Part VI: Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

In 1962 another critical situation occured between both Blocks. Both sides fought for control over an Island in the Caribbean Sea named Cuba.

In the past Cuba was ruled by the dictator Fulgencio Batista who was supported by the US. Yet in 1959 a small guerilla group lead by Fidel Castro managed to overthrow him. Batista fled into exile and Castro became the new ruler of Cuba.

Castro began to nationalize farmland and industry and expropriated US property assets. Many Cubans started leaving the country, often towards the US. Batista had been an ally of the USA and Castro tried as well to establish a relationship with the USA. The US remained skeptical thought because of Castros proximity to the communists. The US refused to send economic aid and instead supported the Cuban opposition and also terrorist groups within the country who committed attacks and sabotage acts.

There were assassination attempts on the life of Castro and also a secret plan of the US to create fake terror attacks on US soil to subsequently blame Cuba and invade. Yet this plan was never followed.

The Soviet Union was watching this development and started a diplomatic relationship with Cuba. Castro hoped to use the economic power of the Soviet Union to transform Cuba into a beacon and role model of national indepency in Middle and South America. The USA saw this as an attempt to spread communism in those countries which they considered their sphere of influence. There was a notion in the US that saw Middle and South America as "America's Backyard". An expansion of communism in this region was unacceptable in american eyes.

Another reason for the unrelenting and hard position of the US towards Cuba was the so-called "Domino theory". The Domino theory said that if one country would become communist then surrounding countries would quickly fall to communism as well, just like a game of dominoes. The US considered Red China to be one piece of evidence for this theory. In their eyes communism in China was responsible for the bloody Korean War and China would continue to threaten the whole region. Years later the Domino theory would become relevant again during the Vietnam War.

Many people in the US thought that even the earlist sign of communism had to be stomped out as fast as possible. 

The relationship between Cuba and the US deteriorated further. After Castro, who brutally persecuted political opponents, nationalized farmland, banks and refineries without compensation the US prohibited the export of oil to Cuba. They also installed an import ban.

This lead to the Soviet Union offering military and economic support. The US reacted by starting a hidden military operation against Cuba. It was called "Bay of Pigs Invasion" after one important place where american troops landed. The american plan was to use exile cubans as soldiers to topple the Castro government. It was supposed to look like an uprising of the Cuban people against Castro which in the end would have the Cuban opposition ask for US support and intervention. At this point official US forces could land in Cuba.

Yet the invasion ended in a disaster. There was a number of reasons for its failure. The US used planes that were supposed to look like Cuban ones to destroy the Cuban airforce but they weren't successfull. Five US bombers and two ships carrying ammunition were destroyed by Cuban planes.

The plan for the invasion wasn't kept entirely secret so the Cuban forces knew that something was about to happen, they just didn't know where and when. The Cuban people didn't just not support the attack, they even fought against it by using guns. This did cost additional time and gave Cuban forces a valuable break to organize themselves.

The invaders were killed or captured. The official Cuban forces managed to identify the american planes that were shot down and also the american pilots. It was a debacle for the US and Cuba gathered additional support among Middle and South American countries. Revolutionary movements got strengthened by this event instead of disencouraged as the US was hoping.

Cuba remained a thorn in the side of the US and it would become even worse. Cuba was looking for additional support from the Soviet Union. This relationship was beneficial for both sides. There were economic advantages but even more important was the military partnership. The Soviet Union hoped to rebalance their military power with the US again. The US had stationednuclear medium range ballistic missiles (MRBM) in Turkey. This was dangerously close to the Soviet Union. The US might have been able to launch a devastating first strike that would both destroy the Soviet cities as well as most of their nuclear launch sites. The Soviet Union wouldn't have enough time to react when american missiles were being launched and couldn't retaliate in full force. In this case the US would only suffer a relatively small number of losses from a Soviet counterattack. This scenario was a huge threat to the safety of the Soviet Union.

Placing Soviet MRBMs on Cuba would restore this "balance" between both powers and make the MAD doctrine effective again. The benefit of Cuba was having a strong Soviet military presence within the country which would deter further american invasion attempts. The Soviet Union became Cubas protecting power.

The Soviet Union started to secretly install nuclear missiles in Cuba. The US started to pick up increased Soviet activity on Cuba. They noticed soccer fields near military bases. One CIA analyst noted "Cubans play baseball, Russians play soccer." It was one sign for the strong Soviet military presence on Cuba.

The US sent additional spy planes and finally found evidence for Soviet nuclear missile sites. US military brass argued for an immediate attack. President Kennedy favored a naval blockade instead which was ultimately installed. Yet the US was still ready to bomb Cuba.

This was the begin of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The whole world learned of this crisis. If the Cold War would become "hot" in the Caribbean then the rest of the world would suffer as well. US troops around the globe were alarmed and the US switched to the state of alert DEFCON 3. The Western Allies of the US were informed and they assured their support.

Kennedy publicly demanded that Khrushchev would remove the nuclear missiles from Cuba again. He also threatened with a nuclear counterattack if there was a Soviet nuclear attack. Khrushchev announced not to accept the blockade but also said that the missiles were only meant for defense.

The blockade started. There were some dangerous scenes even when american ships had the order not to fire without the command of the president. The US still didn't want to escalate things. Soviet ships subsequently turned away from the blockade.

The US government still discussed bombing or even an invasion of Cuba. A letter from Khrushchev reached Kennedy that said that the Soviet Union was ready to remove their missiles if the US promised to rule out an invasion of Cuba. Kennedy ensured this.

There were some very dangerous moments during the Cuban Missile Crisis. US ships forced Soviet submarines to rise to the surface by shooting warning shots on them. Those Soviet submarines had nuclear torpedos on board and were authorized to use them. It was a misunderstanding on both sides. The US forces wanted to identify the submarine but they weren't aware they had nuclear weapons. The officers of the submarine thought the war would have broken out. Two of three officers agreed to use nuclear weapons, only one disagreed. All three of them had to be in agreement to use the weapons. Yet that one officer managed to convince the others and the submarine rose up.

Diplomatic negotiations continued, some of them were secret. The US agreed to not invade Cuba and to remove their missiles from Turkey. The Soviet Union removed their missiles from Cuba. On the one hand, both sides toop a step back. On the other hand the removal of the missiles in Turkey didn't become public. The Western public thought it was a Western "victory". Yet the removal of the missiles in Turkey was a tactical win for the Soviet Union because this situation was better than the way it was in the past.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis the world was as close to a global nuclear war as it never has been before. Both sides recognized the real threat for war that could happen because of mere misunderstandings. Communications between both sides were improved, a "red telephone" was installed which was a line of direct communication between both leaderships. Negotiations about arms control started. Both sides worked towards a politic of Détente. They tried to avoid direct confrontations and instead fought in proxy wars around the globe.

Berlin has been one place of confrontation between both blocks. Cuba was another one. The world had learned about the very real risk of nuclear war. This lead to a number of changes in Western societies, including the german one.