The Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.
October 24 was a very dark day of the crisis because the blockade began and the soviet unionsubmarines approach the 500 mile blockade zone. The soviet ships which are closest to the sone stop or turn around. October 27 was a very dark day because removing the missles from cuba is that the usa withdrew its missles from turkey.The president advised to launch an immediate reprisal attack on cuva. But kennedy decides to delay an attack.


2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?
yes i do because iron ass was part of the crisis on the american side. His strategy was to bomb instead of invade and that would have caused problems if the soviets decided to bomb the united states.


3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.
Source 26 is a american cartoon because president kennedy and the soviets are having a arm wrestling contest and it is up to president kennedy who will drop the bomb. I know it is presidentkennedy who makes the decision because he is the one with the control and he is the one who will decide to press the button. No bombs will be dropped unless president kennedy says is it okay to do so.


4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.
Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?

To bargain with the USA- Khrushchev wanted the missiles as a bargaining counter. If he had missiles on cuva, he could agree to remove them in return for some american concessions.


To test the USA-In the strained atmosphere of cold war politcs the missiles were designed to see how strong the american really were-whether they would back off or face up. The soviet union wanted to test out kennedy.


To trap the USA-The missiles were a tray, Khrushchev wanted the americans to find them and be drawn into a nucklear war. He did not even try to hide them.


To get the upper hand in the arms race-Khrushchev was so concerned about the missile gap between the URRS and the USA that would seize any opportunity he could to close it. With missiles on Cuba it was less likeely that the usa would ever launch a first strike against the ussr.


To defend Cuba-The missiles were genuinely meant to defend cuba.


5. Choose the explanation(s) that you think best fit what you have found out about the crisis. Explain your choice
I think "To test the USA" is a good explanation about what i tihnk best fits what i have found out about the crisis because the missiles were planted in cuba to see how much the united states would do. It was a test to see how strong the usa was and if they would fight the soviet union or if they would back off. The soviet union wanted to test out kennedy and to see how or what the united states would do about the missiles.

the u.s. attempts to contain cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?
Cuba was so important to the united states because Cuba, being a large island, had also been a American ally. Americans owned most of the businesses on the island and they had a huge naval bas also. The island now belonged to Castro and the soviet union. Castro now took over all the American businesses which caused the united states alto of money.

2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?I think that the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves because they thought that the Cuban exiles would know their land more than the Americans. because America knew that if they were to make a direct attack with their men against Castro, the Cubans may attack them, also they might include the soviet union. Having Cuban exiles invade they were in a way of hiding and it put them behind the scenes.

3. Why did the invasion fail?
the invasion failed because the Americans had trained 1400 Cuban exiles, while the soviet union had 200 soldiers fighting for them. Cuban exiles didn't have much air support from the u.s either, so the invasion failed or might have failed because of this.


4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power
Source 17 on page 345 is conveying that the united states had more of a advantage then the soviet union because they had mussels that could hit them in seconds. It was showing that the united states had more power over the soviet union in the cold war. But source 24 on page 348 tells a different story. Its saying that the soviet union started depositing missiles. The power had changed from u.s having alot to now soviets having alot The soviet unions can now easily hit almost any city in the u.s in less then 20 minutes. Now the united states had a disadvantage because the soviet Union could bomb any city in the united sates and it now would take more time for the united states to fire back.

The Arms Race

1. Read Source 12. What methods do you think Dulles had in mind to 'liberate captive peoples' without a war?
Dulles thought that in order to liberate captive peoples without a war that they should make policies short of war. He wanted a policy which only aims at containing Russia as an unsound policy. Dulles set up a network of anti communist alliances around the world like the South East Asia treat Organization, and Central treaty organization.

2. Look at Source 13. Would you agree that the Communist world was encircled? Explain your answer.
I do not agree that the communists world was encircled. The USSR was feeling threatened by the new policys and alliances and they wanted to do something about it quick because the ussr and the usa were having a arms race. They saw them as having more of a agressive purpose and they didnt see it before with the policy of containment. The USSR had accused the USA of trying to encircle communist world.

3. Carefully examine the verticle timeline on page 343. Then look back at Source 12. Do you think the development of nuclear weapons was what Dulles might have had in mind?
The timeline on page 343 shows that the USA and the USSR were growing rapidly with there weapons. I do not think that Dulles had the development of nuclear weapons in mind because Dulles did not believe in war and he wanted to try doing other things then war because he didnt believe it was the answer to solving problems. He believed in taking a different approach like making different policies. The nuclear weapons could have led to violence and in source 12 Dulles stated that he didnt believed was was the answer to liverating the captive people or getting rid of communism.

4. Look at Source 16. What is the Soviet cartoon saying about the U-2 plane?
Souce 16 shows Eisenhower looking through a telescope/U-2 place over CCCP. The CCCP is also the USSR. This Soviet cartoon is saying that the U-2 place was a way for americans to spy on the USSR. Eisenhower is holding th telescope but also wearing glasses. this portrays that the soviets thought the us was being sneaky and spuying on the ussr using the u2 planes.

5. Read the Factfile on page 344. Explain why the USSR was so angry about the US spy flights.
The USSR was so angry about the US spy flights becuase the plane that they had been using had sophisticated listening devices and such powerful cameras that it could read a newspaper on the ground from 23000 meters. The U2 spying flights kept the americans fully informed about societ weapon technology through the 1950's. All these things angered the USSR because the US was still being nosy and trying to figure out the USSR's buissness. Also, since the US and the USSR were having a arms race the US was trying to do better with weapons while spying on the USSR.


6. How would the USA justify this violation of Soviet territory?
The USA justified this violation of the soviet territory by making a point that the Soviet union had also had spies. Both the USA and the USSR had spies and were going behind eachothers backs and not telling the truth. they were obtaining information for themselves and both were at fault.

7. If the USSR had had U-2 planes, do you think it would have used them? Why?
I believe this could go both ways because if the USSR had had u-2 planes they would have been able to spy better but the usa would have got rid of their u2 planes very quickly. Also, i think they wouldnt have used them because the us had short range missiles and would hit them quick and also the ussr liked human spies.

8. Look at Source 17. Why do you think the USA had missiles based in Europe?
The USA had missiles based in Europe because the theory was that such weapons made them secure. Both the USA and the USSR had missles based and the enemy would not dare to attack first because if it did the other would strike back before its bombs had even landed and it would be destoryed and would be suicidal. This policy became known as MAD.

9. Define the term 'nuclear deterrent' in not more than 20 words.
Nuclear Deterrent is nuclear weapons owned by a country with the idea that if they used the nuclear weapon is would discourage the enemies attack.