What happened in the early 1960s was the fiercest confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union for hegemony. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, people have a deeper understanding of the truth of this incident. The Cuban missile crisis, also known as the "Caribbean crisis". The fuse was the Bay of Pigs incident, also known as the Geelong Beach incident. 1959 65438+ 10, the Cuban revolution was successful. The United States recruited Cuban exiles for training, set up a Cuban brigade in Guatemala, and invaded Cuba in April 196 1. With the assistance of the Soviet Union (strengthening economic ties, providing arms and military advisers, training pilots, etc.). ), Cuba smashed the invasion in just 72 hours. The impact of this incident: First, the Cuban revolutionary regime was consolidated and its sovereignty and independence were safeguarded. The second is to blow the arrogance of the United States and seriously damage the international prestige of the United States. Third, Khrushchev was convinced that Kennedy would grovel under the pressure of the Soviet Union, and that only with the help of the Soviet Union could Cuba resist the re-invasion of the United States, thus strengthening its determination to deploy missiles. 1961July, Sukhumi reached a secret agreement to deploy missiles. 1in June 1962, the first batch of missiles arrived in Cuba secretly, and 10 completed its deployment in mid-June. Why did the Soviet Union deploy missiles? There are about three reasons for this. 1. The need to seek strategic balance and compete for world hegemony. Comparison of US and Soviet military forces, especially strategic military forces, such as medium and long-range missiles, long-range bombers, portable nuclear warheads, etc. It shows that the Soviet Union is far behind the United States. The deployment of missiles in Cuba will enable missiles owned by the Soviet Union to reach the United States, thus narrowing the gap between the two sides. In addition, if the United States can't cope with this, it will prove that it is no longer feasible to rely on it to defend Europe, thus strengthening the status and influence of the Soviet Union in Europe and helping the Soviet Union penetrate into the western hemisphere and compete for world hegemony. 2. After Kennedy became president, he deployed medium-range nuclear missiles in Turkey and Italy for deterrent purposes. This behavior increased the strategic insecurity of the Soviet Union. Finally, Khrushchev was urged to deploy missiles in Cuba and strengthen strategic confrontation. 3. The reason why the Soviet Union chose to deploy missiles in the early 1960s was based on the following considerations: First, at that time, the United States showed weakness in a series of events, which enhanced Khrushchev's confidence. The failure of the Korean War and the general demand for peace after the war have caused the ambivalence of the United States, which wants to dominate the world and does not want to take the risk of war. So on the issue of Cuba, we want to get rid of Castro, but we don't want people to see the United States sending troops directly. The "Bay of Pigs Incident" embarrassed the United States, especially the Berlin Wall built by the Soviet Union. All this convinced Khrushchev that deploying missiles at this time was tantamount to "putting hedgehogs in the pants of Americans" (Khrushchev's original words). Second, at that time, the United States was facing a congressional election, which Khrushchev believed provided an opportunity to deploy missiles in the chaotic situation before the election. As long as the Americans discovered this secret after the election, they would not risk war to force the Soviets to transport these missiles. So why did Kennedy decide to fight back? Kennedy was not what Khrushchev wanted. Shortly after the first missiles arrived, the CIA got information from Cuban refugees and other sources. June+10/October 65438+April, the U-2 reconnaissance plane of the US Army took photos of the SS-4 missile base. 101On October 22nd, Kennedy made a decision to ban it. There are at least three reasons for this decision. 1. Considering the national security interests. Such an imminent nuclear threat gives Americans a great sense of insecurity, and large areas of the United States, including Washington, are directly threatened by Soviet nuclear missiles, which the United States cannot tolerate. 2. Kennedy realized that if he did nothing in the face of Soviet provocation, it would not only damage his prestige in the government, weaken his position in Congress, and arouse public distrust, but also make * * * and the party suffer an unprecedented defeat in the congressional election. More seriously, it will damage the image of the United States as a great power, affect the trust of its allies, and then affect its control over the world. Compared with the Soviet Union, the United States still has advantages. The next question mark is, why can the crisis be resolved? 