Page 69 - 100 Events That Made History

Crisis in Cuba
In October 1962, President John F. Kennedy
found out that the USSR had SECRETLY stationed
missiles on the island of Cuba, only 90 miles
(150 km) from US territory. The weapons pointed
toward the USA, and were capable of causing
mass destruction. Kennedy demanded that
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev remove them.
Khrushchev refused. The world held its breath.

Fidel Castro
led a communist
revolution in
Cuba in 1959. He
became an ally
of the USSR
soon after. Crisis averted
The Cuban Missile Crisis ended
after 13 stressful days when
the USSR agreed to take back
the missiles. Both sides signed a
treaty that limited their weapon
building. They also installed a
telephone “hotline” so that
leaders of the USA and USSR
could be in direct contact.
Nikita
Khrushchev
was the Soviet
leader from
1953–1964. How it changed the world
The world had come so close to a disastrous
nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis that
Cuba was blockaded the USA and USSR tried hard afterward to avoid direct
by President Kennedy confrontation with each other. Instead, they competed in
to stop Soviet ships other areas, such as space exploration, and supported
from transporting different sides in conflicts and uprisings.
missiles to the island.

What came after…

CZECHOSLOVAKIA was a The Soviets and the USA
communist country heavily backed opposite sides
propped up by the USSR. In when communist NORTH
1968, an anticommunist VIETNAM broke away
uprising was violently put from the South in 1955,
down by Soviet troops. sparking 20 years of war.
67