How Far Was the Cuban Missile Crisis a Turning Point in Superpower Relations in the Period 1955 to 1969?

How Far was the Cuban Missile Crisis a turning point in superpower relations in the period 1955 to 1969?

It can be argued that the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 was a turning point in superpower relations because it improved communications between the two countries. There are, however, other factors before and after that could have been classed as a turning point in super power relations and that the Cuban Missile Crisis was all planned by Khrushchev, in order to force the US to remove the nuclear weapons in Turkey which posed a huge threat to Moscow. Turning point in this case could mean both a negative and positive impact on the relations of the superpowers and the extent to which the Cuban Missile Crisis played a part will be discussed.

The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 can be interpreted as a turning point in super power relations because it helped improve the communications between the two countries. During this crisis the two countries were on the brink of a nuclear war, but both leaders showing restraint, especially when Khrushchev took no action when a US spy plane strayed into the Soviet air space, showed that neither Kennedy nor Khrushchev wanted to result into a nuclear war. Before the crisis both the US and Soviets did not know if the other was willing to construct a nuclear war, but both sides actions during this crisis put everything into the open, that they were not willing to go to a nuclear war, and it was this that helped improve the superpower relations and can be classed as a turning point. Directly after the crisis a ‘hot line’ telephone link was established allowing an immediate exchange of information between the US and Soviet leaders. This implies that after the crisis both sides were willing to communicate with each other, which was not seen before the crisis, directly telling us that the crisis did improve superpower relations. On top of that in 1963 a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed, which banned the testing of nuclear weapons...