At the same time, this war was far from homogeneous: it was a series of crises, local military conflicts, revolutions and coups, as well as normalization of relations and even their “warming”. One of the hottest stages of the Cold War was Caribbean crisis, a crisis when the whole world froze, preparing for the worst.
In 1952, as a result of a military coup in Cuba, military leader F. Batista came to power. This coup caused widespread outrage among Cuban youth and the progressive-minded part of the population. The leader of the opposition to Batista was Fidel Castro, who already on July 26, 1953 took up arms against the dictatorship. However, this uprising (on this day the rebels stormed the Moncada barracks) was unsuccessful, and Castro, along with his surviving supporters, went to jail. Only thanks to the powerful socio-political movement in the country, the rebels were amnestied already in 1955.
After this, F. Castro and his supporters launched a full-scale guerrilla war against government troops. Their tactics soon began to bear fruit, and in 1957 F. Batista's troops suffered a series of serious defeats in the countryside. At the same time, general indignation at the policies of the Cuban dictator grew. All these processes resulted in a revolution, which expectedly ended with the victory of the rebels in January 1959. Fidel Castro became the de facto ruler of Cuba.
At first, the new Cuban government sought to find mutual language with a formidable northern neighbor, but the then US President D. Eisenhower did not even deign to host F. Castro. It also became clear that the ideological differences between the United States and Cuba could not allow them to fully come together. The USSR seemed to be the most attractive ally of F. Castro.
Having established diplomatic relations with Cuba, the Soviet leadership established trade with the country and provided it with enormous assistance. Dozens of Soviet specialists, hundreds of parts and other critical cargo were sent to the island. Relations between the countries quickly became friendly.
Another of the main reasons for the Cuban missile crisis was not the revolution in Cuba or the situation associated with these events. In 1952, Türkiye joined NATO. Since 1943, this state has had a pro-American orientation, connected, among other things, with the neighborhood of the USSR, with which the country did not have the best relations.
In 1961, the deployment of American medium-range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads began on Turkish territory. This decision of the American leadership was dictated by a number of circumstances, such as the higher speed of approach of such missiles to targets, as well as the possibility of pressure on the Soviet leadership in view of the even more clearly defined American nuclear superiority. Accommodation nuclear missiles on Turkish territory seriously upset the balance of power in the region, putting the Soviet leadership in an almost hopeless situation. It was then that it was decided to use a new bridgehead almost close to the United States.
The Soviet leadership approached F. Castro with a proposal to place 40 Soviet ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba and soon received a positive response. The General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces began developing Operation Anadyr. The purpose of this operation was to deploy Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, as well as a military contingent of about 10 thousand people and an aviation group (helicopter, attack and fighter aircraft).
In the summer of 1962, Operation Anadyr began. It was preceded by a powerful set of camouflage measures. Thus, often the captains of transport ships did not know what kind of cargo they were transporting, not to mention the personnel, who did not even know where the transfer was taking place. For camouflage purposes, non-essential cargo was stored in many ports of the Soviet Union. In August, the first Soviet transports arrived in Cuba, and in the fall the installation of ballistic missiles began.
In the early autumn of 1962, when the American leadership became aware of the presence of Soviet missile bases in Cuba, the White House had three options for action. These options are: destroying bases through targeted strikes, invading Cuba, or imposing a naval blockade of the island. The first option had to be abandoned.
In order to prepare for the invasion of the island, American troops began to be transferred to Florida, where they concentrated. However, bringing Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to full combat readiness made the option of a full-scale invasion very risky. The naval blockade remained.
Based on all the data, after weighing all the pros and cons, the United States announced the introduction of a quarantine against Cuba in mid-October. This formulation was introduced because declaring a blockade would become an act of war, and the United States was its instigator and aggressor, since the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba was not a violation of any international treaties. But, following its long-standing logic, where “might is always right,” the United States continued to provoke a military conflict.
The introduction of quarantine, which began on October 24 at 10:00, only provided for a complete cessation of arms supplies to Cuba. As part of this operation, the US Navy surrounded Cuba and began patrolling coastal waters, while receiving instructions not to open fire on Soviet ships under any circumstances. At this time, about 30 Soviet ships were heading towards Cuba, including nuclear warheads. It was decided to send some of these forces back to avoid conflict with the United States.
