14300665
| Question | Answer |
| Who overthrew Batista in the Cuban revolution of 1959? | Fidel Castro He had been part of an ongoing guerilla war against Batista’s increasingly unpopular regime. |
| What did Castro do which concerned / annoyed the US? | He ordered the Nationalisation of US industry and businesses. The US feared they had a communist on their doorstep. |
| What was the context of the Cuban Crisis? | The Berlin Wall (1961) had been built by the USSR / Kennedy had been elected as United States president by promising to get tough with communism / Kennedy was humiliated by the Bay of Pigs ‘fiasco’, in April 1961 / America had placed nuclear missiles in Italy & Turkey. |
| How did the US respond to Castro nationalizing US interests in Cuba? | U.S stopped buying Cuban sugar and refused to supply Cuba with oil / He sanctioned a CIA backed invasion by Cuban exiles. |
| What was the Bay of Pigs landings? | Organised by CIA / April 1961 - 1400 Cuban exiles / Complete fiasco - badly planned e.g Cubans knew of a pending airstrike so moved their air force! / All rounded up within 72 hours / Even the CIA called it a 'prefect failure'! |
| What was Castro’s impression of the Bay of Pigs invasion? | From Castro's view point this invasion was evidence that the USA was working actively to overthrow his government. So he sought closer ties with the USSR. |
| What was Operation Anadyr? | Was the code name used by the Soviet Union for its secret operation in 1962 of deploying ballistic missiles, medium-range bombers, and a division of mechanized infantry to Cuba. |
| Why did Khrushchev place missiles in Cuba? | Possible motives include: To defend Cuba (a logical reason given the Bay of Pigs affair) To ‘reduce the missile gap’ (logical given US nuclear advantage) Psychology- to ‘give the US a ‘taste of their own medicine’ (logical given proximity of US missiles to the USSR) |
| How did Kennedy respond to learning of missiles on Cuba? | He formed ExComm to advise him. He considered a series of options - from air strikes & invasion to a 'quarantine' of Cuba. He decided on a Quarantine and went of National TV to inform the US of the missiles and his decision. |
| Who were the 'hawks' and the 'Doves'? | Names given to those who supported a particular response to the 'crisis'. Hawks wanted air strikes and invasion. Doves wanted a diplomatic response. |
| What 'approach' did Kennedy adopt to the crisis? | It has been described as 'gradual escalation'. The Quarantine gave the USSR time to react, but Kennedy continued plans for an invasion (Codename: operation Ortsac) |
| Over how long did the Crisis occur? | 13 Days |
| What was contained in Khrushchev's first telegram to Kennedy? (Day 11) | On 26th October, Khrushchev sent Kennedy a telegram offering to withdraw missiles if the US guaranteed they would not invade Cuba. Kennedy accepted these terms but then received a second telegram... |
| What was contained in Khrushchev's second telegram? (Day 12) | Khrushchev added that he wanted the missiles removed from Turkey in addition to the promise not to invade Cuba. |
| What was Kennedy's response to the telegrams? | Kennedy ignored the second (although they feared a coup had taken place in Moscow) and replied to the first. |
| What part did 'back channels' play is resolving the crisis? | Robert Kennedy (the President's brother) met with Alexander Dobrynin (Soviet Ambassador) and it was made clear that Kennedy would remove missiles from Turkey - but this would not be made public. |
| Why was 27 October considered the most dangerous day of the crisis? | A US pilot (Anderson) making recon flight in a U2 was shot down and killed. The 'Hawks' wanted a retaliation - Kennedy remained 'calm'. Another flight strayed into USSR's airspace and |
Want to create your own Flashcards for free with GoConqr? Learn more.