Image ciWorld Map. (n.d.). Map of Cuba with Major Cities. World Map..
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Greatest Event of a War that Never Happened
Cuba
The Soviet Union wanted to put fear into the hearts of America's citizens during the Cold War. The Soviet Union heard about Cuba being a Socialist country and the United States making repeated attacks at the leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro. At the time America had missiles in Turkey which was right by the Soviet Union. The U.S. trying to kill Castro made Cuba want to retaliate against America. The Soviets took advantage of this chance with Cuba by placing nuclear missiles 100 miles from the United States.
"However harsh and terrible the solution, there would be no other." TASS via Associated Press
Discovery
The United States were routinly monitering Cuba because of Cuba's new relationship with the Soviet Union. The U.S. noticed that there were Soviet ships constantly going in and out of Cuba. On October 12th, a U2 Spyplane caught pictures of Soviet missiles being put together in Cuba. America decided to keep this a secret for a few days till we could confirm what we were seeing and making sure it wasn't a false alarm.
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images. (n.d.). THE NORTH KOREA STANDOFF, LIKE THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, EXPOSES THE RECKLESS U.S. WORLDVIEW.
A newspaper map from the time of the Cuban missile crisis shows the distances from Cuba to various cities in North America. Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images