Soviet Union to where they were before WWII, taking land away from them (A).

The U.S. believed that the Soviet Union was out to take control of as much territory as possible. Countries were weak after the Second World War. Economic turmoil causes broken nations to search for any means of staying afloat. There was a fear that certain countries would convert to communism, and in turn endanger International security (A). The U.S. set about to contain communism in any means possible, giving aid to the countries. This spawned the Truman Doctrine, which outlined U.S. diplomacy for the duration of the Cold War. It would give any country that was democratic and under the threat of Communist forces economic, political, or military aid. The goal was to drive the Soviets away from gaining any sort of territorial control (B).

Nikita Khrushchev’s rise to power came after The U.S.S.R. suffered a major loss. On March 5, 1953, the Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin passed away after a severe heart attack. Immediately after, Georgi Malenkov was elected as the new Premier and First Secretary of the Communist Party. Khrushchev was an over-looked choice for the positions but he was not indifferent about the loss. He began to rally politicians around him that would be able to relieve Malen...

... middle of paper ...

...ile Crisis." Yahoo Contributor Network. Yahoo News Network, 20 Oct. 2008. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.

H. “Intelligence: Operation Mongoose.” Operation Mongoose. GlobalSecurity.org, 22 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.

I. "The Bay of Pigs Invasion and Its Aftermath, April 1961–October 1962." Office of the Historian. U.S. Department of State, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.

J. "Khrushchev Begins His Rise to Power." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.

K. "The Berlin Airlift-June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949." The Berlin Airlift-June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949. Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.

L. Bonsai, Philip W. "Cuba, Castro and the United States." Foreign Affairs. Council on Foreign Relations, Jan. 1967. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.

M. "Castro Visits the United States." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • Containment Dbq Essay

    498 Words  | 1 Pages

    To start off the Cold war, Russia had lost twenty-seven million soldiers in World War II. Stalin was not going to allow the Germany to attack Russia again . To make sure of this , Stalin made East Europe his buffer zone.The United states could not allow the this to contunie to happen. The first example was the Truman Doctrine, that declared the the Untited States would support “free people”. The Doctrine was followed by the Marshall Plan which gave 12 billion dollars in aid European democracies so that communist ideas would not be so attractive. These were some of the long term , patient policies the United States did to

    Read More

  • How The United States Contained Communism in the Cold War

    876 Words  | 2 Pages

    The United States, led by President Truman, wanted to form democracies in Europe and create a capitalistic society to build economically strong nations that would complement the American economy through trade. In contrast, the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, wanted to rebuild itself and spread communism through Europe and Asia. In a desperate attempt to rebuild, many countries devastated by war fell under Soviet influence and resorted to communism. The Soviet Union called these nations satellite nations and hoped that they would serve as?buffers? nations, preventing invasion from the West.

    Read More

  • BAY OF PIGS

    2847 Words  | 6 Pages

    Cuba and the U.S.: The Tangled Relationship. New York: The Foreign Policy Association, 1971. Flaherty, Tom.

    Read More

  • Thirteen Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Comparing Joseph Stalin and Fidel Castro

    1377 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Fidel Castro(a)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Student Resources in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    Son of a poverty-stricken shoemaker, raised in a backward province, Joseph Stalin had only a minimum of education. However, he had a burning faith in the destiny of social revolution and an iron determination to play a prominent role in it. His rise to power was bloody and bold, yet under his leadership, in an unexplainable twenty-nine years, Russia because a highly industrialized nation. Stalin was a despotic ruler who more than any other individual molded the features that characterized the Soviet regime and shaped the direction of Europe after World War II ended in 1945. From a young revolutionist to an absolute master of Soviet Russia, Joseph Stalin cast his shadow over the entire globe through his provocative affair in Domestic and Foreign policy.

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin Dbq

    2527 Words  | 6 Pages

    Josef Stalin was merely an unknown Georgian revolutionary with little power. Shortly after the 1917 October Revolution this would change. His ruthlessness and drive would propel him into the upper echelons of the Soviet

    Read More

  • Analysis of Thirteen Days Directed by Robert Donaldson

    1578 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Radio and Television Report to the American People on the Soviet Arms Buildup in Cuba” . President John F. Kennedy. The White House. October 22, 1962 (jfklibrary.org)

    Read More

  • The Cuban Missile Crisis

    1916 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Mussolini And Stalin

    499 Words  | 1 Pages

    Let's start with Joseph Stalin. Stalin was the dictator of the soviet union. He was in power from 1929 to 1953. Stalin turned the soviet union from a peasant society to an industrial and military superpower and did this using a system called communism. To do this he took control of farms and killed all farmers

    Read More

  • Rising Tensions

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Stalin began to invade his neighboring countries, many Americans believed that he truly was just trying to protect himself from future attacks (Document H), but it soon became evident that he just wanted the power. The United States and the Soviet Union had an alliance during World War II because they had a mutual enemy, but in truth, they were foes. As they fought against the fascist countries, their differences created more and more tension and suspicion. They worked together and defeated the fascist threat, then returned to the rocky relationship that they had initially, only that it had more animosity. Once they did not have to tolerate each other when World War II ended, they both committed actions that the other opposed with until eventually all they had was antagonism, antagonism that led to the Cold War.

    Read More

  • who if any one won the cold war?

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    While, on the other hand, the United States just wanted to stop the spread of communism, which they felt, would spread rapidly throughout the world if they did not put an end to it soon. Both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to avoid WWIII in the process of trying to achieve their goals.      The Cold War was failed by the Soviet Union for many reasons, including the sudden collapse of communism (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) This sudden collapse of communism was brought on ultimately by internal factors. Soviet Union president Gorbachev’s reforms: glasnost (openness) and perestroika (political reconstruction) ultimately caused the collapse of the Soviet Empire.

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin's Economic Success

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    Joseph stalin was a man that knew what he wanted. He focused on specific points and things he wanted to accomplish during his ruling. He made the 5 year plan to make Russia successful and bring back the economy. He wanted success and knew how to make it happen. He needed to make the 5 year plan to take control over Russia. Joseph stalin was the reason for russia success and all their accomplishments.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Lenin And Stalin

    1607 Words  | 4 Pages

    The next two leaders were Nikita Khrushchev and after that it was Leonid Brezhnev. Nikita Khrushchev was the next leader of the Soviet Union; he had taken over Stalin’s old job of being General Secretary. Khrushchev had many experiences under Stalin; he was involved in the Five Year Plans, the purges and WWII. Khrushchev policy involved negative aspects which come with resenting the rich and grievances. His positives would be that everyone is equal and life would be overall better. Khrushchev believed that Stalin deformed the idea of Communism. So to put it in a nice way Khrushchev hated Stalin. Khrushchev gave a ‘Secret Speech’, with that he spoke about all the horrible things Stalin had done for the USSR. The main things that Khrushchev said was that Stalin unjustly persecuted on communists, Stalin miscalculated with Hitler and WWII and he allowed and encouraged cult leadership. Khrushchev’s goal was to undermine Stalin supporters, the thought if you move away from bad things, good things will eventually happen. He then started something outsiders called ‘de-stalinization.’ This completely stopped praise of Stalin. This did lead to a rift with a few leaders, one leader was Mao and he is from China. At this time China didn’t do well with

    Read More

  • Fidel Castro's Role in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962

    1817 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A National Security Archive Documents Reader” edited by Laurence Chang and Peter Kornbluh and “Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis and the Soviet Collapse” by James G. Blight will be evaluated by referring to their origin, purpose, value and limitation.

    Read More

More about The Cuban Missile Crisis

Open Document