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Cuba in the Cold War
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Castro's Revolution Attempt
Fidel Castro returns to Cuba in December 1956 in his second attempt to overthrow Batista. He had a group of about 80 followers this time, but the invasion still failed. The survivors hid in the mountains of Cuba and launched both a publicity campaign and guerrilla warfare operations. -
Fidel Castro Overthrows Batista
Due to Castro's promise to replace the brutality and corruption of dictator Fulgencio Batista's government with a better one, Batista lost support. So, Batista fled Cuba and Castro and his rebel group took control of the nation. -
CIA Trains for Invasion
In March 1960, the CIA began training a group of Cuban refugees for an invasion of Cuba. They had fled Cuba when Castro came to power and opposed his assault. This operation was to be kept highly secret, but stories about it appeared in Cuban newspapers. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
This invasion consisted of a force of 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban refugees landing at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba's southern coast. A Cuban force of 20,000 were prepared and captured about 1,100 men and imprisoned them. This disastrous invasion caused relations between Cuba and the U.S. to become even more hostile. -
U.S. Uses U-2 Spy Plane
In September, photographs from flyovers that a U-2 plane had taken showed improvements at missile-launching sites in Cuba. This led to a U.S. conclusiion that these sites now had the ability to launch intermediate-range missiles that could reach the southeast U.S. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
By October, it was certain that Cuba had missiles that coud carry nuclear weapons and the launching capacity to attack the United States. Even though it was certain, it was unknown when, or if an attack was going to occur. Kennedy considered several responses such as a blockade, limited air strikes, or a full scale invasion. -
U.S. Takes Action
On October 22, Kennedy issued a formal demand to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev that the missiles be removed from Cuba and he also imposed a blockade on all offensive military equipment. To establish the blockade, the U.S. navy sent submarines and warships to the Caribbeaan and to surround Cuba. The air force also ordered 22 planes into the air. In response, the Soviet Union sent their own warships, submarines, and aircraft to patrol and observe the area. -
Agreement is Reached
The tense situation continued for a week until a settlement was reached on October 28. Khrushchev agreed to stop sending missiles to Cuba , to return the missiles already in Cuba to the Soviet Union, and to dismantle the launching sites. Kennedy promised that the U.S. wouldn't invade Cuba and to remove U.S. nuclear-armed missiles from Turkey.
