Transcript The Cuban Revolution - vcehistory

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Unit 2: VCE History
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It’s very close to their southernmost state of Florida.
It was a favoured holiday spot for the wealthy, with many
casinos.
The USA had built a large naval base at Guantanamo Bay
(where suspected terrorists are now imprisoned).
A Cuban Casino
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
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Prior to 1959 Cuba was led by the corrupt US-backed Batista Government.
However the Communist/Socialist leader Fidel Castro led a peasant (working class)
uprising to take power.
Castro became President of Cuba and nationalised industries in February 1960.
This affected the USA because the Cuban people took over American business
interests. In response the US placed sanctions on Cuba, refusing to trade them
sugar.
As a result, Castro turned to the Soviet Union who were very keen to help a country
so close to the United States.
Fulgencio Batista
Fidel Castro
President
John F Kennedy
Nikita
Khrushchev
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The United States Government were keen to overthrow
Castro’s communist government.
There were several assassination plots on Castro’s life,
including a plot to poison his cigars to make his beard fall
out (the Cuban’s loved his beard).
Terrorist attacks were also carried out on Cuban industry,
with factories being blown up in the middle night.
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The ‘Bay of Pigs’ plot had been planned by the Eisenhower
administration but was eventually executed by the newly elected
Kennedy (JFK) administration in April 1961.
The plan was for Cuban exiles (people who had been forced out
of Cuba and trained by the CIA in the United States) to land in the
Bay of Pigs and establish a base, from which they would gain the
support of the local people and overthrow Castro.
This plan was foiled as the 1500 CIA trained exiles met a force of
20,000 Castro loyalists, who quickly defeated the invaders.
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Because this was a covert (underground/hidden) operation President
John F Kennedy had refused to provide sufficient aerial support.
This was because he/they wanted it to appear as though the counterrevolution (uprising against the initial communist revolution) had come
from the people rather than being influenced by the USA.
They Bay of Pigs disaster was a huge propaganda victory for Castro
because he could now claim that his socialist regime was being
threatened by one of the world’s superpowers. He turned to the Soviet
Union for support.
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Since 1956 the USA had used
reconnaissance (spy) planes to
photograph the Soviet Union and see
what they were doing.
These planes would fly very high
(75,000 feet) and out of range of
Soviet anti-aircraft guns and fighter
jets. The pilots took detailed
photographs of important sites.
On the 29th August 1962
photographs seemed to highlight
missile sites being built in Cuba and
on 15th of October, it was confirmed
that nuclear weapons were being set
up.
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This was considered
unacceptable because of Cuba’s
closeness to the US and alliance
with the Soviets. They
considered it a direct threat to
the USA.
By comparison the Soviet Union
considered this an attempt to
‘get even’ at the USA who had
set up missile bases in Turkey.
Kennedy could not tolerate this
adjustment to the ‘balance of
power’ but needed to think
carefully about his actions.
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Kennedy received military advice that he should launch a surprise
attack on Cuba. Thankfully, he decided against such drastic action as
this saved the world from nuclear war.
US intelligence believed that there were 10,000 Soviet troops and
100,000 Cuban troops in Cuba. In reality there were 40,000 Soviet’s
and 270,000 Cuban’s. A US invasion would have been a disaster.
The Soviet’s possessed a number of short-range nuclear missiles. There
local commanders had authorisation to use them without asking for
permission from Moscow and would have done so had the US invaded.
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Instead of attacking, President Kennedy decided to ‘quarantine’
all Soviet ships on their way to Cuba. He had to be careful
because a ‘blockade’ was considered an act of war. The
quarantine came into effect at 10:00am on 24 October.
The Soviet ships headed towards Cuba, with 300 US ships
waiting to intercept them. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
(Stalin’s replacement) warned President Kennedy that if the US
Navy attempted to stop the ships, Soviet submarines would sink
it’s ships.
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President Kennedy was at the brink of a crisis, the possibility of a
Third World War.
However, at 10:25am some Soviet ships stopped short of the
quarantine line and turned around. A conflict had been avoided.
US Secretary of State Dean Rusk - ‘We were eyeball to eyeball
and I think the other fellow just blinked’.
Khrushchev had ordered all ships with ‘sensitive’ (i.e. weapons)
to turn around, while those with ordinary supplies were allowed to
continue onto Cuba.
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While this potential catastrophic
confrontation had been avoided, the
Soviet Union still had missiles that were
being constructed and soon to be
operational.
An invasion plan was developed to
destroy the missiles but the US Air Force
could not guarantee that it would destroy
all of the missiles, projecting a US troop
loss of around 20,000.
President Kennedy, realising that this
would probably lead to nuclear war,
decided to seek a diplomatic solution.
He told Khrushchev that the US would
lift their quarantine if the Soviet Union
removed their weapons. In return the US
agreed to secretly remove their missiles
from Turkey.
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For thirteen days many people in the United States and Soviet
Union expected missiles to be fired and a nuclear war to begin.
Those with fallout shelters lived in their backyards for days.
Both Kennedy and Khrushchev claimed victory, while Castro was
upset with the Soviets.
As a result of this crisis a ‘hotline’ between the Kremlin (Soviet)
headquarters and the White House (US) was created. The Cold
War had warmed up and both superpowers knew the importance
of defusing future crises quickly.
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Consider the perspective of Kennedy, Castro and
Khrushchev. Who was in the right and who was in the
wrong?
Who was ‘chicken’, the USA or the Soviet Union?
Was the ‘Bay of Pigs’ a disaster or a diplomatic triumph?
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Please respond to the 4 practice exam questions by
responding the Document B (Gromkyo, Soviet Foreign
Minister) and Document C (President Kennedy).
Have a go at the revision website (next slide).
Read and take notes – Space Race, Quagmire and Détente.
Respond to the practice exam question about the ‘Domino
Theory’.
Be ready for Thursday’s lesson when we will review this
content.
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BBC Bitesize
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir2/cubanact.shtml