By October 24, the situation around Cuba began to heat up. On this day, Khrushchev received a telegram from the President of the United States. In it, Kennedy demanded that Cuba be quarantined and “maintain prudence.” Khrushchev responded to the telegram rather sharply and negatively. The next day, at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, a scandal broke out, caused by a squabble between Soviet and American representatives.
However, both the Soviet and American leadership clearly understood that escalating the conflict was completely pointless for both sides. So, the Soviet government decided to take a course towards normalizing relations with the United States and diplomatic negotiations. On October 26, Khrushchev personally drafted a letter addressed to the American leadership, in which he proposed the withdrawal of Soviet missiles from Cuba in exchange for the lifting of quarantine, the US refusal to invade the island and the withdrawal of American missiles from Turkey.
On October 27, the Cuban leadership became aware of the new conditions of the Soviet leadership for resolving the crisis. The island was preparing for a possible American invasion, which, according to available data, was supposed to begin in the next three days. Additional alarm was caused by the flight of an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft over the island. Thanks to Soviet S-75 anti-aircraft missile systems, the plane was shot down and the pilot (Rudolph Anderson) was killed. On the same day, another American plane flew over the USSR (over Chukotka). However, in this case, everything happened without casualties: the aircraft was intercepted and escorted by Soviet fighters.
The nervous atmosphere that reigned in the American leadership was growing. The military categorically advised President Kennedy to launch a military operation against Cuba in order to neutralize Soviet missiles on the island as quickly as possible. However, such a decision would unconditionally lead to a large-scale conflict and a response from the USSR, if not in Cuba, then in another region. Nobody needed a full-scale war.
During negotiations between the brother of US President Robert Kennedy and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, general principles were formulated on the basis of which it was planned to resolve the crisis. These principles were the basis of the message from John Kennedy sent to the Kremlin on October 28, 1962. This message proposed that the Soviet leadership withdraw Soviet missiles from Cuba in exchange for guarantees of non-aggression by the United States and the lifting of the island's quarantine. Regarding American missiles in Turkey, it was indicated that this issue also has the prospect of being resolved. The Soviet leadership, after some deliberation, responded positively to J. Kennedy's message, and on the same day the dismantling of Soviet nuclear missiles began in Cuba.
The last Soviet missiles from Cuba were removed 3 weeks later, and already on November 20, J. Kennedy announced the end of the quarantine of Cuba. Also, American ballistic missiles were soon withdrawn from Turkey.
The Cuban missile crisis was resolved quite successfully for the whole world, but not everyone was happy with the current state of affairs. Thus, both in the USSR and in the USA, there were high-ranking and influential persons in the governments who were interested in the escalation of the conflict and, as a result, were very disappointed in its détente. There are a number of versions that it was thanks to their assistance that J. Kennedy was assassinated (November 23, 1963) and N.S. Khrushchev was removed (in 1964).
The result of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was international détente, which resulted in improved relations between the USA and the USSR, as well as the creation of a number of anti-war movements around the world. This process took place in both countries and became a kind of symbol of the 70s of the 20th century. Its logical conclusion was the entry Soviet troops to Afghanistan and a new round of growing tensions in relations between the USA and the USSR.
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The world has repeatedly found itself on the brink 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 satisfied with the loss of Cuba from the zone of influence, and even more so with the fact that among senior managers The Cubans 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 a secret military operation to deliver 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 the 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?
Photos of Soviet missiles stationed on the island. The “forceful” option for solving the problem was discussed in the White House, and its supporters convinced Kennedy to begin a massive bombing of Cuba as soon as possible, followed by a sea and airborne landing on the island.
As Commander-in-Chief, President John Kennedy, under pressure from the military, issued the order "DEFCON-2" to bring the US Armed Forces to "Combat Readiness No. 2". This meant that his next order would begin full-scale fighting or war with the USSR and its allies. On the evening of October 22, the US President spoke on television with an “Address to the American People.” He stated that 250 thousand ground forces, 90 thousand marines and paratroopers are preparing for the invasion of Cuba, an air force strike group has been created capable of carrying out 2 thousand sorties on the day of the invasion, the navy is pulling more than 100 ships of various types to the island appointments.
Panic began among the civilian population of the United States: people urgently bought food and bottled water, went on vacation and left American cities with their families. In rural areas, residents equipped basements and cellars in case of nuclear war, stocking food, water and basic necessities. Many American families left their homes and moved into basements, cellars, and hastily made dugouts and dugouts. Schools, colleges and universities routinely held drills on the topic: “How to behave in the event of a nuclear explosion.”
