History/ 2. General History

Caribbean crisis: the peak of the political confrontation between the USSR and the USA

Koldybaeva S.S. , Ph.D., docent at A.Baytursynov KSU.

Lukyanova D.O., bachelor of Regional Studies, 4th year student at A.Baytursynov KSU

The results of the period of postwar events brought to our world the formation of the bipolar world of two biggest powers - the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Under these conditions the "cold war" between the USSR and the United States have resulted to a number of the political confrontations, the largest of which was the Caribbean crisis. In October 1962 our world was closest to the nuclear war. In 1961 the United States deployed in Turkey the medium-range missiles "Jupiter", which could reach the cities of western part of the USSR. These events led to the Soviet actions - placing medium-range missiles R-12 in Cuba, directed towards the United States and, accordingly, the development of the Cuban missile crisis [1].

Nowadays, this topic is really relevant. In the XXI century of economic and military-political crises modern problems draw our attention to the recurrence of past year conflicts. In the course of the development of revolutions and civil wars in the Middle East and former Soviet countries, the political confrontation of Russian-American relations appeared, in the foreground of a local conflict. You can draw a parallel with the familiar situation to us, which arose during the Caribbean events: a half-century later, again two powerful governments – the USA and the USSR successor - Russia took the policy of its confrontation in the third country, in the area of their interests. It is a war in Iraq, the political crisis in Syria, the unrest in the Ukraine in 2004, which resumed again in late 2013 due to a sharp military-political conflict in the country, converted into the international crisis.

In the middle of the ХХ century the United States were the most powerful country, which had high economic performance and excellence in many areas of economy and military industry. However, in the late 50-ies of the XX century the Soviet Union showed the progress in the development of its national economy, the strengthening of military-technical complex, there was a dynamic activity of its foreign policy, also has increased the defense power of the USSR. The American expectations on monopoly of nuclear weapons, approvement in the world of the US authority, achievement of final military superiority over the Soviet Union were ended. The development of Soviet-Cuban relations and the provision of Soviet humanitarian and military aid to Cuba during the intense period of the Cuban-American relations also played a key role in the development of this crisis. In addition, by analogy of the NATO was founded the Warsaw Pact, which was a serious opponent of the NATO on the military and political arena. And the placement of Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba was the starting point of the Caribbean conflict. The incompatibility between the USSR and the USA ideologies - socialism and capitalism was also one of the causes of this conflict. Thus, the causes of the Caribbean crisis were a different nature: military, political, social [2].

The role of the Soviet and American diplomacy during the Caribbean missile crisis was actually significant in the resolution of the Caribbean conflict, and further, the revaluation of both governments, foreign policy orientation. Diplomacy, as well as other art form, needs in talented people who can reliably and competently implement the ensuring of national interests and prevent the outbreak of hostilities. And in the Soviet Union and in the United States during the development of the Cuban missile crisis were amazing persons. They have done serious and responsible mission in the international arena. When talking about diplomatic figures of the Caribbean missile crisis period, it should be noted merits of A. Alekseev, A. Mikoyan, A. Gromyko, A. Dobrynin, R. Kennedy, A. Stevenson, D. Acheson. Despite the fact that there were conflicting opinions between management and government officials in the Kremlin and the White House, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were able to get out of that difficult international crisis without starting World War III. The representatives of the American and Soviet diplomacy played a key role in resolving of the Cuban missile crisis with the remarkable professionalism, responsibility, ability to respond adequately and swiftly in an emergency [3].

The main feature of this conflict is the lack of contracts and agreements between the USSR and the USA during the development of the Caribbean conflict. Soviet and American diplomacy carried out the resolution of this international conflict by negotiation, they solved this problem with the opposite side jointly. Nuclear disaster has passed for a new development of Soviet-American relations in a positive way. Nuclear disaster has passed and a new development of Soviet-American relations began in a positive way. The most important lesson of the Cuban missile crisis for both powers was the awareness of the dangerous balancing on the brink of nuclear catastrophe. Imprudent actions, political miscalculation, incorrect assessment of the opponent's intentions could be a huge catastrophe for the world.

List of references

1. Ed. A.A. Gromyko, B.N. Ponomarev. The history of the Soviet foreign policy 1945-1985. – M., 1986. - 692 p. 

2. P.T. Podlesnyy. The USSR and the United States: 50 years of diplomatic relations – M., 1983. -136 p. 

3. A.A .Fursenko, T. Naftali. One Hell of a gamble: The Secret History of the Cuban Missile Crisis 1958-1964. - M., 2001. - 560 p.