Why was there a crisis about Cuba in 1962

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Why was there a crisis about Cuba in 1962?
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Cold War Hostilities There was a cold war
between the USSR and USA because they had
different beliefs. They competed against each
other indirectly to change the balance of power
in their favour.
3
Worsening Relations Between 1959-62 superpower
relations worsened because of a series of events
May 1960 U2 Incident showed mistrust between
the two rivals. June 1960 Collapse of Paris
Peace Summit meant that superpowers could not
discuss problems. Soviet-Cuban Trade Agreement
gained the USSR an ally in Americas
backyard. April 1961 Bay of Pigs
Invasion Vienna Summit 1961 Kennedy and
Khrushchev disagreed over future of Berlin.
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Discovery of Missiles in Cuba In October 1962 a
US U2 Spy Plane took photographs of Soviet
Missile Bases being erected in Cuba. This
threatened the US as it gave the USSR First
Strike Capability. President Kennedy prepared the
nation for war by placing missiles on standby and
setting up a naval quarantine of Cuba . Tension
mounted as Russian cargo ships headed towards the
blockade. The situation was made worse by the
fact that the leaders could not communicate
directly.
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The Arms Race The USSR was behind in the Arms
Race and couldnt afford to compete with the USA.
Instead of building more weapons they gained
First Strike Capability.
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Communication During the Crisis Both leaders
issued threats to scare the other and to look
strong in front of the on looking world. This
made the situation more serious and more likely
to end in conflict. They had no direct form of
communication so it was very hard for them to
discuss the problems, negotiate and reach a
peaceful agreement.
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Cuba Since 1959 the US had tried to gain control
of Cuba by over throwing Castro. The US
government began a series of plans to overthrow
Castro (Operation Mongoose). The Bay of Pigs
invasion failed leaving Castro fearful of the US.
At this point he requested protection from the
USSR, who placed missiles on Cuba.