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Cuban Missile Crisis

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Cuban Missile Crisis
Explain why relations changed between the USA and the USSR as a result of events in Cuba between 1959 and 1962 and how the Cuban missile Crisis affected relations between the USA and the USSR.

The USA and the USSR never really got on after WW2 ended, it was always a competition to see who the greatest superpower was. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the nearest that both sides came to an actual nuclear war. The tensions were intense for both sides, for both USA and USSR could have started a war if they wanted to because of their opponents. And in this essay I am going to explain why their relations changed and how the Cuban Missile Crisis affected relations between 1959 and 1962.

One of the first reasons why relations between the USA and the USSR changed is because of Cuba, Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and it is situated only 90 miles from Florida, in Southern USA. Also the Americans owned most of the businesses, banks, sugar and tobacco plantations, as well as a large naval base. The Monroe Doctrine was a key part of USA’s foreign policy. This said that further efforts by European governments to colonise land or interfere with sates in the USA would be viewed by the USA as an act of aggression, requiring US intervention. The USA regarded the American continent as its sphere of influence and would not tolerate a communist government in power inside their sphere of influence. The overthrowing of the pro-American dictator, General Batista in 1959 also led to deterioration in US revelations with Cuba. The new leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro, nationalised industries and banks, and introduced land reforms. This hurt US banking interests, as it was their land and their businesses that were being taken over. In 1960 ended an argument to buy Cuba’s sugar exports, in 1961 the USA broke off diplomatic relations and cut off all trade links with Cuba. This caused relations to change because a lot of their trade was with USA and they would have lost a good sum of

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