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Dbq Cuban Missile Crisis

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Justified, righteous, fair, and reasonable. Alike in definition, these words can all be used to describe the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba. America had tried to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro on numerous occasions, the Soviets who were allies with Cuba decided it was time to step in and support their comrades. In October 1962, a two week matter took place, after an American spy plane found 40 nuclear missiles installed by the Soviets, in Cuba, the event later became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Americans did not approve of these Soviet missiles, because they were 90 miles away from their country, but Khrushchev was not satisfied with the U.S. having missiles pointed at his country either. This led to a small dispute …show more content…

First off, the U.S planned an attack called the “Bay of Pigs,” which was one of their tactics to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro. Their plan was to train exiled Cubans so that they could be sent to Cuba in effort to overthrow Castro. (“The Bay of Pigs”).The installation of missiles were to further prevent any events like this of happening, so it gave the USSR every reason to continue to defend their ally who was being attacked. On top of that, the Soviets did not even retort in aggression, even though it would have been reasonable if they did. Why could they have not placed missiles in Cuba if they decided to not retaliate in violence? Months later, America scheduled “Operation Mongoose” yet another tactic to kill Castro. They attempted to have Castro removed, overthrown, and out of office in Cuba, but did not succeed (“The Bay of Pigs Invasion and Its Aftermath”). After the second time America tried to overthrow Castro it definitely justified the Soviet storing of missiles. The saying “The first time is a mistake, but the second time is a choice,” applies to this situation. Cuba being attacked by the Americans the first time was kind of like the ‘mistake’ in the saying but the second attempt of invasion can be compared to the ’choice’ in the saying. The final quote that proves the Soviet missiles were defensive comes from Khrushchev, “we were very grieved…that an attack on Cuba was committed, as a result of which many Cubans perished. You yourself told me then that this had been a mistake. I respected that explanation” (Khrushchev). A summary of Khrushchev’s word is that he responded kindly to the attempted attacks and did not try to overrun America after their acts of violence, even though he had the option to do so. The USSR was very fair and calm and reacted well to

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