Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major confrontation between the United States and Russia over Soviet-supplied missile installations in Cuba. The background to the crisis was Russia’s military strength in Europe. At any time Russia would be able to take over Europe through the use of a surprise attack. The US, however, made an attack of this kind very difficult due to its development of the U2 reconnaissance plane which would …showed first 75 words of 362 total…

…showed last 75 words of 362 total…both sides realised how close they had both come to a nuclear war. There was a “hotline” established between the White House and Moscow that would be used as a means of diffusing any future crisis. Russia promised not to place any more missiles in Cuba and likewise the US withdrew their missiles from Turkey. The crisis led to the start of serious arms control talks between the two sides which continue to this day.