After the end of hostilities on Korean territory, another clash of ideologies (capitalist and socialist), which put the world on the brink nuclear war, occurred in 1962. We know these events as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Despite the fact that the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. They helped Cuba get rid of Spanish domination by including (under American pressure) the “Platt Amendment” in the Cuban constitution, which allowed the Americans to interfere in the internal affairs of the country. In 1934, this amendment was repealed, but a US military base remained in the south of the country, in Guantanamo Bay (and is still located there). Americans controlled 80% of local industry, 90% of mining, and 40% of sugar production.
In 1952, as a result of a military coup, Fulgencio Batista y Saldivar came to power in Cuba, and two years later he organized his own presidential elections. Relying on US help, Batista banned everything political parties and established a dictatorial regime in the country.
Since 1956, a detachment of revolutionaries led by a young lawyer Fidel Castro Ruz entered the arena of political and armed struggle (they attacked the Moncada barracks in the city of Santiago de Cuba). The rebels hoped that their actions would spark a popular uprising that would sweep away the Batista regime. However, real popular support for this group began in the spring of 1957, when Fidel Castro published the “Manifesto on the Foundations of agrarian reform" He promised the peasants all the land of the island, and in the areas controlled by his supporters he began the confiscation of latifundia and the distribution of land plots to farm laborers and small tenants.
As a result of these events, by the end of 1957, Castro was able to transform his small units into the Rebel Army.
After a two-year armed struggle, dictator Batista fled Cuba, and on January 2, 1959, units of Camilo Cienfuegos and Ernesto Che Guevara solemnly entered the capital. In February, the government was headed by Fidel Castro Ruz, and Osvaldo Doricos Torrado became the president of the republic.
Castro was not a communist and came to power as a democratic leader. He spent land reform, began to build schools, hospitals, residential buildings for the poor.
His revolution was less political than social. But due to the fact that the United States actively supported Batista, this revolution took place under anti-American slogans, and the burning of the American flag became a mandatory part of any rally. Such an attitude towards the United States could not but lead Cuba
to friendship with the Soviet Union and choice socialist path further development countries.
Observing the strengthening Soviet-Cuban ties (75% of Cuban exports “went” to the USSR), the D. Eisenhower administration decided to eliminate Castro by force. The CIA deployed active work among Cuban exiles in Florida with the goal of physically eliminating Castro, but all three attempts failed. The CIA's activities were refocused on preparing for an invasion by Cuban emigrants and mercenaries. An attempt to resolve the contradictions politically was made by Soviet leader Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, who in September 1959 met with President Eisenhower in the United States. Khrushchev’s peculiar rhetoric (“Do you want to force us to compete in the arms race? We don’t want this, but we’re not afraid. We’ll beat you! Our missile production has been put on an assembly line. Recently I was at a factory and saw how missiles were coming out there, how sausages from a machine gun..." only led to aggravation of relations and the deployment of American medium-range ballistic missiles in Turkey and Italy.
The next meeting of the American and Soviet leaders in Paris was disrupted due to the flight of the American Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft on May 1, 1960 over the territory of the Soviet Union. The plane was shot down by a B-750 missile from an S-75 air defense system by the crew of Major M. Voronov, the American pilot Lieutenant Francis G. Powers was captured (he was later exchanged for a Soviet intelligence officer).
The next contact at the XV session of the UN General Assembly also did not add warmth to relations between the superpowers. Photos of the Soviet leader shaking his fist or pounding his shoe on a lectern shouting, “My soldiers will come for him!” — circulated in all Western newspapers. The proposals put forward for general disarmament and granting independence to colonial countries and peoples put the Americans in a “very interesting” position.
In March 1960, Eisenhower signed an order directing the CIA to "organize, arm, and train Cuban exiles as a guerrilla force for
overthrow of the Castro regime."
According to the plan of Operation Pluto, anti-government detachments (the so-called “2506 Brigade”) were supposed to land in Cuba and immediately form a “counter-government” that would turn to the United States for help.
When John F. Kennedy became president, preparations for the operation were almost complete. The new president hesitated for a long time, wondering what to do with Eisenhower’s “legacy.” On January 22 and 28, 1961, Kennedy held meetings with representatives of the Pentagon, the CIA and the new administration, during which he specified the tasks for preparing and conducting the operation.
At the beginning of April 1961, preparations were completed. "Brigade 2506" consisted of four infantry, motorized, airborne battalions and a battalion
heavy weapons. In addition, it included a tank company, an armored detachment and a number of auxiliary units.
On April 12, President John Kennedy publicly stated that the United States would not attack Cuba, but this was only a maneuver designed to lull vigilance.
Two days before the start of the invasion (i.e., April 15, 1961), the main landing force (five transports, three landing ships and seven landing barges) left the loading ports and headed for the shores of Cuba. At the same time, US Navy ships circled Cuba from the east and began to deploy near it. southern shores. US Air Force aircraft (24 B-26 bombers, eight C-46 military transports and six C-54s) with Cuban markings, but with American pilots, attacked the most important communications centers, airfields and a number of settlements(including Havana). American air raids on Cuba formed the main content of the first phase of Operation Pluto.
The second phase was direct disembarkation landings. At 2 a.m. on April 17, submarine saboteurs from the US special forces (the so-called “seals”) landed in the Playa Larga area. Following this, a landing began in the Playa Giron area. Soon after this, parachute groups were sent out with the task of cutting off the roads leading from the coast of the Bay of Cochinos into the interior of the island.
