The Cuban Missile Crisis, which lasted only 13 days in length, brought the Soviet Union and the United States on the brink of World War III. The Cuban Missile Crisis came in the midst of a long-lasting Cold War between the Soviets and Americans, a conflict which was determining THE world power. The Cuban Missile Crisis brought enormous technological advances in the areas of nuclear warfare and in space travel.
The Cuban Missile Crisis began when American planes revealed that the Soviets were building and shipping missiles into Cuba, to potentially fire at the United States. President Kennedy immediately ordered the Soviet Union to dispose and destroy and take away all the weapons they have in Cuba. In the process of taking pictures of Cuba, the Soviets shot down a U-2 plane. If the Soviet Union did not dispose of these weapons, then many predict that a nuclear winter would have ensued. Many believe that the Soviets and Americans would have traded missiles, cause massive damage, also rising dust, blocking out the sun, causing human life to be virtually non-existent. Cuba was a perfect place for the Soviets to hide their missiles, because Fidel Castro came into power in 1959 in Cuba as a dictator.
The technological advances in the Cuban Missile Crisis were amazing. The first area in technological advances was nuclear warfare. The Soviets and Americans created more and more nuclear weapons in an attempt to keep up with the rival country. As the quantity of missiles built up, so did the quality. Scientists were working extreme amounts of hours, producing massive amounts of work. Also, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought amazing technological advances in space travel.
The Soviets first launched a satellite into space. The Americans feared that the Soviets were at a huge advantage in space travel, and felt they might be spying on them from outer space. Secondly, the Americans worried that the Soviets could fire a missile at the United States from the satellite.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a big conflict in the 1960s, and the technological advances were amazing. In conclusion, the Cuban Missile Crisis caused fear in Americans in an attempt to become THE world power and it created tense relations in dealings with the Soviet Union.

The Cuban Missile Crisis. 8 Apr. 2003 <http://www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/>.

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