Every country in the world aims at becoming secure from both internal and external enemies. As a result, each country endeavors to ensure that it has the required prowess to fight when the need arises. In this regard, production, as well as the purchase of weapons, takes up a substantial budget of any country’s budget. At one time, the need for protection and the urge to be prepared whenever the enemy attacks led to a standoff between the United States and Russia. This was referred to as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
As early as the 20th century, the U.S. had protectorate powers over Cuba. As a result, the U.S. had made a lot of investments in Cuba. Being close to America, Cuba was a very crucial place that any enemy to the U.S. would obtain. The U.S. special plane flying over the Cuban airspace discovered missiles in 1962. These missiles had been planted there by Russia. Noticing this, America prepared itself for war against Russia.
Among the main causes of the missile tension was the presence of American missiles in Turkey, which is a neighbor of Russia. Notably, the U.S. had several missiles in Turkey, and this to Russia was a security threat. However, earlier efforts by Russia to make the U.S. remove these missiles had failed. Moreover, there had been tension between the U.S. and Russia on who should be the superpower of the world. Consequently, the presence of nuclear weapons in the neighborhood of Russia seemed as an aggression by the United States.
On the same note, the leadership of Cuba changed in 1959, and the new administration had close ties with Russia. The people who America had been supporting since the 1950s were not the ones in power. Consequently, all American owned companies in Cuba were nationalized with no compensation.
The American strongman in Cuba, Fulgencio Batista, became powerless in the new administration. The new ties between Russia and Cuba worried America since it was easier for anything to happen. Arguably, Russia took the act of the U.S. had missiles in Turkey as a way of positioning itself for war against Russia. They, therefore, had also to position themselves for the war of equal measure.
Nonetheless, though the tension lasted for almost two weeks, the war never broke out. After noting the presence of missiles in Cuba, America confronted Russia. Russia required that America removes its missiles from Turkey. Unknown to Russia was the fact that the missiles of the U.S. in Turkey were worn out and were due for removal. However, the President of U.S. would not publicly accept the offer for this could comprise his position as a tough man against communism and Russia in particular.
The U.S. knew that removal of its missiles was the solution. Consequently, the president resolved to comply with the requirement of Russia but not in public. Anyway, the U.S. was to do away with the missiles in Turkey but doing so in public would be tantamount to a defeat.
The U.S. president did not promise to remove the missiles from Turkey in public, but he did promise not to invade Cuba if Russia took away its missiles. In private, however, the American president agreed to take American missiles out of Turkey. On this agreement, the Cuban missile crisis was avoided peacefully though the American president was seen as a winner.