He nationalized industries dominated by American companies such as sugar and mining. In May 1960, Castro established diplomatic relations with the United States’ Cold War enemy, The Soviet Union. The United States wanted to neutralize Fidel Castro. In an attempt to neutralize Castro they attempted surprise attack on Cuba. On April 17, a small US army assembled with exiled Cubans began their invasion at a part of Cuba known as The Bay of Pigs. The Invasion was a failure, as many accumulating things ruined the surprise attack. Before long, Castro’s troops had trapped the small army on the beach, and the small army surrendered after less than a day of fighting. In total 114 were killed and over 1,100 were taken prisoner. Soon after this attack Fidel Castro secretly allowed the Soviets to build sites for nuclear missiles in Cuba in order to potentially stop further invasions from the US. The findings of nuclear weapons in Cuba is what triggered the potentially fatal Cuban Missile …show more content…
In order to potentially stop the next attack Castro asked Premier Nikita Khrushchev, of the Soviet Union, for nuclear missiles in order to scare off the United States. Khrushchev agreed to give Cuba nuclear weapons which was be the first deployment of nuclear weapons outside the Soviet Union. President John F. Kennedy at first did not believe that the Soviet Union would follow through on their promise to give Cuba nuclear weapons. But on October 14, 1962, photographs taken by a spy planes showed that missile sites were being built for nuclear weapons in Cuba. United States Military officials encouraged bombing the missile sites or invading Cuba, others urged for a nuclear strike on Cuba. The two ideas were rejected in favor of a naval blockade of Cuba. All ships attempting to enter Cuba were stopped and searched for missiles and other military material. Tensions rose during the last days of October as everyone waited for the approach of Soviet missile-bearing ships at the United States blockade line of Cuba. If Soviet ships refused to not accept the blockade and not turn back, it was possible that U.S. ships would either stop the ships, or sink them. If either of these happened, it seemed inevitable that nuclear war would happen between the two countries. But on October 24, a major crisis was avoided. The twelve Soviet ships on their way to Cuba either were