The Cuban Missile Crisis
11th Grade · Social Studies · 30 min
Lesson Preview
Learning Objective
I can evaluate the impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis on Cold War tensions.
- 1
The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred because the Soviet Union secretly deployed nuclear missiles to Cuba to protect it and to counteract the threat from U.S. missiles in Italy and Turkey.
- 2
To prevent Soviet shipments to Cuba, President John F. Kennedy initiated a naval quarantine, which the Soviet Union viewed as an act of aggression.
- 3
During the crisis, a Soviet submarine almost launched a nuclear torpedo, but Vasili Arkhipov, second in command, refused to authorize the launch, potentially saving the world from nuclear war.
