You are not currently logged in. Please create an account or sign in to view the full course.
7. The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
About this Lecture
In this module, we think about the Cuban Missile Crisis, focusing in particular on: (i) the events leading up the Cuban Missile Crisis: Khrushchev’s agreement with Castro to allow the installation of missile sites in Cuba, the construction of these sites between July-September 1962, and their discovery by the US in October 1962; (ii) the ways in which the Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrates key developments in the Cold War: the shift of emphasis away from Europe to a more global confrontation, the growing rivalry between the Soviet Union and China, and Kennedy’s aggressive approach to the Cold War; (iii) who or what was most responsible for preventing the outbreak of war, and how historians’ views of this question have changed over the decades; and (iv) the longer-term impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis – for Kennedy, for Khrushchev, and for the course of the Cold War itself.
In this course, Dr Thomas Tunstall Allcock (University of Manchester) provides an introduction to the Cold War, 1947-91, the period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and its satellite states (the Eastern Bloc) and the United States and its allies (the Western Block). In the first module, we provide an introduction to the topic as a whole, considering how we should actually define the Cold War, and its diplomatic, economic and ideological dimensions. In the second and third modules, we think about the origins of the Cold War, before turning in the fourth module to consider the importance of the Korean War (1950-53) on the conflict. In the fifth module, we think about the domestic impact of the Cold War, before turning in the sixth module to consider how the Cold War began to incorporate tensions in Africa, Asia and South America to become an increasingly global conflict. In the seventh module, we consider the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) to the development of the Cold War, before turning in the eighth module to the most important conflict of them all – Vietnam (1955-75). In the ninth module, we consider the development of the war between 1968-75, a period of easing tensions between the US and Soviet Union known as Detente, before turning in the tenth module to the ratcheting up of tensions during the presidency of Jimmy Carter (1977-81). Finally, in the eleventh module, we think about how the Cold War came to an end.
Dr Tom Tunstall Allcock is a lecturer in American history at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War, with particular interests in U.S.-Latin American relations, presidential history and diplomacy, and the cultural history of the Cold War.
Cite this Lecture
Tunstall Allcock, T. (2020, February 05). Cold War – Overview, 1945-1991 - The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://www.massolit.io/courses/the-cold-war-1945-1991/the-cuban-missile-crisis-1962
Tunstall Allcock, Thomas. "Cold War – Overview, 1945-1991 – The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 05 Feb 2020, https://www.massolit.io/courses/the-cold-war-1945-1991/the-cuban-missile-crisis-1962