Assess the view that Cuban Missile Crisis of 1959 to 1962 was more of a Cold War

conflict.
Cuban Missile Crisis of 1959-1962 could be seen in the two phases. The period
before Cuba established economic links with USSR in February 1960 and the period
after it when USSR started to become involved in the conflict. Initially, it was more
of a localized conflict because even though Cold War elements were already
present, actions of the US and Cuba are fundamentally grounded in national
interests and USSR had yet become one of the dominant platers. However,
Amiercan perception of the issue being more of a Cold War conflict started to grow
in tandem with the increasing Soviet participation and the conflict evolved into a
crisis when USSR placed missiles in Cuba when the issue transited into a full-fledged
Cold War conflict where Cold War considerations played a more significant role in
shaping the course of the Crisis. Hence, this essay seeks to argue that Cuban Missile
Crisis of 1959 to 1962 was more of a Cold War conflict because it was shaped
predominantly by players who had Cold War concerns over national ones.
Restraint shown by both sides for fear of triggering a Third World War, a hallmark of
Cold War signifies that the Crisis is more of a Cold War conflict. Having no choice but
to react, Kennedy nevertheless chose the least provocative method to deal with the
Soviets from the three options resulted from the discussion with the Excomm from
16 to 22 October 1962. This is because calling in an air strike on Cuba or an
invasion will inevitably kill some Soviet mechanics in Cuba and thus obligate
Khrushchev to escalate the situation in Berlin, Turkey or even towards a full scale
Third World War. Moreover, Kennedy named what was in fact a blockade a
quarantine to avoid the connotation that the US wanted to start a war with USSR.
Furthermore, on 23 October 1962, Kennedy even shortened the quarantine line from
8000miles to 5000miles to give the Soviets more time to reconsider their positions.
On the side of the Soviets, their resolve to limit the conflict can be gleaned by the
fact that their ships despite being escorted by nuclear submarines that are fully
capable of causing sever destruction to the US should they try to interfere with its
course did not sail pass the quarantine line on 24 October 1962. This is despite just
2days earlier, Khrushchev had ordered for the ships to hold course for Cuba in
response to Kennedys announcement of the quarantine. Hence, restraint shown
by both sides which should not have been saying that it was only a localized conflict
signifies that Cuban Missiles Crisis is undoubtedly more of a Cold War conflict.
Cuban Missile Crisis was more of a Cold War conflict because major players like the
US and the USSR who control.eed the cause of the Crisis perceived it to be so. The
basis of Soviet installation of missiles in Cuba is primarily founded on Cold War
considerations. Not only will the missiles compensate for and equalize the missile
gap which USSR was lagging behind in the arms race, it will strengthen their
bargaining position on Berlin where Khrushchev had been disgraced by the
reelection of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and at the same time, extend communist
influence in the western Hemisphere, thereby according to the communist
expansionist aim. On the side of the US, the fact that they reported to their Cold
War allies like France and British on every small development of the Crisis after the
discovery of the missiles also shows that they perceived it to be more of a Cold War
Conflict.

Even though the Cuban acceptance of the missiles was formed on the premise that
it would better protect their national security, Soviet control over the missiles
throughout the course of the Crisis mandates that its Cold War considerations will
supersede Cubas national concerns, thus making it more of a Cold War conflict. No
doubt the missiles were accepted by Cuba on the thought that they would better
repel US aggression on top of the IL-28 light jet bombers and the Komar petrol boats
that were already serving in Cuba as deterrent, over the sources of its crisis, control
over the missiles such as the surface to air missile (SAMs) were all along in the
hands of the Soviets because the Cubans had never been sufficiently trained at the
time to use them. Cuban pilots were never trained to fly the IL-28s and Cuba never
fully took control of the bombers. This, coupled with the dependency of the Cubans
on USSR for economic and military aid, rendered Cuba to be under the manipulation
of the Soviets in the Crisis. As such, not only did Cuba have little choice in deciding
whether or not to accept the missiles, as shown by Castro 1963 speech which said
that the Cubans were Cuban delegation wanted to announce the deployment of
the missiles publicly because that in itself would serve as a deterrent, it required the
permission of the Soviets. When discussing the removal of the missiles, Cuba was
not even included. Therefore, Cuba is only a proxy state and even though it
perceived the issue to be more of a localized conflict, control of USSR over Cuba
makes it more of a Cold War conflict.
Be that as it may, before Soviet involvement in the conflict, no matter how much
the ideological aspect of Cold War had its part to play in influencing the conflict, the
rationale behind actions of players that are in control of the situation at the time,
such as Cuba and the US, is still based on national interest. In may 1959 before
Cuba became communist, Castro already started his land redistribution program
against USs dollar imperialism which was controlling most of Cubas national
assets. The reason Cuba signed trade agreements with USSR and sought military
support from it was also because its insistence on continuing with its ultranationalistic actions was rapidly souring its relationship with the US, the primary
reason for their reaction towards Cuba was also because of the high stakes
Americans had in the Cuban economy: 90% of Cuban telephone and electric
services, 50% of Cuban public service railways and 40% of the Cuban raw sugar
production were owned by US corporations. It was with increasing Soviet
participation that the US carried out the bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961 and
operations to overthrow Castro in August 1960 to institute a government which
[they] can live in peace with. Therefore, before the Soviets became involved in the
conflict, Cuban Missile Crisis was no doubt more of a localized conflict.
Overall, even though Cuba perceived it to be more of a localized conflict, it was not
the primary determiner of the situation and therefore, perceptions of major players
like the US and USSR are more significant in deciding the nature of the Crisis.
Moreover, the US perception of the issue being more of a localized conflict only
remained so until the Soviets became involved. The manner by which the issue was
dealt with thereafter such as their intention to not just recuperate their economic
losses but to reinstate a democratic government highlights the change in their
perception of the nature of the issue, thereby making the conflict one that is shaped
predominantly by Cold War concerns. After the missiles were placed in Cuba, it is
even more indispensable that the conflict is more of a Cold War conflict as it
developed with restraint and the rationale behind it is fundamentally grounded in

Cold War. Therefore, I retain my stand that Cuban Missile Crisis from 1959 to 1962
was more of a Cold War conflict.