History
Cuban Missile Crisis: 13 Days on the Brink of Nuclear War
A look into the 1962 standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over nuclear missiles in Cuba that pushed the world to the edge of atomic war.
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What is it?
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union. The confrontation was triggered by the discovery of Soviet ballistic missile sites under construction in Cuba, just 90 miles from the U.S. coast. In response, President John F. Kennedy enacted a naval "quarantine" around Cuba to prevent further missile deliveries. This event is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
Why is it trending?
The crisis was a pivotal moment in the Cold War. It began after the failed U.S. Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, which led Cuban leader Fidel Castro to seek protection from the Soviets. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev placed the missiles in Cuba to counter the U.S. threat and to balance the strategic power, as the U.S. had missiles in Turkey and Italy. The discovery of these sites by an American U-2 spy plane on October 14, 1962, initiated a period of intense negotiations between Kennedy and Khrushchev, capturing global attention as the world anxiously watched the two superpowers stand on the brink of mutual assured destruction.
How does it affect people?
The crisis brought the terrifying reality of nuclear annihilation into the homes of people worldwide. The eventual resolution had profound effects: the Soviets removed the missiles from Cuba in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade the island and a secret agreement to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey. In the aftermath, a direct hotline was established between Washington and Moscow to improve communication. The event intensified the nuclear arms race, as the Soviet Union sought to achieve nuclear parity with the U.S. It also contributed to Khrushchev's fall from power and stands as a stark historical lesson on the dangers of nuclear brinksmanship.