History mind map the cold war

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  • The Cuban Missile Crisis
    • The bay of pigs.
      • From 1959 to 1961 there was a tense, frosty atmosphere between the USA and Cuba. TheUSA gave support to Cuban exiles (Cubans who had left Cuba to get away from Castro).
      • President Eisenhower allowed supporters of Batista to train for an invasion of Cuba.
      • The CIA was encouraged to get rid of Castro.
      • When Kennedy became President in 1961 he allowed the plan to invade Cuba to go ahead.
      • On April 17 1961, 1 500 opponents of Castro landed at the Bay of Pigs
        • The rebels had told the CIA that other Cubans would support the invasion-they did not.
        • The rebels were outnumbered 300:1
        • The group were badly equipped and had out of date maps.
    • Why did Khrushchev put missiles in Cuba?
      • Khrushchev wanted to produce more nuclear warheads and close the “missile gap”between the USA and USSR.
      • The USA had missiles in Western Europe and Turkey, well within range of the USSR.
      • The USSR had many more cheap, medium-range missiles than the USA so a launch site inCuba, close to the US coast, was an ideal place to put missiles
      • Soviet missiles in Cuba would strengthen Khrushchev’s bargaining power against the USA.
      • Khrushchev was very keen to support Castro. Cuba was the only Communist country in the western hemisphere and had just survived the Bay of Pigs attack.
      • Khrushchev was keen to strengthen his own political position in the USSR. Missiles inCuba would be seen as another major propaganda victory against the USA.
    • Why did Kennedy react as he did?
      • 1. Kennedy was under serious pressure from US military leaders to bomb and invade Cuba immediately. This would almost certainly have led to war with the USSR
      • 2. Kennedy tried to give himself and Krushchev a means of solving the crisis without immediate conflict. This is why he chose a blockade.
      • 3. Kennedy also realised that he needed to give Khrushchev a way out without appearing to humiliate the Soviet leader-that is why, in private, he agreed not to invade Cuba and later removed US missiles from Turkey.
      • 4. Kennedy used the opportunity of Khrushchev’s first letter to explore ways to solve the crisis whilst at the same time convincing the Soviets that he was prepared for war.
    • The end of the Crisis and its Consequences
      • 1. Firstly, it is widely agreed that the Cuban missile crisis was the closest that the USA and USSR came to conflict throughout the whole of the COLD WAR. There was general agreement that future disputes like this had to be avoided, so the missile crisis actually helped improve US-USSR relations
      • 2. Secondly, the USA and USSR decided to set up a telephone link ( hotline) betweenMoscow and Washington DC so that problems could be discussed to avoid future crises.
      • 3. Thirdly, nuclear arms talks began and in 1963 a Test Ban Treaty was signed by theUSSR, the USA and Britain.

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