On the morning of April 17, martial law was introduced in Cuba and in the afternoon the Cuban armed forces launched a counteroffensive. Cuban aviation, despite American air supremacy, shot down six enemy aircraft and sank the transport ship Houston, which carried an infantry battalion and most of the heavy weapons of the landing force. The Americans counted on local support for the 2506 Brigade in the fight against the Castro regime, but the CIA did not take into account the strong anti-American sentiment in Cuban society.
At dawn on April 18, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Cuba launched an offensive in all directions. At the same time, the American government was brought to the attention of the Soviet Union about its readiness to provide the Cuban people with “all necessary assistance.”
On the night of April 19, an emergency meeting between President John Kennedy and the heads of the CIA and Pentagon was held at the White House. At this meeting, a decision was made that the United States cannot provide open support to Cuban emigrants.
On April 19, Cuban Air Force pilots and Soviet instructor pilots thwarted a strike by B-26 bombers: the Americans did not take into account the zone difference in time and the fighters from the Essex aircraft carrier were exactly an hour late to the rendezvous site. But the bombers, without fighter cover, were unable to complete their mission.
In the afternoon, the American command sent six destroyers and Navy aircraft to the Bay of Cochinos area to try to rescue the surviving landing participants, but Cuban patrol ships and aircraft drove the rescue craft away from the shore. On April 19, at 17:30, the last major rebel point of resistance, Playa Giron, fell.
The main landing forces were defeated in less than 72 hours. In the battles, 12 American aircraft were shot down, five M-4 Sherman tanks, ten armored personnel carriers and all the light and heavy weapons of the 2506 brigade were captured. 82 people from the landing force were killed. and 1214 people. was captured.
On July 20, 1961, a meeting of the US National Security Council took place, the contents of which became known only in 1994, when James Galbraith (son of the famous economist) published “Records ...” made by Colonel Howard Burris, assistant to Vice President Lyndon Johnson. The discussion at the meeting was about the possibility of launching a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the USSR. John Kennedy, who recently assumed the powers of US President, only welcomed the “nuclear excitement” of the highest echelon of power in the Pentagon. However, despite the overwhelming superiority of the United States, it was decided, in order to further increase the lead, to wait a few years, and only then “wipe the communists off the face of the Earth.”
In February 1962, under US pressure, Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States (OAS). The US Air Force and Navy are invading the airspace and territorial waters of the republic.
The failure of Operation Pluto and US provocations in 1962 brought the positions of the USSR and Cuba even closer together. In mid-1962, an agreement was signed on the supply of Soviet weapons to the island. Cuban pilots went to Czechoslovakia to master Soviet aircraft.
At the end of June in Moscow, the defense ministers of Cuba and the USSR, Raul Castro and Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky, signed a secret agreement on the deployment Soviet troops on the territory of the Republic of Cuba. After this, the main operational department of the General Staff, under the leadership of Colonel General Semyon Pavlovich Ivanov, began developing the preparation and implementation of the “Anadyr” event - this was the code name for the operation to transfer troops to Cuba.
In all documents, the operation was coded as a strategic exercise with the relocation of troops and military equipment to various regions of the Soviet Union. By June 20, the Group of Soviet Forces in Cuba (GSVK) was formed, and General Issa Aleksandrovich Pliev was appointed to command it.
The group included: the 51st missile division, formed on the basis of the 43rd missile division stationed in Ukraine, and had six
missile regiments; four motorized rifle regiments, one of which was commanded by the future USSR Minister of Defense Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov; two anti-aircraft missile and artillery divisions; fighter and helicopter regiments; two regiments of front-line cruise missiles, also equipped with nuclear warheads. The total number of personnel was supposed to be 44 thousand people.
The first unit of the missile forces arrived in the Cuban port of Casilda on September 9 on the ship "Omsk". To deliver troops to the island, 85 ships made 180
flights until the US imposed a naval blockade. The soldiers and officers were not told anything about the purpose of their journey. The units were loaded onto ships with all their supplies, even taking felt boots and winter guard sheepskin coats.
The military personnel were housed in holds, from which it was strictly forbidden to leave. The temperature in them reached 50°C, people were fed twice a day and only at night. The dead were buried according to maritime custom - sewn into a tarpaulin, they were lowered into the ocean.
These precautions yielded results: American intelligence did not notice anything, noting only an increase in the flow of Soviet ships to Cuban ports. The Americans became seriously worried after reports from their agents about the movement of tractors with huge containers on the island’s roads at night. Reconnaissance planes circled over Cuba, and in the resulting photographs, amazed Americans saw missile positions being built.
On October 23, 1962, President John Kennedy signed a directive establishing a maritime quarantine against Cuba. The next day the American sailors
began inspecting ships heading to the island. Due to the blockade, the R-14 missiles did not reach Cuba.
By October 27, three regiments of the missile division were ready to launch a nuclear missile strike from all of their 24 launch positions. At the same time, the Strategic Missile Forces, the country's Air Defense Forces, and Long-Range Aviation were put on full combat readiness; on high alert - ground troops, part of the Navy forces.
In conditions of complete secrecy, almost the entire 51st missile division of General I.D. Statsenko, 42 Il-28 bombers, 40 MiG-21 fighters, two air defense divisions (Tokarev and Voronkov), armed with 144 air defense systems, were delivered to Freedom Island -75, and mobile installations of first-generation anti-ship cruise missiles began to cruise along the coast.
The territory of the United States was within the reach of our bombers and ballistic missiles up to the Philadelphia-St. Louis-Dallas-El Paso line. Under
Possible hits included Washington and Norfolk, Indianapolis and Charleston, Houston and New Orleans, Cape Canaveral Air Force Base and the entire Florida area.
