Cuban missile crisis

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Cuban missile crisis: The world on the brink of war

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Wreckage of the U-2 spy plane shot down inside the Soviet Union in 1960. U-2 spy plane incident, U-2 affair, Cold War.

Comprehension Quiz: Cold War

Cuban missile crisis

Q: What was the Cuban missile crisis?

The Cuban missile crisis was a major confrontation in 1962 that brought the United States and the Soviet Union close to war over the presence of Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles in Cuba.

Q: When did the Cuban missile crisis take place?

The Cuban missile crisis took place in October 1962.

Q: What was the outcome of the Cuban missile crisis?

The Cuban missile crisis marked the climax of an acutely antagonistic period in U.S.-Soviet relations. It played an important part in Nikita Khrushchev ’s fall from power and the Soviet Union’s determination to achieve nuclear parity with the United States. The crisis also marked the closest point that the world had ever come to global nuclear war.

Q: Should the United States maintain the embargo against Cuba that was inflamed by the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Whether the U.S. should maintain its embargo against Cuba that was inflamed by the Cuban Missile Crisis is hotly debated. Some say Cuba has not met the conditions required to lift it, and the US will look weak for lifting the sanctions. Others say the 50-year policy has failed to achieve its goals, and Cuba does not pose a threat to the United States. For more on the Cuba embargo debate, visit ProCon.org .

international incident [1962]

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 5, 2024 • Article History

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Category: History & Society

Date:: October 22, 1962 - November 20, 1962

Participants:: Cuba; Soviet Union; United States

Context:: Cold War

Key People:: Fidel Castro; John F. Kennedy; Nikita Khrushchev

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What was the Cuban missile crisis?

When did the Cuban missile crisis take place?

What was the outcome of the Cuban missile crisis?

Should the United States maintain the embargo against Cuba that was inflamed by the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Cuban missile crisis, (October 1962), major confrontation that brought the United States and the Soviet Union close to war over the presence of Soviet nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba. Having promised in May 1960 to defend Cuba with Soviet arms, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev assumed that the United States would take no steps to prevent the installation of Soviet medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Cuba. Such missiles could hit much of the eastern United States within a few minutes if launched from Cuba. The United States learned in July 1962 that the Soviet Union had begun missile shipments to ...(100 of 434 words)

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