The Cuban Missile Crisis The Cold War KS3 History homework help for year 7, 8 and 9 BBC Bitesize

If allowed to become operational, the missiles would fundamentally alter the complexion of the nuclear rivalry between the U.S. and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which up to that point had been dominated by the Americans. For the American officials, the urgency of the situation stemmed from the fact that the nuclear-armed Cuban missiles were being installed so close to the U.S. mainland–just 90 miles south of Florida. Once operational, these nuclear-armed weapons could have been used on cities and military targets in most of the continental United States.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The US had a considerable advantage in total number of nuclear warheads (27,000 against 3,600) and in the technology required for accurate delivery. The Soviet Union had medium-range ballistic missiles in quantity, about 700, but they were unreliable and inaccurate. The Soviet First Secretary, Nikita Khrushchev, increased the perception of a ‘missile gap’ when he boasted to the world that the Soviets were building missiles “like sausages”, but Soviet missile numbers and capabilities were nowhere close to his assertions. It also had eight George Washington- and Ethan Allen-class ballistic missile submarines, with the capability to launch 16 Polaris missiles, each with a range of 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km).

• The R-12 was a medium-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a thermonuclear warhead.
• Italy’s Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani, who was also Foreign Minister ad interim, offered to allow withdrawal of the missiles deployed in Apulia as a bargaining chip.
• Low-level aerial photograph of Mariel Naval port, Cuba, taken 2 November 1962, showing missile support equipment at the port being prepared for loading on Soviet ships for removal from Cuba.
• Another key factor in the Soviet missile scheme was the hostile relationship between the U.S. and Cuba.