This was a worthy response to the deployment of American medium-range Jupiter missiles based on Turkey and Italy, which could reach the territory of the USSR in a few minutes.
On October 14, an American U-2 photographed launch pads for launching medium-range ballistic missiles. Comparing the photographs with previously received intelligence information about the arrival of “strange Russian weapons” on the island, the Yankees came to the conclusion that the Soviet Union had deployed R-12 missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba.
Deployment nuclear weapons 90 miles from US territory turned out to be a very unpleasant surprise for the American government. After all, the approach of bombers with nuclear bombs was always expected from the Arctic - at the shortest distance through the North Pole, and all air defense systems and means were located in the north of the United States.
The United States has brought its armed forces to a state of full combat readiness. Their Strategic Air Command was put into Defcon-3—nuclear war readiness.
On October 22, US warships (about 180 units) received orders to detain and search all merchant ships traveling to and from Cuba. Preparations were made for the landing of an army of 100,000. The plan for Operation Mongoose provided for a landing on the northern and southern coasts of the island with a simultaneous attack from the American naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
B-47 bombers with nuclear weapons on board were concentrated at the 40 civilian airfields closest to Cuba. A quarter of the B-52 Stratofortresses were constantly in the sky. As has already become known
in the 21st century, when the American scientific journal “Bulletin of atomic scientists” published the declassified Pentagon documents, the Guantanamo base also hosted nuclear weapons. Nuclear charges were brought into combat readiness and were at this American naval base until 1963.
The Americans hoped that a strike by 430 combat aircraft on Cuba would suppress the Russian launching positions of the R-12 missiles before the moment of launch, and the preparation time required was considerable - more than eight hours, because these liquid-propellant missiles still needed to be filled with fuel and oxidizer.
As a response, the Soviet Union also carried out measures aimed at increasing the combat readiness of the army and navy. A group of Soviet troops in Cuba receives the go-ahead to open fire to kill.
Simultaneously with these actions, the leader of the USSR (N.S. Khrushchev) issued a warning that the Soviet Union would take all necessary measures to give a worthy rebuff to the aggressor. Soviet ships heading to Cuba began to be accompanied by our submarines.
The Americans continued preparing for the invasion operation and flying their reconnaissance aircraft over Cuba. The crisis reached its climax on October 27, when our anti-aircraft gunners shot down a Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft piloted by Major Anderson with a S-75 Dvina missile. Pliev gave the order to the rocket men to open fire when foreign vehicles approached, and Garbuz and Grechko gave a direct order to destroy “target 33.” The order was carried out by the 1st division of the anti-aircraft missile regiment under the command of Colonel I. Gerchenov. The first missile hit the reconnaissance aircraft at an altitude of about 20 km, while the second overtook the already falling car and turned it into a pile of scrap metal. The pilot of the plane died.
The world was on the brink of nuclear war. Americans still call this day “Black Saturday.” The threat of war became a reality, and many Washingtonians began to leave the city. However, exercises conducted by the Americans back in 1957 showed that more than 50% of the aircraft would be destroyed by the S-75 and S-125 missiles of the Soviet air defense during a massive raid, while the rest, based on the experience of the Second World War, would not dare to achieve their goals in such conditions . At that time, Soviet batteries of Shkval rapid-firing anti-aircraft artillery systems shot down nine out of ten cruise missiles.
Not daring to start a nuclear war, J. Kennedy instructs his brother Robert to meet with the Soviet ambassador in Washington. Another try was made
get out of the crisis through political means.
Only by the evening of October 28 was it possible to find a compromise solution - the United States was withdrawing Jupiter missiles from the territory of Turkey, Germany and Italy, and the Soviet Union was removing its missiles from the territory of Cuba. J. Kennedy assured the Soviet Union and the world community that the United States would lift the naval blockade of Cuba and that its government undertakes not to commit armed intervention against the Republic of Cuba. The military confrontation between the two world systems continued, but war was avoided. Common sense the leaders of the two superpowers gained the upper hand. Nobody wanted war, but it was more possible than ever.
Apparently, the “Caribbean lesson” was learned both in Moscow and in Washington and London. On August 5, 1963, the USSR, USA and Great Britain signed an agreement in Moscow
on the prohibition of nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, outer space and under water.
But even before these events, on the eve of May 1, 1963, F. Castro arrived in Moscow. During his visit, he visited a number of military units, visited the Northern Fleet, where he met with submariners who took part in a campaign to the shores of Cuba. On May 29, as a result of lengthy Soviet-Cuban negotiations, at the request of the Cuban side, a secret agreement was signed on leaving a symbolic contingent of Soviet troops on the “Island of Freedom” - a motorized rifle brigade.
The combat training activities of Soviet troops in Cuba were not without casualties: 66 Soviet military personnel and three civilian personnel were killed
(died) under various circumstances related to the performance of military service duties.
Presence Soviet soldiers and officers in Cuba were repeatedly protested by the White House administration. For a long time, Moscow denied the presence of “its” military personnel on the island. Only in 1979 did L.I. Brezhnev admit that there was a brigade of Soviet military personnel in Cuba, which constituted a “training center for
training of Cuban military specialists."
After M.S. Gorbachev came to power in the USSR and announced “new political thinking”, a course towards democratization and restructuring, pressure increased on the issue of Soviet troops in Cuba. On the eve of the Soviet leader's April visit to Cuba, Gorbachev receives a secret message from the US President, which bluntly states: "The initiative of the Soviet Union and Cuba ... will pay off with serious dividends of goodwill of the United States." Cuba, however, did not succumb to pressure, and Castro’s farewell to Gorbachev was very dry: if they hugged at the meeting, then when they said goodbye they only coldly shook hands.
