Cuban Missile Crisis

Warfare tactics have changed significantly since the times of early Colonial America, with each development stemming from a certain country’s desire to have the strong-hand in the World’s “poker game”. Similar to a game of poker, having a good hand gives that player the ability to use his or her chips to test the other players, a test involving mind-games and bluffing. From nothing more than the high-cards of pitchforks and manual pistols, nations now threaten the royal flush of nuclear arms – the most feared and lethal weapons mankind has ever witnessed. No longer does it take days to eradicate a city from a map, but seconds. The closest the World has ever come to a nuclear war was the Cuban Missile Crisis – a nail-biting 13-day controversy between the United States and the tag-team of the Soviet Union and Cuba. President John F. Kennedy, alongside Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, eventually resolved the conflict diplomatically. The worry of an outbreak of nuclear warfare, nonetheless, looms very close to the surface, as in the blink of an eye, one can go from atoms to ashes.

The causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis are multifaceted. One reason was the high-tension relationship between Cuba and the United States. Fidel Castro’s drive to dictatorship was supported by President Eisenhower, as America had many interests it wanted to protect in the island nation. However, shortly after taking power, Castro nationalized all American firms in Cuba, resulting in Kennedy ceasing American export of supplies to Cuba and import of Cuban sugar and other goods. Additionally, Cubans feared another highly-possible invasion of the Caribbean nation by the Americans. The Bay of Pigs invasion was a plan to have the CIA train Cuban exiles and organize an amphibious assault in which these exiles would attack Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro’s government. This unsuccessful attempt caused newly-inaugurated President Kennedy and the United States much embarrassment, leaving Cuba to fear...