Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Cuba
Today in class we finished the second part of the documentary on Cuba. Cuba started to go the wrong direction when Fidel Castro took over after the revolution, and the Soviets supported him. He became a dictator, and executed many Cuban citizens. When Castro began buying oil from Russia, the US refused to refine the oil. In response, Castro shut down all American businesses in Cuba were shut down. When Russia and Cuba became close allies, tension grew between the US and the Soviets, especially when Russia moved nuclear warheads into Cuba. Russia and the US both new that the key to winning a nuclear war was having a first strike that would be so strong it would prevent a counter attack. However as tensions grew, the Soviets and the US were able to come to an agreement, and the missiles were removed from Cuba.
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I agree that this is a good summary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Do you believe that the Soviet's actions in Cuban were justified? Nuclear missiles are clearly offensive weapons, as they are designed to be launched at the enemy, but as mentioned in the documentary the Soviets believed they were defensive weapons supposedly because they now matched the US in an ability of a first strike. Were these weapons really defensive or offensive? Did the Soviets decide to put them in Cuba out of aggression or out of fear?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reply, Chris. I think the Soviets saw Cuba as an opportunity to be closer to the same power level as America. Once they were allied, the Soviets could move their missiles into a position where they could hit the US with a first strike. I think it was out of fear that they were falling very far behind the US.
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