Bush Sr. during Malta Munich insisted on “reforming society,” on Gorbachev “letting the satellites go their own way,” and on “the withdrawal of Soviet troops from everywhere.”
By order of Gorbachev, a brigade of 11 thousand people. within a month she was hastily brought home. This caused quite legitimate bewilderment in F. Castro, who intended to link the withdrawal of Soviet troops with the liquidation of the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay on the island. However, the first and last President of the USSR did not listen to the opinion of the Cuban leader, because he personally promised US Secretary of State Baker to eliminate the Soviet military presence on the island “as soon as possible.”
As a result, each of the parties received their “dividends” - in Havana, under the chairmanship of F. Castro, the IX meeting of Ibero-American states was held in 1999, at which a declaration was adopted, containing a call on Washington to abandon the Helms-Burton blockade law, and the initiative was rejected The United States to create a “group of friends” that can “come to the aid of various countries in the region if their democracy is threatened.” And Russia took part in the OSCE summit in Istanbul (November 17-18, 1999), which discussed the violation of human rights by the Russian Federation in Chechnya and where Russia had to make further concessions.
Until recently, in Cuba, near the village of Lourdes, the only military facility operated Russian Federation— Center for radio-electronic and radio-technical intelligence, jointly administered by the Russian Ministry of Defense and FAPSI.
On October 18, 2001, the second President of the Russian Federation, V.V. Putin, announced the liquidation of this Center, which had been located on the territory of the Republic of Cuba for so many years, by January 1, 2002.
During cold war The confrontation between the two superpowers, the USSR and the USA, was expressed not only in a direct military threat and an arms race, but also in the desire to expand their zones of influence. The Soviet Union sought to organize and support liberation socialist revolutions in different parts Sveta. In pro-Western countries, support was provided for the “people's liberation movement,” sometimes even with weapons and people. If the revolution won, the country became a member of the socialist camp, military bases were built there, and significant resources were invested there. The Soviet Union's assistance was often free of charge, which aroused additional sympathy for it from the poorest countries of Africa and Latin America.
The United States, in turn, followed similar tactics, organizing revolutions to establish democracy and providing support to pro-American regimes. Initially, the preponderance of forces was on the side of the United States - they were supported by Western Europe, Turkey, and some Asian and African countries, for example South Africa.
It was supposed to send a group of Soviet troops to Liberty Island, which should concentrate around five units of nuclear missiles (three R-12 and two R-14). In addition to missiles, the group also included 1 Mi-4 helicopter regiment, 4 motorized rifle regiments, two tank battalions, a MiG-21 squadron, 42 Il-28 light bombers, 2 cruise missile units with 12 Kt nuclear warheads with a radius of 160 km, several batteries anti-aircraft guns, as well as 12 S-75 installations (144 missiles). Each motorized rifle regiment consisted of 2,500 people, and the tank battalions were equipped with the latest T-55 tanks. It is worth noting that the Group of Soviet Forces in Cuba (GSVK) became the first army group in the history of the USSR to include ballistic missiles.
In addition, an impressive group of the Navy was heading to Cuba: 2 cruisers, 4 destroyers, 12 Komar missile boats, 11 submarines (7 of them with nuclear missiles). A total of 50,874 troops were planned to be sent to the island. Later, on July 7, Khrushchev decided to appoint Issa Pliev as commander of the group.
After listening to Malinovsky’s report, the Presidium of the Central Committee voted unanimously to carry out the operation.
Landing at an airbase in southern Florida, Heizer handed the tape to the CIA. On October 15, CIA analysts determined that the photographs showed Soviet R-12 medium-range ballistic missiles (SS-4 by NATO classification). On the evening of the same day, this information was brought to the attention of the top US military leadership. On the morning of October 16 at 8:45 the photographs were shown to the president. After that, on Kennedy's orders, flights over Cuba became 90 times more frequent: from twice a month to six times a day.
After receiving photographs indicating Soviet missile bases in Cuba, President Kennedy gathered a special group of close advisers for a secret meeting at the White House. This 14-member group later became known as the "Executive Committee of the National Security Council of the United States." Soon the Executive Committee proposed to the President three possible options resolution of the situation: destroy the missiles with targeted strikes, conduct a full-scale military operation in Cuba, or impose a naval blockade of the island.
An immediate bomb attack was rejected out of hand, as was an appeal to the UN that promised a long delay. Real options The actions considered by the Executive Committee were only military measures. Diplomatic ones, barely touched upon on the first day of work, were immediately rejected - even before the main discussion began. In the end, the choice was reduced to a naval blockade and ultimatum, or a full-scale invasion.
The decision to introduce a blockade was finally made. At the final vote on the evening of October 20, President Kennedy himself, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson, specially summoned from New York for this purpose, voted for the blockade. Kennedy made a cunning move: avoiding the word “blockade,” he called the action “quarantine.” It was decided to introduce quarantine on October 24 from 10 am local time.
There were many problems with the naval blockade. There was a question of legality—as Fidel Castro noted, there was nothing illegal about the installation of the missiles. They were, of course, a threat to the United States, but similar missiles were stationed in Europe aimed at the USSR: sixty Thor missiles in four squadrons near Nottingham in the UK; thirty Jupiter medium-range missiles in two squadrons near Gioia del Colle in Italy; and fifteen Jupiter missiles in one squadron near Izmir in Turkey. Then there was the problem of the Soviet reaction to the blockade - would an armed conflict begin with an escalation of retaliatory actions?