The Pentagon created a blockade “ring” around the island of Cuba, which was formed by 25 destroyers, 2 cruisers, aircraft carriers, submarines and auxiliary vessels. Airplanes were constantly patrolling the air, including bombers with atomic bombs on board. American U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft continuously conducted photographic reconnaissance of the island and adjacent waters Atlantic Ocean. All Soviet ships were accompanied by surface ships, submarines and were subjected to systematic overflights by helicopters and air force aircraft.
Such US actions did not go unnoticed by Soviet intelligence. Already on October 21, a GRU military attaché officer in Washington, at a meeting with Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, announced that units of the US armed forces stationed in the southern and southwestern states were put on heightened combat readiness. Neither the attaché nor the ambassador was notified that the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces had stationed ballistic and tactical missiles and nuclear warheads for them in Cuba.
From the evening of October 22, all members of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were transferred to a “barracks position” and were permanently in the Kremlin in Moscow.
With the sanction of Nikita Khrushchev and by order of the Minister of Defense, the Armed Forces of the USSR were also put on full combat readiness: military personnel were raised on combat alert, standard weapons and ammunition were issued, equipment and weapons were brought to combat positions and dispersed, nuclear warheads were attached to missiles and torpedoes , atomic bombs were suspended from aircraft, atomic shells were transported from warehouses to artillery positions in the Western direction. The USSR Navy began tracking American submarines and aircraft carrier formations in the waters of the World Ocean adjacent to the territory of the USSR. According to previously developed plans of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, nuclear strike forces - bombers and submarines with atomic weapons on board. All formations of the Strategic Missile Forces were put on heightened alert for an immediate atomic strike against predetermined targets in the United States, large American military bases, and naval and land groups located in other countries. The strike forces of the armored forces, motorized infantry units and aviation of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany were supposed to carry out an offensive from the territory of the GDR to West Berlin with the aim of occupying it within 2-4 hours.
During the 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 the so-called “liberation” socialist revolutions in various parts Sveta. In pro-Western countries, support was provided for “people's liberation movements” of various kinds, often with weapons and the sending of military specialists, instructors and limited military contingents. In the event of the victory of the “revolution,” the country became a “member of the socialist camp,” military bases were built there, and significant resources were invested. 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, also stimulating “revolutions” to establish democracy and providing support to pro-American regimes. Usually the preponderance of forces was on the side of the United States - they were supported by Western Europe, Turkey, some Asian and African countries, for example South Africa.
Initially, after the victory of the revolution in Cuba in 1959, its leader Fidel Castro did not have close relations with the Soviet Union. During his fight against the regime of Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s, Castro several times appealed to Moscow for military assistance, but was refused. Moscow was skeptical about the leader of the Cuban revolutionaries and the very prospects for revolution in Cuba, believing that the US influence there was too great. Fidel made his first foreign visit after the victory of the revolution to the United States, but President Eisenhower refused to meet with him, citing being busy. After this demonstration of an arrogant attitude towards Cuba, F. Castro took measures against the dominance of the Americans. Thus, the telephone and electric company, oil refineries, 36 largest sugar factories owned by US citizens; previous owners were offered appropriate packages valuable papers. All branches of North American banks owned by US citizens were also nationalized. In response, the United States stopped supplying oil to Cuba and buying its sugar. Such steps put Cuba in a very difficult situation. By that time, the Cuban government had already established diplomatic relations with the USSR, and it turned to Moscow for help. Responding to the request, the USSR sent tankers with oil and organized purchases of Cuban sugar and raw sugar. Specialists from various industries went on long business trips to Cuba National economy USSR to create similar industries, as well as office work on Liberty Island. Soviet specialists built various objects, for example, according to a special project they made steam power plants with boilers using sugar cane waste fuel.
As an illustration, we can recall why one of the types of Cuban mineral water called "Tipaborjomi". Before the arrival of L.I. Brezhnev, another well was drilled, and the distinguished guest was presented with a new drink. He tried it and said: “Like Borjomi.” That is, similar to this water from Georgia.
Cuba can be considered to be the first country to choose the communist path without significant military or political interference from the USSR. As such, it was deeply symbolic for Soviet leaders, especially Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, who considered the defense of the island critical to the international reputation of the USSR and communist ideology.
