Khrushchev: The Cause Of The Cuban Missile Crisis

Khrushchev had very complicated reasons for ordering the Cuban missiles onto the island. First of all, gathering nuclear weaponries could effectively boost the Soviet Union’s power, while in the same time, this action could threaten the U.S. with nuclear attack from the Caribbean. Khrushchev had gathered indisputable evidence that the U.S. held an overwhelming advantage over the Soviets in deliverable nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union felt uneasy and threatened as America’s strategic superiority continued to grow over time, leaving the Soviets behind. Therefore, if the Soviet Union brought surface-to-surface missiles that fire nuclear warheads into the U.S. to Cuba, then it would mark the “turning point” in the Soviet deployment, which was
The Russians put Berlin “on ice” in exchange with the U.S. stop harming Cuban ships. The conveniently short distance between Cuba and the edge of the U.S. Territory (Florida) is another reason for Khrushchev to set up a nuclear military base in achieving equal firepower for negotiation with the U.S. The missiles were not there to be fired, they were meant to intimidate and to retaliate if necessary and mainly to negotiate with enhanced prestige and confidence. [High Noon in the Cold War] Khrushchev knew that there was no hope of gaining any military advantage, so he was angling for political dividends instead. While Khrushchev hoped to shock Kennedy by surprise and that he would pay him back in kind. Only the surprise part of Khrushchev’s plan succeeded, but he underestimated the president. The U.S. Intelligence and the government came up with several different solutions in response to this issue and the addressed the possible consequences. Kennedy had a contradicting reasoning that if he did nothing about the crisis, the Russians would have gained an important base in Cuba and damaged American prestige the world over; if he attacked without warning, as the Soviet Union wanted, he would provoke Soviet action in Berlin that would force him to resort to nuclear weapons. [High Noon in the Cold War] Knowing that the U.S. wouldn’t easily attack Cuba without a large consideration, Khrushchev bravely let the American jets discovered the missiles hidden unnoticed among Cuba’s majestic palm trees. In Kennedy’s defense, the U.S. missiles installed openly in Turkey and Italy were to balance Soviet missiles targeted on Western Europe, whereas the Soviet deployment was secret and threatened to strengthen communism in American