President Kennedy addressed the American public (and the Soviet government) in a televised speech on October 22. He confirmed the presence of missiles in Cuba and declared a naval blockade of a 500 nautical mile (926 km) quarantine zone around the coast of Cuba, warning that armed forces were "prepared for any development" and condemned the Soviet Union for "secrecy and misrepresentation." Kennedy noted that any missile launch from Cuba towards any of the American allies in the Western Hemisphere would be regarded as an act of war against the United States.
The Americans were surprised by the strong support from their European allies, although British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, expressing the views of much of the international community, expressed bewilderment that no attempt had been made to resolve the conflict diplomatically. The Organization of American States also voted unanimously for a resolution supporting the quarantine. Nikita Khrushchev stated that the blockade was illegal and that any ship flying the Soviet flag would ignore it. He threatened that if Soviet ships were attacked by American ships, a retaliatory strike would follow immediately.
However, the blockade came into force on October 24 at 10:00. 180 US Navy ships surrounded Cuba with clear orders not to open fire on Soviet ships under any circumstances without the personal order of the President. By this time, 30 ships were heading to Cuba, including the Aleksandrovsk with a load of nuclear warheads and 4 ships carrying missiles for two MRBM divisions. In addition, 4 diesel submarines accompanying the ships were approaching Liberty Island. On board the Aleksandrovsk there were 24 warheads for MRBMs and 44 for cruise missiles. Khrushchev decided that the submarines and four ships with R-14 missiles - Artemyevsk, Nikolaev, Dubna and Divnogorsk - should continue on their previous course. In an effort to minimize the possibility of a collision between Soviet ships and American ones, the Soviet leadership decided to turn the remaining ships that did not have time to reach Cuba home.
Meanwhile, in response to Khrushchev’s message, Kennedy received a letter to the Kremlin, in which he indicated that “the Soviet side broke its promises regarding Cuba and misled him.” This time, Khrushchev decided not to go into confrontation and began to look for possible ways out of the current situation. He announced to the members of the Presidium that “it is impossible to store missiles in Cuba without going to war with the United States.” At the meeting, it was decided to offer the Americans to dismantle the missiles in exchange for US guarantees to abandon attempts to change the state regime in Cuba. Brezhnev, Kosygin, Kozlov, Mikoyan, Ponomarev and Suslov supported Khrushchev. Gromyko and Malinovsky abstained from voting. After the meeting, Khrushchev unexpectedly turned to the members of the Presidium: “Comrades, let's go to the Bolshoi Theater in the evening. Our people and foreigners will see us, maybe this will calm them down.”
It was 5 o'clock in the evening in Moscow when a tropical storm raged in Cuba. One of the air defense units received a message that an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft had been spotted approaching Guantanamo. The chief of staff of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division, Captain Antonets, called Pliev at headquarters for instructions, but he was not there. The deputy commander of the GSVK for combat training, Major General Leonid Garbuz, ordered the captain to wait for Pliev to appear. A few minutes later, Antonets called headquarters again - no one answered the phone. When the U-2 was already over Cuba, Garbuz himself ran to the headquarters and, without waiting for Pliev, gave the order to destroy the plane. According to other sources, the order to destroy the reconnaissance aircraft could have been given by Pliev’s deputy for air defense, aviation lieutenant general Stepan Grechko, or the commander of the 27th air defense division, Colonel Georgy Voronkov. The launch took place at 10:22 local time. U-2 pilot Major Rudolf Anderson was killed, the only casualty of the confrontation. Around the same time, another U-2 was almost intercepted over Siberia because General LeMay, Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, defied the US President's order to cease all flights over Soviet territory. A few hours later, two US Navy RF-8A Crusader photographic reconnaissance aircraft were fired upon by anti-aircraft guns while flying over Cuba at low altitude. One of them was damaged, but the pair returned safely to base.
Kennedy's military advisers tried to convince the President to order an invasion of Cuba before Monday, "before it's too late." Kennedy no longer categorically rejected this development of the situation. However, he did not give up hope for a peaceful resolution. It is generally accepted that “Black Saturday,” October 27, is the day when the world came closer than ever before to the abyss of global nuclear catastrophe.
The dismantling of Soviet missile launchers, loading them onto ships and removing them from Cuba took 3 weeks. Convinced that the Soviet Union had withdrawn the missiles, President Kennedy on November 20 ordered an end to the blockade of Cuba. A few months later, American missiles were also withdrawn from Turkey as “obsolete.”
The compromise satisfied no one. In doing so, it represented a particularly acute diplomatic embarrassment for Khrushchev and the Soviet Union, who appeared to be backing away from a situation they themselves had created - when, if the situation had been played out correctly, it might have been perceived in the opposite way: the USSR boldly saving the world from nuclear extermination, abandoning the demand to restore nuclear balance. Khrushchev's removal a few years later can be partly attributed to irritation within the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee regarding Khrushchev's concessions to the United States and his inept leadership leading to the crisis.
For Cuba, this was a betrayal by the Soviet Union, which they trusted, since the decision that ended the crisis was made solely by Khrushchev and Kennedy.
US military leaders were also unhappy with the result. General Curtis LeMay told the President that it was "the worst defeat in our history" and that the US should have launched an invasion immediately.
At the end of the crisis, analysts from Soviet and American intelligence services proposed establishing a direct telephone line (the so-called “red telephone”) between Washington and Moscow, so that in the event of a crisis, the leaders of the superpowers would have the opportunity to immediately contact each other, rather than using the telegraph.
The historical significance of the Cuban Missile Crisis cannot be overestimated. The crisis became a turning point in the "nuclear race" and in the Cold War, Soviet and American diplomacy initiated the beginning of "détente". After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the first international treaties were signed regulating and limiting the accumulation, testing and use of weapons of mass destruction. The excitement on the verge of panic in the press gave rise to a powerful anti-war movement in Western society, the peak of which came in the 1970s.
