Cuban Missile Crisis

By jackielopez

  • Castro in power

    Fidel Castro takes power after the Cuban revolution. Tensions with the U.S. rise as the new Cuban government begins.

  • Soviet Union and Cuba as allies

    Cuba and the Soviet Union develop economic ties, and the U.S. imposes a trade embargo against Cuba. Soviet Union provided Cuba with weapons and training.

  • Missiles in Turkey

    American Jupiter missiles in Turkey become operational, well within the ​range of Soviet targets. The Soviet Union finds out and starts making their own.

  • Photos

    An American U2 spy plane flies over Cuba and provides photographs showing evidence of Soviet missile base. Discovers missiles in Cuba.

  • Quarantine

    The White House called the blockade a "quarantine" because a blockade is technically an act of war. Any Soviet ships carrying weapons to Cuba would be turned back. The President faked a cold as an excuse to end his trip early without alarming Americans and returned to Washington.

  • Response

    Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev says the presence of the missile sites are "solely to defend Cuba against the attack of an aggressor."

  • Blockade

    Soviet ships head for Cuba but appear to alter course as they neared the quarantine zone. The following day, a Soviet oil tanker closes in on the blockade​ but is let through. Blocked weapons and supplies​ that flowed into Cuba.

  • Kennedy agrees to not invade Cuba

    After Khrushchev says that he will remove the missiles from Cuba if Kennedy promises not to invade Cuba, Kennedy agrees to the proposal. He also secretly agrees to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey. The world goes to bed that night waiting to see if Khrushchev will accept the arrangement and bring the crisis to an end.

  • killed pilot

    Khrushchev contacts Kennedy, demanding that U.S. missile sites in Turkey be dismantled. On the same day, a U2 plane is shot down over Cuba, and a​ U.S. pilot is killed

  • Khrushchev agrees to remove the missiles.

    Khrushchev gives a speech on Radio Moscow and says that he has agreed to Kennedy's arrangement. The missiles will be removed, Cuba will not be invaded, and the crisis comes to an end.

  • Cold war over

    Khrushchev agrees to remove the missiles in Cuba. The U.S. pledges not to invade Cuba and to remove American missiles from Turkey.

  • Bay of Pigs Invasion

    Deter any further advances by the US. Cuba wanted help so the Soviet Union provides help. ---