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Arguably, the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world has come to another world war after World War II.
What could have precipitated such a close call? Who was involved (other than Cuba)?
Find out by listening to the CultureCast above (by pressing the little blue play botton), or by clicking through and checking out the transcript and further sources.
Cuban Missile Crisis: World War Three averted (CultureCast #034)
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Transcript
Hello CultureCrew, Joshua Hwang reporting for duty, this 90 Seconds to Culture podcast.
Cuban Missile Crisis: World War Three averted
As a background, we are in the middle of the Cold War, tensions between the two world superpowers are high: the capitalist United States vs the communist Soviet Union.
Cuba was increasingly coming under communist control under Fidel Castro. So much so that the US launched a series of failed attempts to overthrow their government. First through the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. Later, the US increased spy efforts in Cuba, not only through failed sabotage attempts but also spy planes photographing the Cuban landscape.
What was revealed on October 8th, 1962 however rocked the world.
One spy plane showed missile bases being constructed in Cuba. In an era of increasing nuclear weaponry and the proximity of Cuba to the United States, this struck the US government with fear.
Though no side wanted nuclear war, both the US and the Soviet Union had the capabilities to do so. The US placed a quote “quarantine” around Cuba. While the blockade of shipments in and out of a country is technically an act of war, since the quarantine only blocked offensive weaponry, it was not seen as such.
Through tense negotiations eventually US President John F Kennedy and United Nations Secretary U Thant reached an agreement with Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev. The Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba, and the US would secretly remove missiles from bases in Turkey, which were close to the Soviet border. Thereby, averting global disaster.
Sources / Further Reading:
Wikipedia: Cuban Missile Crisis
Wikipedia: Bay of Pigs Invasion
[tags]history, cuban missile crisis, castro, cold war, cuba, bay of pigs, culture, podcast[/tags]
(image from Telstar Logistics via flickr)
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