Khrushchev probably believed that placing missiles in Cuba would protect the island from another American invasion, which he considered inevitable after the failure of the Bay of Pigs landing attempt. Military significant deployment the most important type weapons in Cuba would also demonstrate the importance of the Soviet-Cuban alliance to Fidel Castro, who demanded material confirmation of Soviet support for the island.
Number of nuclear warheads in the USA and USSR without deployed ones
By 1960, the United States had a significant advantage in strategic nuclear forces. For comparison, the Americans had approximately 6,000 warheads in service, while the USSR had only approximately 300. By 1962, the United States had more than 1,300 bombers in service, capable of delivering about 3,000 nuclear warheads to the territory of the USSR. In addition, the United States was armed with 183 Atlas and Titan ICBMs. (English) Russian and 144 Polaris missiles on nine George Washington and USS Aten Allen class nuclear submarines. The Soviet Union had the opportunity to deliver about 300 warheads to the United States, mainly with the help of strategic aviation and ICBMs R-7 and R-16, which had a low degree of combat readiness and the high cost of creating launch complexes, which did not allow large-scale deployment of these systems.
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 range of 160 km, several batteries of 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 air base 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 assembled a special group of advisers for a secret meeting at the White House. This group of 14 people, which later became known as the "Executive Committee" (EXCOMM (English) Russian ), consisted of members of the US National Security Council and several specially invited advisers. Soon the 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. The only realistic options considered by the committee were 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.
However, on October 19, another U-2 flight revealed several more mounted missile positions, a squadron of Il-28s off the northern coast of Cuba, and a cruise missile division aimed at Florida.
The decision to introduce the blockade was 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 for this purpose from New York, voted for the blockade.
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 had strong support from their European allies. 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 and vessels 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 submarines and four ships with R-14 missiles - Artemyevsk, Nikolaev, Dubna and Divnogorsk - should continue on the same 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.”
The ICBM arsenal was supplemented by the PGM-19 Jupiter IRBM, with a radius of 2400 km. 30 such missiles were deployed in Northern Italy and 15 in Turkey. Also 60 PGM-17 Thor missiles have been deployed in the UK, having similar characteristics.
In addition to ICBMs, the basis of the Air Force's offensive power was a huge fleet of strategic bombers - more than 800 B-52 and B-36 intercontinental bombers, over 2,000 B-47 strategic bombers and about 150 supersonic B-58.
To equip them, there was an arsenal of more than 547 supersonic AGM-28 Hound Dog missiles with a radius of up to 1200 km and free-falling nuclear bombs. The positions of the US Air Force in Northern Canada and Greenland made it possible to carry out transpolar attacks against the deep rear of the USSR with minimal Soviet opposition.
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. Around this time, another U-2 was almost intercepted over Siberia, as General Curtis LeMay (English) Russian , Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, ignored the order of the US President to stop 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 the world came closest to a global nuclear war.
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, they were withdrawn from Turkey and American missiles"Jupiter" as "obsolete" (the US Air Force did not object to the decommissioning of these MRBMs, since by this time the US Navy had already deployed the Polaris SLBMs, which were much more suitable for forward deployment, making the Jupiter obsolete).
The peaceful resolution of the crisis did not satisfy everyone. 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.
Cuba's communist leadership viewed the compromise as a betrayal by the Soviet Union, since the decision that ended the crisis was made solely by Khrushchev and Kennedy.
Some US military leaders were also unhappy with the result. So the commander of the US Air Force, General LeMay (English) Russian called the refusal to attack Cuba "the worst defeat in our history."
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 crisis marked a turning point in the nuclear race and the Cold War. The beginning of international détente was marked. An anti-war movement began in Western countries, which peaked in the 1960s and 1970s. In the USSR, voices also began to be heard calling for limiting the nuclear arms race and strengthening the role of society in political decision-making.
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 1962 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, according to Khrushchev, provoked him to place weapons in Cuba, were also dismantled. Ultimately, thanks to technological progress in rocket science, there was no longer any need to station nuclear weapons in Cuba and the Western Hemisphere in general, since within a few years the Soviet Union already had enough intercontinental missiles capable of reaching any city and military installation in the United States directly from Soviet territory.
Nikita Khrushchev himself in his memoirs assessed the results of the crisis as follows: “Now many years have passed, and this is already a matter of history. And I am proud that we showed courage and foresight. And I think we won."
