The Cuban Missile Crisis

- Soviet leaders = aware of US Nuclear Superiority

- US had ICBM's and had stationed missiles in Turkey

- Cuban Revolution (1959) led to creation of communist regime under Castro - gave Khrushchev nuclear superiority

- Khrushchev was determined to sustain Castro's regime, especially after Bay of Pigs and Operation Mongoose

August 1962 - Soviet warheads arrive in Cuba

October 1962 - US Spy planes spot the warheads

- Back channel talks led to agreements:

     US would remove missile from Turkey
     USSR military would withdraw from Cuba