The Bay of Pigs was one of the main events that made the cold war.
One of the causes of the Bay of Pigs incident was the USSR spreading communism to Cuba which then caused the Americans to bring in the policy of containment. Another cause of the Bay of Pigs was the revolutionary changes that occurred in Cuba when Fidel Castro came into power. An important consequence of the Bay of Pigs incident was the Cuban missile crisis. Another important consequence was when U. S.
A and the USSR agreed on the molink test ban treaty.The United States declared the policy of containment in 1946. They used this policy to try stop and stall the spread of communism. Economic and military measures were necessary to prevent the spread of communism to Cuba and other countries. When Cuba turned communist after Fidel Castro overthrew Batista, he made allies with Khrushchev the leader of the USSR.
Khrushchev saw Castro as a valuable ally and they became very close as Cuba was 70 miles from the southern tip of the U. S. A. They then became very close as Khrushchev said “any enemy of my enemy is my friend.
So the USSR supplied weapons and economic aid to Cuba. Eventually Cuba became the centre of the Cold War’s most serious crisis. After the revolution Castro came into power. He then expelled the US mafia from Havana.
He also made changes in the economy. Shortly after the revolution, Castro was popular with the USA. The USA saw him as someone who would bring democracy back to Cuba. However, it all changed within a year. Castro ended freedom of the press. Political opponents were imprisoned by military courts.
Castro also began making anti-American speeches.He called on other countries in central and South America to overthrow their governments. By 1960 Castro was seen as a threat to the USA and its influence in Central and South America. America was at risk of possible Nuclear War or even the pressure of turning communist. These events then lead to the Bay of Pigs invasion.
A consequence of the Bay of Pigs was the Cuban Missile crisis. The crisis arose because the USA discovered Soviet nuclear missile sites on Cuba and soviet ships transporting nuclear missiles by a U-2 spy plane. the U. S already had a number of missile bases on it.The threat to the USA was if the Soviets were to fire a missile, it could reach most of continental USA.
This would mean that it was impossible for the USA to respond by firing nuclear missiles at either Cuba or the USSR in response to any missiles launched at the USA. Around this time the war was at its peak with both countries on high alert. When this occurred Kennedy ordered a blockade on Cuba. This meant any soviet ship going through the blockade would be searched for missiles. Many soviet ships turned back, but eventually a soviet ship went through but no military equipment was found on board.On October 26-28 1962 Khrushchev and Kennedy came to an agreement that if the US promised not to attack Cuba and the blockade was lifted both the USA and the USSR would withdraw all nuclear missiles from Cuba.
Both sides realized that they had come very close to nuclear war. To improve communication, the Molink was created. This was direct telephone link between the White House in Washington DC and the Kremlin in Moscow. In the following year, Kennedy and Khrushchev helped pass the Test Ban Treaty. They agreed to test nuclear weapons only underground.
They also agreed to stop the spread of countries obtaining nuclear weapons.