1. The growth of world peace forces and the strengthening of peace trends make both the United States and the Soviet Union unwilling to take the risk of provoking war easily, thus putting themselves in a passive position on the international stage. 2. The nuclear threat is mutual, which makes both sides afraid to use force easily, especially the politically passive and weak Soviet Union. 3. NATO and the Organization of American States supported the United States and demanded that the Soviet Union withdraw its missiles. This kind of support, especially the support of the Organization of American States, is very important, which not only puts great pressure on the Soviets, but also challenges the legitimacy of the American blockade policy without such support, thus affecting the resolution of the crisis. The United States adopted correct policies and strategies in the crisis, especially Kennedy played a decisive role. First of all, in the face of provocation, the United States decided to resolutely fight back. This greatly surprised Khrushchev, leaving the upper Soviet Union, which was not prepared ideologically, in chaos. Secondly, in the specific implementation of policies, principles and flexibility should be combined, so that the crisis can be resolved. While announcing the blockade, it is emphasized that the blockade is invalid and a military strike (air strike) will be carried out. On the one hand, this tough move exerted great pressure, and at the same time, it also gave the Soviet army room to think about maneuver. The United States also exposed the behavior of the Soviet Union at the United Nations, provided evidence of missile deployment, greatly strengthened the position of the United States, and made the Soviet Union very passive politically and diplomatically. 1962101October 26th, Khrushchev proposed that if President Kennedy was willing to publicly declare that he would not invade Cuba, he was prepared to withdraw missiles under the supervision of the United Nations. In this way, there is a glimmer of hope that the crisis will be alleviated. But only one day later, 10127 October, Khrushchev's second letter was strongly worded, demanding that the United States withdraw its missiles from Turkey in exchange for the Soviet Union's withdrawal of missiles from Cuba. Almost at the same time, an American U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down in Cuba, causing casualties and the whole crisis reached its climax. The US military has a tough attitude and demanded the destruction of Cuba's missile base on the morning of 28th. But Kennedy carefully studied all possible methods and decided to postpone it for one day. On this day, on the one hand, the United States agreed to Khrushchev's request for the first letter and the second letter, and at the same time threatened Khrushchev to reply within 24 hours, otherwise "the consequences would be unimaginable." Finally, Khrushchev accepted the request to dismantle the missile, and the crisis vanished. However, in the case of concessions made by the Soviet Union, Kennedy still cautiously instructed any government official not to make provocative remarks mocking the other side's "surrender" and praised Khrushchev for his "statesmanlike decision". Because he knows very well that no big country can be cornered, so that he can have the perseverance to fight. The settlement of the Cuban missile crisis has at least three effects: 1. It avoids the danger of nuclear war and is conducive to world peace. The Cuban missile crisis is like a shot in the arm, which makes the United States and the Soviet Union more cautious on nuclear confrontation. It can be said that without that crisis, the danger of nuclear war would be even greater. 2. Because the United States publicly promised not to invade Cuba, it actually acquiesced in the Cuban Kuomintang regime, which is objectively beneficial to Cuba's national independence and development. 3. For the United States, the nuclear threat from the Soviet Union has been alleviated to a certain extent, making it in a relatively favorable position in hegemony; This conclusion shows that the strategic advantage still lies in the United States, which has demonstrated its own strength, consolidated its relations with NATO allies, limited the Soviet Union's penetration into the Americas to a certain extent, and safeguarded the special interests of the United States in the Americas. 4. For the Soviet Union: bring the relationship between the Soviet Union and Cuba closer; With the withdrawal of missiles from Turkey by the United States, the direct nuclear threat to the Soviet Union has been alleviated to some extent. At the same time, the expansion momentum of the Soviet Union, especially to the United States, has been curbed to some extent, and its international image and prestige have been affected to some extent. In addition, due to the strategic disadvantage in the crisis, the Soviet Union paid more attention to the development of military industry, especially cutting-edge military industry, and expanded its accumulation and reduced its consumption for a long time, which affected the improvement of people's living standards at home and triggered and accumulated social contradictions.