Confrontation Between The Superpowers

Question 1

What was the USA’s initial policy towards Cuba?

Answer 1

Economic stability

Question 2

What did Castro do in May 1959?

Answer 2

Introduced a programme of agrarian reform seizing large amounts of American-owned property.

Question 3

What happened in February 1960 that alarmed the USA?

Answer 3

Cuba made a crude oil deal with the USSR

Question 4

Describe the events that led to a breakdown of US-Cuban relations?

Answer 4

• April 1960 - US-owned oil refineries refuse to refine oil so Castro nationalised them
• USA impose economic sanctions (reduced sugar imports by 95%)
• Oct 1960 - Castro seizes $1 billion worth of US assets

Question 5

What had the US decided by 1961?

Answer 5

Castro and his regime must be removed

Question 6

When was the Bay of Pigs invasion?

Answer 6

April 1961

Question 7

Describe the plan for Bay of Pigs

Answer 7

1500 anti-Castro Cuban exiles would land on Cuba and carry out a coup to remove him

Question 8

What were the impacts of the Bay of Pigs?

Answer 8

• humiliation for JFK
• consolidated Castro’s power
• confirmed Soviet and Cuban fears

Question 9

What was Operation Mongoose?

Answer 9

A covert operation to destabilise Castro’s regime leading to an overthrow of Castro

Question 10

When did Khrushchev deploy Soviet missiles in Cuba?

Answer 10

1962

Question 11

When was Operation Mongoose?

Answer 11

November 1961

Question 12

Apart from nuclear weapons what other military support did the USSR provide Cuba with?

Answer 12

• fighter planes
• bombers
• 14000 ground troops

Question 13

Why was Cuba geostrategically important for Khrushchev?

Answer 13

Reduced the missile gap because Khrushchev knew the USSR was 10 years behind the USA

Question 14

What did Khrushchev hope to do?

Answer 14

Develop a linkage strategy between Cuba and Germany

Question 15

What happened on the 14th October 1962?

Answer 15

U2 spy plane photographs evidence of Soviet missile site constructions in Cuba

Question 16

What happened on the 16th October 1962?

Answer 16

• Kennedy informed about Soviet missile in Cuba
• ExComm assembled to discuss how the missiles could be removed

Question 17

What happened on the 22nd October 1962?

Answer 17

• Naval quarantine issued on Soviet ships
• JFK addresses the nation

Question 18

What did Khrushchev call the blockade?

Answer 18

An act of aggression

Question 19

What happened on the 24th October 1962?

Answer 19

• Soviet ships reached the blockade
• DEFCON 2 reached
• Ships halted or turned around

Question 20

What happened on the 26th October 1962?

Answer 20

• Khrushchev sends telegram
• Khrushchev would remove the missiles if the USA made an non-invasion pledge

Question 21

What happened on the 27th October 1962?

Answer 21

• Khrushchev sends telegram - asks for missiles to be removed from Turkey
• U2 spy plane shot down over Cuba
• Pilot killed

Question 22

What happened on 28th October 1962?

Answer 22

• Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles
• Secret agreement to remove missile from Turkey
• Castro refused inspection of missile sites once dismantled

Question 23

What were the impacts of the crisis?

Answer 23

• Hotline set up in 1963
• 1663 Moscow Test Ban Treaty
• humiliation for the USSR
• Cuba remained a communist state (raised issue of validity of Truman Doctrine)

Question 24

What did the Moscow Test Ban Treaty state?

Answer 24

Nuclear weapons couldn’t be tested in the atmosphere, in space or underwater

Question 25

What did the Test Ban Treaty not include?

Answer 25

Provisions for underground tests or periodic review and inspection

Question 26

What states did not sign up to the Test Ban Treaty?

Answer 26

France and China

Question 27

What was the significance of the Moscow Test Ban Treaty?

Answer 27

Major factor to Detente later in the decade