The October Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was one the major confrontations of the Cold War. This confrontation between Cuba and the Soviet Union versus the US lasted thirteen days in October of ’62. This crisis is regarded as the closest moment in which the Cold War could’ve turned into a nuclear conflict. The October Crisis is also the first documented instance of the threat of MAD. 

         

Castro and Khrushchev in 1963

When Fidel Castro came into power after the Cuban Revolution, Cuba and Russia became allies. Cuba’s public allying with Russia was troubling for the US because they were concerned about the spread of Communism. The US regarded this alignment as unacceptable because of Russia’s hostility since the end of WWII. This collaboration was also in direct opposition to the Monroe Doctrine.

            

Kennedy and Khrushchev in Vienna, 1961.

 Even after Kennedy and Khrushchev met in Vienna in hopes of reconciliation, the hostility  of Khrushchev was too much for Kennedy, and nothing was resolved. In fact," The failure to bridge differences over key matters in Vienna made for one of the tensest summers in the Cold War."

Photo evidence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. October 14, 1962.

Talk of nuclear weapons on both sides caused major concerns and the October Crisis began after evidence confirmed that the Soviet Union was indeed harboring nuclear missiles in Cuba. Khrushchev claimed that the missiles were "solely to defend Cuba against the attack of an aggressor." After a naval blockage and a standoff, Khrushchev finally agrees to remove the missiles from Cuba.

  The threat of nuclear annihilation on both sides prevented the "mutually assured destruction" of both parties and ended one of the "most dangerous moment[s] in human history."

Sources:

Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of the United States

http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/cold-war/strategy/strategy-mutual-assured-destruction.htm

http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=23