Britannica
Sources used in this answer
- Cuban missile crisis
- Cuban missile crisis: Top Questions
- Bay of Pigs invasion: Top Questions
- Bay of Pigs invasion
- Cuba - National evolution and Soviet influence
- Cuba Embargo - History of U.S. & Cuba Relations, 1800s to 1980s
- Cuba - Revolution
- Cuban Revolution - Castro returns to Cuba
- Che Guevara: Top Questions
- Cuban Revolution
How did the Cuban Revolution lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis?
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Cuban Revolution
Fidel Castro giving a speech from a makeshift balcony on January 1, 1959, en route to his victorious entry into Havana. Castro was known for his oratory skills.
The Cuban Revolution, led by Fidel Castro, overthrew the U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. This revolution led to a deterioration of relations between Cuba and the United States, as Cuba confiscated U.S. property and established ties with the Soviet Union. In response, the U.S. imposed an embargo on Cuba.123
The failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, orchestrated by the U.S., further strained relations and pushed Cuba closer to the Soviet Union. This alliance culminated in the Soviet Union installing nuclear missile bases in Cuba in 1962, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tense standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.215