USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In October 1962, an American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba. President Kennedy did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles. He met in secret with his advisors for several days to discuss the problem.

Detailed explanation-2: -Why did the USSR put nuclear missiles on Cuba? To close the missile gap: the Soviet leader, Khrushchev, knew the USA had medium and long-range nuclear missiles aimed at the USSR from bases in Turkey, just on the USSR’s ‘doorstep’.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1961 the US government put Jupiter nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey, and attempted to invade Cuba. Starting in November of that year the US government engaged in a campaign of terrorism and sabotage in Cuba, referred to as the Cuban Project, which continued throughout the first half of the 1960s.

Detailed explanation-4: -As the presence of American missiles in Turkey caused Soviet missiles to arise in Cuba, so too did their removal cause a mutual withdrawal of Soviet armaments. The Cuban missile crisis surprisingly benefitted the different states involved. Cuba was promised to not be invaded by the United States again.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict.