Since the advent of nuclear weapons, the United States took the lead in dropping two atomic bombs on Japan, and then the United States and the Soviet Union competed for hegemony, the world was shrouded in the shadow of nuclear war, nuclear war, like a sword of Damocles, has always hung above the heads of the countries of the world, and fear is always there.
And in the short 13 days from October 16 to 28, 1962, the world walked before the death gate of thermonuclear war closed. These 13 days are also the 13 days to the modern world to full-scale nuclear war, and the 13 days to the demise of mankind.
This is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The wind began at the end of Qingping, the beginning of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union
The Two Deadly Enemies of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union, were strategic allies during World War II because they had a common enemy, Hitler, for which the United States also provided the Soviet Union with military assistance worth up to $11 billion, including fighter jets, transport aircraft, various ships and artillery.
It is reasonable to say that the relations between the two countries should be very good at such a bloody aid. But on February 22, 1946, the year after the end of World War II, George Kennan, chargé d'affaires a.i.e. of the U.S. Embassy in the Soviet Union, sent an 8,000-word telegram to the U.S. State Department.
What could have made him write such a long telegram? You know, sending such a long telegram is very expensive, but if you read the contents of the telegram, you don't think so, because this telegram is the starting point for changing the world pattern.
George Kennan was no ordinary diplomat, he was also a historian. Serving as a diplomat in this capacity gave him the opportunity to understand and grasp the actual situation in the Soviet Union. From 1944 to the soviet union, he began to observe Soviet society with historical and realistic eyes. Over the years, he collected a large amount of first-hand information, and after an in-depth analysis of the internal social and foreign policies of the Soviet Union through this information, he believed that it was necessary to implement a policy of containment of the Soviet Union. The conclusion he reached not only surprised the US government, but also fit the heart of the US government.
He was also deported by the Soviet government.
George Kennan
On March 5, 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered the famous Iron Curtain Speech at Westminster College in Fulton City, usa, in which the United States began to implement a policy of containment against the Soviet Union, the zero-sum game of the East-West Cold War began, and George Kennan naturally became the founder of the containment policy.
As part of a policy of containment, from 1959 onwards, the United States began deploying Jupiter ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads in Italy and Turkey, a NATO ally closer to the Soviet Union.
The U.S. missiles made the Soviet Union feel like a needle felt like a needle felt, like the uneasiness of a fish in the throat, but at this time, the Soviet side had no way to deal with the US missile threat for the time being, and could only secretly wait for an opportunity to break the situation.
Soon, the Soviets' opportunity came, and this opportunity was Cuba, an island nation located in the southern United States and northern caribbean.
The Cuban Revolution, the United States is not happy, but it is an opportunity for the Soviets
On New Year's Day 1959, the Cuban Revolution broke out and the Batista dictatorship was overthrown, and the 32-year-old Fidel Castro became Cuba's leader. At this time, Cuba still maintained friendly relations with the United States, and Castro also visited the United States as prime minister and had a good conversation with the then US President Eisenhower.
Many people may not know that cuba and castro at this time still knew nothing about socialism, and there was no half-cent relationship with the Soviet Union.
Young Castro
But the good times did not last long, and Cuba fell out with the United States.
The reason is simple: the United States wants to continue to control Cuba as before, and the Cuban leadership is slowly radicalizing and controlling its own destiny, so the contradictions between the two sides suddenly become irreconcilable, and the United States and Cuba gradually speak ill of each other.
On January 5, 1961, the United States Government, which had completely lost patience with Cuba, suddenly announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Cuba and at the same time began to impose economic sanctions on it in an attempt to collapse the Cuban economy through an embargo, thus removing the Government from power, and the sanctions policy has persisted until now, because Cuba has not succumbed to the pressure of the United States.
The American sanctions against Cuba were not limited to the economy, but were political-military, multi-pronged, and finally reached their climax on April 15, 1961.
On the 15th, cuban exiles, with the planning and support of the United States, flew B-26 bombers to bomb Cuba for two days, and even sent more than 1,400 mercenaries composed of "Cuban Brigade" to land from the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, in a vain attempt to overthrow the Castro government from this starting point.
But these operations failed, and within 3 days, the mercenaries were repelled and the American attempt was a complete failure.
In November 1961, the CIA began operation "Operation Badger", which focused on the assassination of Castro, who began his repeated assassinations by the CIA. According to a 1997 CIA declassified dossier, Castro suffered 634 assassinations, making him the world's most assassinated leader.
Perhaps by fate, Castro escaped unharmed every time, until his death on November 25, 2016, which must be said to be the only miracle in this world.
Seeing that this was not possible, the United States Government, which was not willing to accept defeat, tightened the economic blockade against Cuba even more.
Cuba's economy is weak, and the U.S. sanctions have made it miserable. In this case, in order to survive, Cuba had to set its sights on the United States' nemesis, the Soviet Union.
In fact, at this time, the Soviet Union, which was far away in Europe, had been paying attention to the situation in Cuba, waiting for the Cubans to take the initiative.
Sure enough, the Cubans, who could not survive, took the initiative to contact the Soviets, which made the Soviets, who were greatly dissatisfied with the deployment of nuclear weapons by the United States in their neighboring Turkey, ask for help and support, and immediately agreed to help and support Cuba. For the Soviets, Cuba was a good place because it was so close to the United States that it could be built into a strategic foothold to compete with the United States.
As a result, the Soviet Union quickly launched economic and military assistance to Cuba, which gave Cuba a temporary chance to breathe.
Moreover, Cuba has made no secret of its new relations with the Soviet Union, saying openly in the United Nations General Assembly that we now have a new friend, that is, the Soviet Union, and that we have begun to study Soviet doctrine and society, which you Americans have forced.
Castro's remarks made the Americans angry, but there was nothing they could do, because it was indeed his own forcing the Cubans into the enemy's camp, and no one else could blame them.
On a whim, nuclear missiles were delivered to Cuba, leaving the Americans unable to sleep
Cuba has thrown itself on its side, and the Soviet Union has a nominal foothold in Central America, but this is not the ultimate goal of the Soviet Union, it wants to make cuba a foothold concrete, and fundamentally change the imbalance in strategic deterrence between the United States and the Soviet Union.
At this time, the United States had begun to deploy ballistic missiles in NATO allies such as Italy, West Germany and Turkey, and the 15 Jupiter missiles in Turkey had just been deployed in March 1962. These missiles, which could carry nuclear weapons around the Soviet Union, made the Soviet leaders hungry and sleepless. But before the Cuban Revolution, they could only stare dryly, but there was no way to change the current situation for a short time, because the Range of the Soviet Union's own missiles at that time was too short to hit the United States from the Soviet Union itself.
As soon as Cuba entered the Soviet camp, Soviet leader Khrushchev had a flash of inspiration: If nuclear weapons were deployed directly to Cuba, wouldn't that suddenly change the balance of nuclear deterrence between the United States and the Soviet Union? You know, these nuclear weapons can be on the doorstep of the United States, so that they can also taste the bitter taste of being deterred by nuclear weapons.
Of course, by deploying nuclear weapons in Cuba, many other purposes could be achieved, such as consolidating Castro's political position in Cuba and ensuring that he could become a hardcore ally of the Soviet Union in the long term, while also setting an example for the rest of Central America.
Khrushchev dared to do so, also because he considered that the United States had just fallen in disgrace in the Bay of Pigs invasion and would not carry out any more invasions of Cuba for a while and a half.
It was a great political-military adventure, and even more a deadly bet, but Khrushchev thought it was worth a try.
If you have nuclear weapons in your hands and the Americans want to threaten them militarily, we don't have to be so afraid, and it should be the Americans who are afraid of this, because they wear shoes, in contrast, Cuba is still barefoot.
For Khrushchev's idea, the Soviet government quickly approved it. Khrushchev and Castro's brother met on July 3 and 8, 1962, and the two sides agreed on a secret agreement to deploy Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, whereby the Soviet Union supplied Cuba with medium-range missiles and Il-28 jet bombers.
With the agreement, both sides will do what they say they will do. Soon, the Soviets unwrapped dozens of missiles and dozens of aircraft into containers, camouflaged them and transported them to Cuba on Soviet cargo ships. Don't underestimate these dozens of missiles, they are equipped with a nuclear warhead 20 or 30 times more powerful than the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, which can properly kill the Americans.
Along with these weapons and equipment were more than 3,500 Soviet military technicians.
On September 2, 1962, the Soviet Union, feeling that the overall situation had been decided, decided to publicly announce its plans to deploy missiles in Cuba, and the transportation of weapons and personnel was basically completed, and the deployment of missiles was coming to an end.
Moreover, the Soviets have said with great concern that our nuclear weapons are so powerful that we do not need to deploy them outside the Soviet Union to fight against enemies who intend to destabilize the Soviet Union.
But these are obviously the tricks that the Soviets played against the Americans.
Suspected nuclear deterrence came to the doorstep, and the Americans began to burn their brains and fidget
A stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the Americans could not sit still. In fact, in August 1962, the Americans discovered the Soviet Missile Launch Site in Cuba.
But they have not yet been able to obtain detailed information on what weapons the Soviets had deployed in Cuba, and thus for what the Soviets were doing.
If it is a conventional weapon, the Americans can't say anything, but what if it is a nuclear weapon? The nature is different, but Americans need evidence.
On September 4, 1962, in response to American questioning, The Soviet ambassador to the United States Dobrynin privately assured Robert F. Kennedy, the U.S. Attorney General and the president's brother, that the Soviet Union had not deployed nuclear weapons in Cuba and that the weapons there were defensive in nature. Of course, Robert must have put a big question mark on his words.
On the 11th, in order to dispel the doubts of the Americans, the Soviet Union once again made a public statement, reiterating that it had not deployed nuclear weapons or delivering missiles in Cuba, and warned the United States not to attack Cuba or the Ships to which the Soviet Union was delivering supplies to Cuba.
The Soviets issued one public statement after another, and the president of the United States felt that he should also come out and say a word. President Kennedy said in a televised address that the Soviets promised not to deploy nuclear weapons in Cuba, and I believed them! But I must warn that if Cuba becomes a Soviet military base and deploys offensive weapons, the United States will "take all necessary action to defend its own and its allies' security."
At this stage, it can be said that both the United States and the Soviet Union are expressing their positions, the Soviet Union is trying its best to hide the reality of its deployment of nuclear weapons in Cuba, and the United States, which has not been able to obtain evidence for the time being, has drawn a red bar for the Soviets.
Khrushchev and Kennedy
With the crucial evidence of the deployment of nuclear weapons, the United States blockaded Cuba at sea, and the Soviets were lucky
In fact, the Americans did not believe the Soviets at all, and on the one hand they sent high-altitude reconnaissance planes to continuously reconnoiter over Cuba, and on the other hand, they stepped up espionage operations to try to determine what the Soviets were doing in Cuba.
At this time, a crucial person appeared, and he was Oleg Penkovsky, a senior soviet military intelligence officer, who also had the identity of an American and British spy. He provided the United States with the details he had acquired about the capabilities to deploy missiles in Cuba, the most important of which was that the missiles were equipped with nuclear warheads.
Of course, Oleg Penkovsky did not fare well, and he was charged with treason and executed in 1963.
Penkovsky (first from left)
In addition to the intelligence provided by the spies, U.S. reconnaissance planes also took substantial photographs of missile bases.
On October 15, U.S. experts analyzed the photos taken by two U2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft over Cuba on the 14th and confirmed that they included a launch pad, many buildings that launched ballistic missiles, and a medium-range ballistic missile. And the ground works appear to be building a solid permanent base for medium- and long-range ballistic missiles with a range of 2,000 miles.
Further analysis showed that the launcher must have been a medium-range missile equipped with a nuclear warhead, and this intelligence made the Americans feel like needles.
On October 16, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was told he had filmed key evidence of the Soviet Union's deployment of nuclear weapons in Cuba, which could cover much of the United States, and that he was given two options for dealing with the matter, conducting airstrikes on Cuban missile bases and sending troops to invade Cuba, or blocking them at sea and threatening further military action.
Feeling deceived by the Soviets, President Kennedy could not sleep, realizing that if he did not react decisively and firmly to the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba, the balance between the United States and the Soviet Union would soon tilt, and his own prestige at home would be violently impacted.
Something had to be done to let the Soviets know that this was not going to work.
The next day, that is, on the 17th, the military forces of the UNITED States began to assemble at military bases in the southeast, and the U-2 high-altitude high-speed reconnaissance aircraft conducted uninterrupted reconnaissance of Cuba and grasped the progress of the missile base in real time.
Photographs of missile bases taken by U.S. reconnaissance aircraft
Although the situation gradually became tense, Kennedy still looked more calm, still participating in the campaign and meeting foreign leaders.
On the 18th, Kennedy held talks with Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko, who was still assuring Kennedy at this time that the weapons they deployed in Cuba were defensive, but it is estimated that Kennedy must have expressed his words in his heart: You continue to perform, be happy, but you have to be prepared for the "most serious consequences".
At 7 p.m., President Kennedy made public the world about the Soviet Union's deployment of nuclear weapons in Cuba, demanded that the Soviet Union withdraw its nuclear weapons, and ordered that Cuba be "isolated", and any Soviet ship carrying weapons to Cuba would be asked to turn around and leave!
The word "quarantine" is a word that can no longer be familiar to us after several years of the COVID-19 era. At that time, it was this word that made the Soviet Union miserable.
The reason why the Americans engaged in the blockade work, but used a much milder "quarantine" than the blockade, was actually to save some face for the Soviet Union and avoid causing a greater conflict.
Soon, the U.S. war machine was in full swing, ground, air, and amphibious combat forces were already moving war materiel in the direction of Cuba, U.S. bombers carrying nuclear warheads began to enter the skies around Cuba, and U.S. troops stationed around the world were on full alert.
Of course, the United States has also begun to implement preventive measures to protect itself from nuclear attacks throughout the country.
Of course, the Soviet Union denied the accusations of the United States again, but at the same time put the Soviet military forces into a state of full alert.
Although the Soviet Union is still very tough on the surface, Khrushchev is very sensitive, and he subconsciously feels that this time the Americans are playing the real game, can he withstand the thunderous blow of the United States against Cuba?
At this time, the restless man changed from Kennedy to Khrushchev, because he did not count in his heart. But Khrushchev was still lucky and ordered to speed up the delivery of missiles and Soviet bombers to Cuba.
Soviet nuclear submarines bravely crossed the blockade line, US ships dropped depth charges, and the situation of nuclear war was on the verge of breaking out
Beginning at 10:00 a.m. on October 24, 1962, the U.S. military dispatched 68 air force squadrons and eight carrier battle groups to form a powerful arc blockade line in the Caribbean Sea from Florida to Puerto Rico, encircling Cuba. On Grand Turk Island, about 300 kilometers off the eastern coast of Cuba, the huge U.S. missile tracking station is in full swing, closely monitoring the every move of the ships heading for Cuba.
The Soviets have a contemptuous attitude towards the sea blockade line established by the United States against Cuba, and if you dare to blockade it, then I will break your blockade line.
Of course, the Soviets were also cunning, and they sent an unarmed ship to Cuba on the 25th to see if the American blockade was real or pretended.
At the same time, both the United States and the Soviet Union were vigorously striving for the support of international public opinion. First, the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a statement supporting the U.S. policy of isolating Cuba, which gave Americans a lot of points.
At the same time, the Americans also presented evidence of the Deployment of Nuclear Weapons by the Soviet Union in Cuba at the United Nations General Assembly, which the Soviet Side categorically denied.
Of course, kennedy and Khrushchev were also engaged in a verbal confrontation between you and me at this time. For example, Kennedy said to Khrushchev that it is not good to fight a nuclear war, there is no winner, it cannot be fought, so I think you are a rational person and will not let such a thing happen.
And Khrushchev is not weak, look at what you Americans are doing, is what you are doing to Cuba "quarantine"? That's pretty much the same as an ultimatum, right? You still want me to give in like this, this is naked intimidation, is this the right way to deal with each other?
The conversation between the two leaders still seems to be quite interesting.
On the surface of the mouth, in the undercurrent of the ocean, the thrilling contest is also underway.
On October 27, the Soviet Navy's B-59 Foxtrot-class conventionally powered attack submarine, which did not believe in the U.S. maritime blockade, and three other submarines of the same class, traveled thousands of miles to the Caribbean Sea, ready to brave the blockade line.
Soon, they were detected by the sonar of the US ship, and were immediately chased and intercepted by the US aircraft carrier RANDolph and 11 escort destroyers, and 3 submarines were found by the US military and forced to float, only the B-59 Foxtrot class conventional power attack submarine was lucky to dodge. However, the good times did not last long, and the B-59 had to rise to the altitude of the periscope due to insufficient power, and after being discovered by the United States anti-submarine formation in Cuban waters, it was also bitten to death.
The B-59 submarine was pressed underwater and unable to move, and soon cut off contact with the outside world. More importantly, in order to force the submarine to float to verify its identity, the US destroyer dropped more than a dozen training depth charges near the B-59 submarine.
The sound of the depth charge bombs made the Soviet submarines feel great pressure, but they did not know that it was only a non-lethal training bomb dropped by the US military, but misjudged that the US military had launched an attack on it.
Because the submarine lost all contact with the outside world and could not get the real situation of the outside world, the atmosphere inside the dead and silent submarine was so depressed that it almost exploded.
The B-59 photographed by the U.S. warship surfaced, and a U.S. helicopter hovered overhead
The commander of the B-59, Colonel Valentin Savitsky, became agitated and lost his mind, and he firmly believed that the reason why the US army dared to attack was because nuclear war had broken out, and we must fire a T-5 nuclear torpedo to return fire!
The political commissar Ivan Maslennikov agreed with the captain's judgment because he was also very nervous.
According to the Soviet Navy Ordinance, "special weapons" could be used as long as the captain and the commissar agreed, which normally meant that the launch of this nuclear torpedo was a foregone conclusion!
Fortunately, the special-mission B-59 submarine was on the flagship of the formation, and a temporary formation commander was added to the departure, that is, the deputy captain, Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Arkhipov, and the order to launch a nuclear torpedo must also be obtained with his consent.
Lieutenant Colonel Arkhipov was a man of firm will and extreme calm, who had his own judgement of the current situation. Therefore, when the captain of the ship, Sawitzki, questioned him, he believed that the current situation was not clear, that the launch of nuclear weapons was extremely irresponsible without consulting Moscow, and that nuclear war was likely to start because of their rash moves.
In order to make the captain approve of his opinion, Lieutenant Colonel Arkhipov even forced him to die!
In this way, Valentin Sawitsky's fanatical and agitated brain gradually sobered up, and decided to float up to gain contact with Moscow, regardless of the American destroyers on the water.
Sure enough, the submarine was instructed by Moscow to float, and there was no war between the two sides, asking the B-59 submarine to return to the base.
It can be said that at the crucial moment, it was the calmness of Lieutenant Colonel Arkhipov who saved the world.
The venerable Lieutenant Colonel Arkhipov died of radiation poisoning in 1998
The United States was about to launch an offensive, and at the last moment, the Soviet Union was forced to bow its head and compromise to withdraw its missiles
The thrill on the 27th made the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union realize that the dangerous atmosphere of nuclear war was imminent, but this was something they did not want to see, and they must find a solution to the problem, but both sides refused to show their fear and weakness, but tried their best to show their strength.
In fact, on the 26th, the day before the confrontation between the two ships, Khrushchev wrote a letter to Kennedy that was described as "lengthy, disorganized, and boundless." The core of Khrushchev's expression in the letter was to avoid the outbreak of nuclear war, and the United States would make concessions to ensure Cuba's security and lift the "isolation" measures against Cuba.
On the 27th, after the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, Kennedy received a second letter from Khrushchev, the tone of which also changed subtly, and clearly proposed that the United States withdraw its medium-range missiles deployed in Turkey before it was possible to continue the talks.
But the Americans put a question mark on Khrushchev's second letter, were not impressed with the content of his expression, and even suspected that the letter was not written by Khrushchev himself. In this case, the Americans don't know which letter to reply to.
In the end, it was Kennedy's brother Robert who came up with a solution, which was to shelve the second letter and reply only to the first letter that was favorable to the United States.
In their reply, the Americans clearly expressed their agreement with the suggestions in Khrushchev's letter, and the core meaning was rapid, as long as the threat of the Cuban missile base was first lifted, then the rest of the matter was easy to say.
Khrushchev was a wise man, and he knew the meaning of Kennedy's letter clearly, and he knew that he had to do so, because there was intelligence that if the Cuban missile crisis dragged on any longer, the Americans would carry out a military strike against Cuba on the 29th or 30th, and if so, the Soviet Union would certainly not be able to bear the possible losses, both strategically and tactically.
Therefore, Khrushchev replied to the Reply letter from the Americans on the 28th, the core content of which is that we Soviets understand the Worries and Worries of the Americans about the security problems caused by offensive weapons, which are a weapon that threatens world peace, and the Soviet Government has ordered the construction of missile bases to be stopped, and it will be dismantled and packaged back to the Soviet Union.
With Khrushchev's latest statement, the world was so nervous for 13 days that it finally survived without any danger, and the Cuban missile crisis ended smoothly.
The Soviet Union announced that it would withdraw its missiles from Cuba
End
Zero-sum games, not so fun, the Soviets are afraid of nuclear war, the Americans are not? The news that a military strike will be launched on the Cuban Missile Base on the 29th or 30th does not exclude the smokescreen of the United States exerting extreme pressure on the Soviet Union, because the tactical air commander of the United States told Kennedy that he could not guarantee the complete destruction of the nuclear weapons of the missile base, and if this is the case, the story is suspenseful.
Fortunately, there is no such suspense, in this game of who is the coward, Khrushchev and Kennedy have made the choices they should make!
On November 11, 1962, all 42 Soviet missiles deployed in Cuba were withdrawn. On November 20, the Soviet Union announced that it would be in 30
All Il-28 bombers deployed in Cuba were evacuated within a few days.
After receiving assurances from the Soviet Union, the Americans also promised not to invade Cuba.
A few months later, the United States also secretly withdrew the missiles deployed in Turkey and Italy, of which the Turkish missiles were the most tortuous, because the Turks were unwilling and after several twists and turns, they were evacuated on April 24, 1963.