It is impossible to say unequivocally whether the removal of missiles from Cuba was a victory or defeat for the Soviet Union. On the one hand, the plan conceived by Khrushchev in May was not completed, and Soviet missiles could no longer ensure the security of Cuba. On the other hand, Khrushchev obtained guarantees from the US leadership of non-aggression against Cuba, which, despite Castro’s fears, were respected and are observed to this day. A few months later, American missiles in Turkey, which provoked Khrushchev to place weapons in Cuba, were also dismantled. Eventually, thanks to technological progress in rocketry, there was no longer any need to place nuclear weapons in Cuba or the Western Hemisphere in general, since within a few years the Soviet Union had created missiles capable of reaching any city and military installation in the United States directly from Soviet soil.
Caribbean crisis- a difficult situation on the world stage that developed in 1962 and consisted of a particularly tough confrontation between the USSR and the USA. In this situation, for the first time, the danger of war with the use of nuclear weapons loomed over humanity. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was a grim reminder that with the advent of nuclear weapons, war could lead to the destruction of all humanity. This event is one of the brightest events
The Caribbean crisis, the causes of which are hidden in the confrontation between two systems (capitalist and socialist), US imperialist policy, and the national liberation struggle of peoples Latin America, had its own backstory. In 1959, the revolutionary movement in Cuba was victorious. Batista, a dictator who pursued pro-American policies, was overthrown, and a patriotic government led by Fidel Castro came to power. Among Castro's supporters there were many communists, for example, the legendary Che Guevara. In 1960, Castro's government nationalized American businesses. Naturally, the US government was extremely dissatisfied with the new regime in Cuba. Fidel Castro declared that he was a communist and established relations with the USSR.
Now the USSR had an ally located in close proximity to its main enemy. Socialist transformations were carried out in Cuba. Economic and political cooperation began between the USSR and Cuba. In 1961, the US government near Playa Giron landed troops consisting of opponents of Castro who emigrated from Cuba after the victory of the revolution. It was assumed that American aviation would be used, but the United States did not use it; in fact, the United States abandoned these troops to their fate. As a result, the landing troops were defeated. After this incident, Cuba asked for help from Soviet Union.
The head of the USSR at that time was N. S. Khrushchev.
Having learned that the United States wanted to violently overthrow the Cuban government, he was ready for the most drastic measures. Khrushchev invited Castro to place nuclear missiles. Castro agreed to this. In 1962, Soviet nuclear missiles were secretly stationed in Cuba. American military reconnaissance planes flying over Cuba spotted the missiles. Khrushchev initially denied their presence in Cuba, but the Cuban Missile Crisis grew. Reconnaissance planes took pictures of the missiles, these pictures were presented. From Cuba, nuclear missiles could fly to the United States. On October 22, the US government announced a naval blockade of Cuba. The USSR and the USA were exploring options for the use of nuclear weapons. The world was practically on the brink of war. Any sudden and thoughtless actions could lead to dire consequences. In this situation, Kennedy and Khrushchev were able to come to an agreement.
Were accepted following conditions: The USSR removes nuclear missiles from Cuba, the USA removes its nuclear missiles from Turkey (the American one was located in Turkey, which was capable of reaching the USSR) and leaves Cuba alone. This was the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The missiles were taken away and the US blockade was lifted. The Cuban missile crisis had important consequences. It showed how dangerous the escalation of a small armed conflict can be. Humanity has clearly begun to understand the impossibility of having winners in a nuclear war. In the future, the USSR and the USA will avoid direct armed confrontation, preferring economic, ideological and other levers. Countries dependent on the United States have now realized the possibility of victory in the national liberation struggle. It has now become difficult for the United States to overtly intervene in countries whose governments do not align their interests with those of the United States.
In 1952-1958. Cuba was ruled by the pro-American dictatorship of Batista. At the beginning of January 1959, the Batista regime was overthrown, left-wing radicals came to power led by F. Castro, who began to democratize political life, nationalize telephone companies, introduce a system of social guarantees, and carry out agrarian reform that eliminated large foreign landholdings. These measures caused dissatisfaction among the population associated with the Batista regime and the service of Americans.
In 1960, the United States, supporting Cuban emigrants, took economic and military measures against the Castro regime. Castro began to strengthen ties with the USSR, signing a trade agreement under which the USSR bought 5 million tons of Cuban sugar over 5 years. Soviet deliveries of weapons and industrial goods began. Cuba announced the country's entry into the “socialist camp.” The United States, counting on an action against Castro, on April 17, 1961, bombed Cuba and landed armed troops in the Playa Giron area (the coast of the Gulf of Cachinos). However, the performance did not take place, and the troops were defeated, which damaged the prestige of the United States and added to Castro’s popularity.
The Kennedy administration paid a lot of attention to improving its reputation in Latin America. On March 13, 1961, she put forward a program of economic assistance to Latin American countries in the amount of $500 million under the loud name “Union for Progress.” The activities of the Union for Progress were aimed at preventing the spread of the radical ideas of the Cuban revolution to other Latin American countries.
In January 1962, Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States and 15 Latin American countries broke off relations with it. An embargo was imposed on trade with Cuba. By the summer of 1962 the situation had worsened. The United States was preparing a military operation against it. The USSR declared support for Cuba in the event of an attack. But the balance of forces was not in favor of the USSR. The USA had 300 continental missiles, the USSR - 75. The USA placed its bases along the perimeter of the socialist camp (Germany, Italy, Japan, etc.). In April 1962, medium-range missiles were deployed in Turkey. The USSR decided to place Soviet nuclear missile weapons in Cuba, which increased the vulnerability of American territory and meant the USSR was moving toward parity with the United States.
