Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 - Essay Example

The event is of tremendous strategic importance for it had great impact on shaping international relation, foreign and economic policies and also affected both countries on a sociological front. The essay will analyze the significance and the magnitude of its impact that on global politics. Cuban Missile Crisis I. Background Cuban Missile Crisis was just another outcome of the Cold War that existed between the two superpowers of that time, Unites States and Soviet Union. However, the crises were mainly after the liberation of Cuba by Fidel Castro.

1The United States were already ambivalent about their involvement in Cuban politics and were particularly happy about the coup held by Castro but soon enough, the Cuban leader fell out of favor with the Americans for his alliance with the Soviet Union and the Americans began to fear the formation of one more communist nation. Cuba’s associations with the communist bloc were feared by then president Richard Nixon in confidential memorandums issued for the CIA. Cuba was declared a socialist nation by Fidel Castro on 1st May, 1961 and its affiliation with the communist bloc was further consolidated. . Therefore, the tension between Cuba and America intensified ever since and the situation became even worse when the American intelligence began intercepting messages and satellite pictures showed establishments of arm bases around the island nation.

In 1962, the United States established military bases in Turkey armed with Nuclear Missiles that were clearly meant to keep Soviet activity at bay. 3This move was defended by the United States as precaution against the military bases in Cuba that were quickly becoming a rising threat for the Americans. One of the biggest turning points preceding the main crises were the alleged training of 1300 Cuban exiles by the CIA in order to stage a coup against the Castro regime. However, this particular move by Americans led to a conflict in the Bay of Pigs that ended up in a major fiasco for the American side and subsequently shamed the entire American intelligence and the president in front of the whole world.

Therefore, in 14th October 1962 the Soviets granted full arms support to Cuba against any further threats by the United States and so there were satellite images found by American intelligence that showed missile sites around Cuba that had missiles pointing towards every single major town in the United States. President Kennedy was forced to issue a public announcement acknowledging and admitting to the immediate threat that the entire country was now under and therefore, these small conflicts had now eventually been turned into one major crises situation that brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation. II. Game Theory and Cuban Missile Crisis Considering the initial premise of the crisis, the entire event has been described by scholars as both sides had completely turned a blind side to