The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been going on for more than a year, and there is still no sign of a truce. The progress of the Russia-Ukraine incident has affected the hearts of people worldwide, and I can’t help but think of a highly similar incident- the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The intensity of the Cuban Missile Crisis is unimaginable. This was the most serious confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It almost misfired and broke out into World War III. At that time, the whole world was watching every move of the United States and the Soviet Union for fear that they would become victims of a nuclear war if they were not careful.
So, what happened to such a serious missile crisis? In the end, why didn’t there be a fight like today’s Russia and Ukraine?
This goes back to the period after the end of World War II. After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union became the two most powerful countries in the world, and for a while, no one could match the limelight.
Both countries want to gain greater benefits by virtue of their status, and they have disagreements on a series of incidents, such as occupying Japan and punishing Germany. As a result, the United States and the Soviet Union, which were still allies on the battlefield that had just ended, tore apart their faces in terms of interests and quickly stood on the opposite side of the two sides.
The United States acted quickly and successfully attracted the younger brothers in Western Europe through the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and NATO and established a small group; the Soviet Union was not to be outdone. Small groups in Europe and the United States are on the verge of rivalry. In this way, the pattern of the Cold War was formally formed.
In the following 40 years, the United States and the Soviet Union were both in the Cold War. Except for fighting without a face, they basically used all the remaining means of destroying each other. The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 was the event most likely to escalate the Cold War into a worldwide hot war, and its degree of danger can be imagined.
The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in 1962. In the 1960s, the United States deployed missiles in Turkey. The Soviet Union found out after investigation that it seriously threatened national security and decided to adopt a tit-for-tat strategy: deploying missiles in Cuba, which is the doorstep of the United States, in the same way, but with secrets. This time coincided with the climax of the Cuban Castro regime’s anti-Americanism. Therefore, Castro and Khrushchev hit it off and reached an agreement soon.
However, the secret deployment was soon discovered by the United States. After hearing the news, US President Kennedy was shocked and angry. He decided to take tough measures to confront the Soviet Union and Cuba and threatened to risk war. Risk in exchange for Soviet concessions.
Thus, during the 13-day intense confrontation, the United States and the Soviet Union went through many rounds of games, and the whole world was shrouded in the shadow and terror of an impending nuclear war.
The United States first imposed a maritime blockade on Cuba, not allowing Soviet ships to enter Cuba, and the Soviet ships that were about to sail into Cuban waters were forced to return. In the beginning, Khrushchev claimed that the deployment of missiles in Cuba was purely a fiction of the United States.
It was not until the 25th that the US representative showed photos of the Cuban missile launch site at the United Nations that Khrushchev was speechless. In this way, both sides stepped up military preparations and exercises, and the US ally, NATO, was once ready to go.
Just when everyone thought that the whole world could no longer bear the anger of the two superpowers, things turned around quietly. It was found that Khrushchev’s attitude had obviously softened. Because he mentioned: If the United States promises not to invade Cuba by force, it can consider withdrawing missiles from Cuba and accept “face-to-face” inspections by the United States at sea.
You know, introducing the inspection of ships by the United States was a huge compromise and concession for the Soviet Union at that time. Therefore, under the first show of the weakness of the Soviet Union, Kennedy also eased his attitude and made a promise that the United States would not invade Cuba. The world breathed a sigh of relief when the crisis finally subsided when the Soviets finally pulled both missiles and bombers from Cuba for inspection.
Ultimately, the Cuban Missile Crisis did not break out like the Russo-Ukraine War, which resulted in more serious consequences. In the final analysis, both sides adopted a restrained attitude. For Khrushchev, he compromised in time when the crisis came and won concessions from the United States; for Kennedy, he accepted it as soon as it was good, making the United States the winner in the crisis.
