The Cold War: The Cuban Missile Crisis

Introduction
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 nearly led to a global nuclear war, with the two most powerful nations, United States and Soviet Union entangled in a standoff. The Soviet Union, under Premier Nikita Khrushchev had secretly deployed medium range ballistic missiles and intermediate range ballistic missiles to Cuba with Cuban leader Fidel Castro 's consent. The missiles which posed a direct threat to U.S cities, military installations and the general population were intended to counter a strategic imbalance between U.S.S.R and U.S incase war erupted, given the ongoing cold war. The ploy was however uncovered by U.S spy plane U-2 and this immediately sent an alert to U.S. resulting in an instant counteraction by U.S president
After the Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba, having made a pact with the U.S, the Cold War tension ended in what was referred to as "detente." The Soviet Union had been motivated to put missiles in Cuba due to a set of problems it was facing at home such as Sino-Soviet dispute, a strategic imbalance with the U.S, high demand in defense and space programs and little foreign aid. However, after withdrawing the missiles from Cuba and an agreement was reached with U.S, the Soviets accepted President Kennedy 's proposal to ban nuclear testing. Following the ban, tension began reducing, marking the beginning of the end of the cold war.
Once the missile crisis was over, Cuba was safe. Had the crisis not erupted, then chances were that U.S could have attacked Cuba. President Kennedy 's government had been responsible for the failed 'Bay of Pigs ' in which U.S trained and funded a section of Cubans living in U.S to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro’s government. Kennedy and Castro had never been in good terms, with Castro 's governing leaning towards communism. After the crisis and a promise that U.S would not invade Cuba, no other attempt was made by Kennedy 's or subsequent governments to topple Castro 's
However, by the end of the 1960s, the Soviet Union was at par with the U.S with regard to military capability, arms control and nuclear might, courtesy of the Soviet Union 's apparent inferior position to U.S during the Cuban crisis. The USSR was now in a position to negotiate from a point of equality with the U.S, a factor which saw it challenge U.S on various occasions during the Civil War such as shooting down of the KAL 007 flight. This advanced strategic military advantage was partly due to the Soviet Union 's space program. As Kalic notes, the Soviet space program (FOBS) had bolstered its military capability to intercept satellites as well as place nuclear missiles in orbit by