The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was the dangerous confrontation that brought the United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War. The U.S. and Soviet Union came very close to a Nuclear War over the placement of Soviet strategic weapons in Cuba.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union were engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba.
- The main and most significant cause of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the Cold War problem between the United States and the Soviet Union. As the Soviets feared the United States, they attempted to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to try to threaten the US as well.
- This was also in hope to protect Cuba, because Nikita Khrushchev wanted to support the communist country. Khrushchev used the missiles to ensure that Americans would not attempt another occurrence like the Bay of Pigs invasion, and try to overthrow Castro (who was the leader of Cuba at the time).
- The biggest consequence of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the political and governmental isolation that Cuba faced for prolonged years and decades after the Crisis itself.
- Another effect of the Cuban Missile Crisis was that the United States agreed to withdraw their missiles which were placed in Turkey.
- The Crisis also ended up resulting in both the nations/sides being more cautious.