We, comrades, have supplied missiles, medium-range missiles, to Cuba. Why did we put them up, what made us put them up? We reasoned that the Americans cannot stand Cuba, they say it outright, that they can devour Cuba. I spoke with the military, with Marshal Malinovsky. I asked: if we were in America’s place and set ourselves the course of breaking a state like Cuba, how much would we need, knowing our means? - Maximum three days, and they would have washed their hands. Comrades, this must be taken into account, because it is America that also has these opportunities. Therefore, we believed that Cuba could be saved only by placing missiles in Cuba. Then if you touch it, the hedgehog will curl up into a ball and you won’t be able to sit down. (Laughter.) Apparently, they tried it once. (Laughter.) These rockets are like hedgehog needles, they burn. When we made a decision, we discussed it for a long time and did not immediately make a decision, we postponed it twice, and then made a decision. We knew that if we staged it and they definitely found out, it would shock them. It's no joke, the crocodile has a knife under its belly! [...] As a result of the correspondence, we extracted from the US President a statement that he, too, was not thinking of invading. Then we considered it possible to make a statement that we also consider it possible to remove our missiles and Il-28. Was this a concession? Was. We gave in. Was there a concession on the part of America? Was there a public word given not to invade? Was. So who gave in and who didn’t give in? We never said that we would invade another country. America said that it would not tolerate the revolutionary Castro regime in Cuba, and then it refused. This means that it is clear that the other side has assumed an obligation that it did not recognize before the installation of our missiles in Cuba. So? VOICES: Yes. (Applause.) KHRUSHCHEV: Now there are smart people, and there are always more smart people when the danger passes than at the moment of danger. (Laughter in the hall.) [...] And if we had not conceded, perhaps America would have conceded more? May be so. But it could have been like a children's fairy tale when two goats met on a crossbar in front of an abyss. They showed goat wisdom, and both fell into the abyss. That's the problem.
After the end of hostilities on Korean territory, another clash of ideologies (capitalist and socialist), which brought the world to the brink of 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 the choice of the 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 the direct landing of troops. 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 of 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.
Such precautionary measures 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 strikes 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.
The deployment of 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, nuclear weapons were also stationed at the Guantanamo base in 1961. 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 the visit, he visited a number of military units, visited the Northern Fleet, where he met with submariners who participated in the 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.
The presence of Soviet soldiers and officers in Cuba has repeatedly caused protest from 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.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a critical confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba in October 1962. The Cuban people call it the “October Crisis”, and in the USA it is called the “Cuban Missile Crisis”.On the eve of the crisis, in 1961, the United States deployed medium-range missiles in Turkey, which with their presence posed a threat to the western part of the Soviet Union and were capable of “covering” key industrial centers. An adequate response to this was the R-12 medium-range missiles deployed by the Soviet leadership on Cuban territory.
The immediate beginning of the crisis occurred on October 14, 1962. On this day, a US Air Force U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, during its next flight over Cuban territory, detected the presence of Soviet R-12 medium-range missiles on the outskirts of the village of San Cristobal. US President John Kennedy urgently created a special Executive Committee, which carried out a search possible ways solutions to this problem. Initially, the meetings of the executive committee were secret, but then, on October 22, the American president informed his people about the presence of Soviet “offensive weapons” on Cuban territory. As a result, a blockade of Cuba was declared.
Initially, the Soviet leadership denied the presence of Soviet nuclear weapons on the island of Cuba. Then he had to convince the United States of the deterrent nature of the presence of missiles on the island. Photos of the missiles on October 25 were presented during a meeting of the UN Security Council.
The executive committee discussed quite seriously the use of force to resolve the problem. In addition, the initiators of such measures urged John Kennedy to begin massive bombing of Cuban territory as quickly as possible. But during the next U-2 flight, several missiles were determined to be ready for launch, so such actions would definitely lead to war.
The President of the United States took an initiative towards Soviet Union on the dismantling of installed missiles and the return of Soviet ships heading to Cuba in exchange for guarantees of non-aggression on the Cuban island, as well as the non-overthrow of the regime of Fidel Castro. The Soviet leadership responded by proposing to withdraw American missiles from Turkey. As a result, the countries came to an agreement and on October 28, the dismantling of Soviet missiles began, ending on November 20, after which the Cuban blockade was lifted.The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted 13 days and was of significant historical significance. During it, all of humanity was on the verge of self-destruction, and as a result of its resolution, a relaxation of international tension began.
