“Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right- not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this Hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world.” -John F. Kennedy

This quote was made by John F. Kennedy on October 22nd, 1962, addressing the USA, and the world, of Soviet nuclear missiles located in Cuba. Although this may not seem such a big deal initially, this discovery catapulted the world into the darkest 13 days in history. Teetering at the edge of global nuclear war, this was the Cuban Missile Crisis.

However, what exactly was it? What caused it? And what happened after it? The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the many events and byproducts of the Cuban Revolution. The Cuban revolution started with a corrupt government, a man named Fidel Castro and his bloody struggle for freedom, then a scramble for the Island made by the two biggest superpowers in the world.  Of course, it wasn’t just these four factors that were involved in the Cuban Revolution. The video below shows us how complicated the revolution actually was, ranging from small skirmishes to massive government-funded invasions, from a failed assault on some barracks to the battle of Cuba’s capital city, and from how a simple rebel became president. This is the Cuban revolution in plain English.

Photo Citation:
Karlsson, Håkan. “Cuban Experiences: The U.S. Cuba policy since the 1959 revolution from a Cuban perspective”. University of Gothenburg, unknown editor, unknown publisher, 2022, p. 1