In May 1962, in Moscow, a decision was made to create a Group of Soviet Forces with a strength of 60 thousand people (43rd Missile Division with 3 regiments of R-12 missiles (range 1700-1800 km) and 2 regiments of R-12 missiles 14 (3500-3600 km)) in Cuba (Operation Anadyr) and Cuba’s consent was obtained. It was supposed to secretly deploy 40 Soviet missiles. It was planned to base a squadron of surface ships and a squadron of submarines. The creation of this grouping changed the overall balance of forces not in favor of the United States.
In July 1962, a Cuban military delegation led by Raul Castro arrived in Moscow. She negotiated with the military leaders of the USSR to provide military assistance to Cuba. The negotiations took a long time, and on July 3 and 8 N.S. also took part in them. Khrushchev. It is safe to assume that it was during these days that the decision was made to deploy medium-range missiles with nuclear warheads and bombers capable of carrying atomic bombs, and the details of their dispatch were agreed upon. As these formidable weapons were loaded onto Soviet ships and the ships, one after another, set sail on the long journey with their deadly cargo, Khrushchev undertook the longest tour of the country during his entire time in power.
However, Khrushchev, his advisers and allies underestimated the determination and capabilities of the United States to resist the emergence of Soviet missile bases in the Western Hemisphere. For in addition to the norms of international law, there was the so-called Monroe Doctrine, main principle which was defined by the words: “America for Americans.” This doctrine was unilaterally proclaimed back in 1823 by US President D. Monroe in order to prevent the restoration of Spanish rule in Latin America.
Operation Anadyr began in July 1962. At the end of September and beginning of October in the Cuba area, heavy clouds did not allow photographic reconnaissance. This facilitated the secretive and urgent work on creating launchers. Khrushchev and Castro hoped that all work would be completed before US intelligence discovered what kind of defensive weapons Cuba now had. On October 4, the first Soviet R-12 missile was brought into combat readiness. American intelligence discovered intensive movements of Soviet transport to Cuba. On October 1, the US joint command in the Atlantic Ocean received a directive by October 20 to prepare forces and means to strike Cuba and carry out a landing on the island. The armed forces of the USA and the USSR have approached a dangerous line.
On October 14, an American reconnaissance aircraft took aerial photographs indicating the deployment of Soviet missiles in Cuba. On October 18, in a conversation with Gromyko, Kennedy asked directly about the deployment of missiles, but the Soviet minister knew nothing.
On October 22, the US armed forces were put on full alert. On October 24, the US Navy established a maritime "quarantine" of Cuba to prevent the transfer of offensive weapons. The USSR could not enter into direct military confrontation with the United States. On October 22, Castro put the armed forces on alert and announced general mobilization. On October 24-25, the UN Secretary-General proposed his plan for resolving the crisis: the United States refused “quarantine” and the USSR refused to supply offensive weapons to Cuba. On October 25, the Soviet tanker Bucharest crossed the quarantine line without being inspected by American ships, while at the same time 12 of 25 Soviet ships heading to Cuba were ordered to turn back.
The USSR demanded guarantees from the United States for the security of Cuba and promised to abandon the deployment of Soviet weapons, and raised the issue of missiles in Turkey. The United States demanded that the USSR remove all types of offensive weapons from Cuba under UN supervision and undertake an obligation not to supply such weapons to Cuba; The United States, for its part, should have lifted the quarantine and not supported the invasion of Cuba. On October 27, R. Kennedy informed Dobrynin (USSR Ambassador to the USA) about the US readiness to secretly agree on the elimination of American missile launchers in Turkey. On October 28, the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee decided to accept this proposal. The most acute phase of the crisis has passed.
However, Castro put forward a number of impossible demands, including the lifting of the US embargo on trade with Cuba, the elimination of the US Guantanamo Bay base from the island, etc.
As a result of negotiations, the United States abandoned the maritime quarantine it had imposed on November 20, 1962; pledged not to attack Cuba; The USSR pledged to remove offensive weapons from the island (medium-range missiles, as well as IL-28 bombers). The United States was secretly deciding the issue of withdrawing American missiles from Turkish territory. The United States could only visually monitor the withdrawal of missiles from Cuba. Formally, the crisis ended on January 7, 1963, with the removal of the crisis from the agenda of the UN Security Council.
THAT. The leaders of the two superpowers realized the danger of brinkmanship on the brink of nuclear war. A major crisis was averted. The advance of Soviet military power into the Western Hemisphere increased the vulnerability of the United States. Support for Cuba meant a challenge to the monopoly influence of the United States on the American continent. An intensified arms race was combined with a desire for mutually acceptable agreements. The crisis has introduced an element of discord between the United States and Europe (possible involvement in crises that do not affect them). In 1963, a direct communication line was established between Moscow and Washington. Understanding about establishing general rules behavior.
The outbreak of the Cuban Missile Crisis forced politicians around the world to look at nuclear weapons from a new angle. For the first time, it clearly played the role of a deterrent. The sudden appearance of Soviet medium-range missiles in Cuba for the United States and their lack of overwhelming superiority in the number of ICBMs and SLBMs over the Soviet Union made a military solution to the conflict impossible. The American military leadership immediately announced the need for additional armament, effectively setting a course for unleashing a strategic offensive arms race (START). The wishes of the military found due support in the US Senate. Huge amounts of money were allocated for the development of strategic offensive arms, which made it possible to qualitatively and quantitatively improve strategic nuclear forces (SNF).
