Unit 1
Key topic 2
The Cuban Missile Crisis:
the Thirteen Days
The Thirteen Days was a period during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the world came very
close to nuclear war.
Short-term consequences
1962
16 Oct President Kennedy is
informed that US spy planes
have found missile sites on
Cuba
20 Oct Kennedy decides
against an attack. Orders
a blockade of Cuba
24 Oct USSR says a blockade
is an act of aggression and
its ships will ignore it
25 Oct USA and USSR
prepare for immediate
nuclear attack
27 Oct Cuba gets ready for
invasion
Khrushchev offers to remove
missiles from Cuba if USA does
the same from its Italy and
Turkey bases
A US spy plane is shot down
over Cuba. US hawks demand
retaliation
Robert Kennedy sets up a deal
in which the USA would
secretly withdraw warheads
from Italy and Turkey
28 Oct Khrushchev agrees
to the deal: missiles
withdrawn in return for USA
agreeing never to attack
Cuba and taking its missiles
out of Italy and Turkey
1 If the USA had missile bases close to the
USSR, why did the USA object so much
to the USSR having bases close to it?
Explain your reasons.
2 Explain how far MAD contributed to
peace.
•Cuba came out OK, but was let down
by Soviet allies.
•The USSR looked weak as no one
knew about the USA’s withdrawals.
•US ‘doves’ came out well as US
‘hawks’ would have gone to war.
Long-term consequences
The Cuban Missile Crisis showed how
easily a nuclear war could start. The
USA initiated a move to détente – a less
stressful, more informed relationship
between the USA and the USSR.
•The Hotline Agreement created a
direct communication link between
Washington and Moscow.
•Limited Test Ban Treaty (August
1963) – both sides agreed to ban all
nuclear weapon testing except for
underground tests.
•In 1963 Kennedy gave a speech about
working with the USSR to focus on
their ‘common interests’.
•However, the USSR was determined
to catch up with USA in the arms race
and achieved this by 1965. This meant
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).
War would be so terrible that it must
be avoided at all costs.
•Khrushchev was forced from power in
1964.
Make sure you are clear about the chronology of
the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Students have struggled with this topic
in recent exams – be prepared!
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