The Cuban missile crisis confirmed the need for J. Kennedy to centralize control over the use of American nuclear weapons in Europe and limit the ability of European allies to risk using nuclear weapons at their own discretion. Following this logic, in October 1962, at a session of the NATO Council, US Secretary of State D. Rusk put forward a proposal to create a “multilateral nuclear force.” This plan provided for the formation of a unified nuclear defense potential of Western European countries and the United States, which would be under the command of NATO military structures.
France has drawn its own conclusions from the Caribbean crisis. Although President Charles de Gaulle supported the actions of the United States during the crisis, he became more acutely aware of the impossibility of France being a hostage to the Soviet-American confrontation. The French leadership became even more inclined to distance itself from the United States in the military-strategic field. Following this logic, de Gaulle decided to create independent French nuclear forces. If until July 1961 France actively opposed the FRG's access to nuclear weapons, then in 1962 French leaders stopped excluding the possibility of West Germany becoming a nuclear power in the future in 5-10 years.
In December 1962, in the Bahamas in Nassau, British Prime Minister Henry Macmillan and US President Kennedy signed an agreement on Britain's participation in the Nuclear Forces program.
By the fall of 1962, tensions in the postwar international system had reached their peak. The world actually found itself on the brink of a general nuclear war, provoked by a confrontation between two superpowers. The bipolar system of the world, with the USA and the USSR balancing on the brink of war, turned out to be an unstable and dangerous type of organization of the international order. The world was kept from the “third world war” only by the fear of using atomic weapons. The risk from its use was unlimited. Immediate efforts were required to agree on and establish some new strict rules of conduct in the nuclear-space world.
The Cuban missile crisis became the highest point of military-strategic instability in the Defense Ministry throughout the second half of the 20th century. At the same time, he marked the end of the brinkmanship policy that defined the atmosphere international relations during the period of crises of the international system between 1948-1962.
The world has repeatedly found itself on the brink of nuclear war. The closest he came to it was in November 1962, but then the common sense of the leaders of the great powers helped to avoid disaster. In Soviet and Russian historiography the crisis is called the Caribbean, in American it is called the Cuban crisis.
The answer to this everyday question is clear: the United States initiated the crisis. There they reacted with hostility to the coming to power in Cuba of Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries, although this was an internal affair of Cuba. The American elite was categorically not happy with the loss of Cuba from the zone of influence, and even more so with the fact that among the top leaders of Cuba there were communists (the legendary Che Guevara and the then very young Raul Castro, the current Cuban leader). When Fidel declared himself a communist in 1960, the United States moved to open confrontation.
Castro’s worst enemies were received and supported there, an embargo was introduced on leading Cuban goods, attempts began on the life of the Cuban leader (Fidel Castro is among politicians the absolute record holder for the number of attempted assassinations, and almost all of them were related to the United States). In 1961, the United States financed and provided equipment for an attempted invasion of Playa Giron by a military detachment of Cuban emigrants.
So Fidel Castro and the USSR, with whom the Cuban leader quickly established friendly relations, had every reason to fear US forceful intervention in Cuban affairs.
This northern name was used to refer to the secret military operation for the delivery of Soviet ballistic missiles to Cuba. It was held in the summer of 1962 and became the USSR’s response not only to the situation in Cuba, but also to the deployment of American nuclear weapons in Turkey.
The operation was coordinated with the Cuban leadership, so it was carried out in full compliance with international law and the international obligations of the USSR. It was ensured of strict secrecy, but US intelligence was still able to obtain photographs of Soviet missiles on Liberty Island.
Now the Americans have reason to fear - Cuba is separated from fashionable Miami in a straight line by less than 100 km... The Cuban missile crisis has become inevitable.
Soviet diplomacy categorically denied the presence of nuclear weapons in Cuba (what was it supposed to do?), but the legislative structures and the US military were determined. Already in September 1962, there were calls to resolve the Cuban issue by force of arms.
President J.F. Kennedy wisely rejected the idea of an immediate targeted strike on the missile bases, but on November 22 he announced a naval “quarantine” of Cuba to prevent new shipments of nuclear weapons. The action was not very reasonable - firstly, according to the Americans themselves, it was already there, and secondly, the quarantine was precisely illegal. At that time, a caravan of more than 30 Soviet ships was heading to Cuba. personally forbade their captains to comply with quarantine requirements and publicly declared that even one shot towards Soviet ships would immediately cause decisive opposition. He said approximately the same thing in response to the letter from the American leader. On November 25, the conflict was transferred to the UN podium. But this did not help resolve it.
November 25th turned out to be the busiest day of the Cuban Missile Crisis. With Khrushchev's letter to Kennedy on November 26, tensions began to subside. And the American president never decided to give his ships the order to open fire on the Soviet caravan (he made such actions dependent on his personal orders). Overt and covert diplomacy began to work, and the parties finally agreed on mutual concessions. The USSR undertook to remove missiles from Cuba. For this, the United States guaranteed the lifting of the blockade of the island, pledged not to invade it and remove its nuclear weapons from Turkey.
The great thing about these decisions is that they were almost completely implemented.
Thanks to the reasonable actions of the leadership of the two countries, the world has once again moved back from the brink of nuclear war. The Cuban missile crisis proved that even complex controversial issues can be resolved peacefully, but only if all interested parties want it.
The peaceful resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis was a win for all the people of the planet. And this is even despite the fact that the United States still continued to illegally infringe on Cuban trade, and the world, no, no, is wondering: didn’t Khrushchev leave a couple of missiles in Cuba, just in case?
