1. Cubin Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in 1962 when the Soviet Union began to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. The United States refused to allow this and after thirteen tense days and many secret negotiations, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles. This is perhaps the closest that the United States and the Soviet Union came to nuclear war during the Cold War.

2. Leading up to the Crisis  Prior to the crisis the U.S. had attempted to overthrow Castro and the current government of Cuba with the Bay of Pigs invasion.  The U.S. had installed several nuclear missile sites in Turkey and Italy with the range to strike Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union.  As a result, the Soviet Union felt they needed missile sites that could strike at the U.S. At the same time the Cuban government wanted protection from the United States. They decided to work together and have the Soviet Union put nuclear missiles in Cuba that could strike most any portion of the United States

3. How the Crisis Began  On October 14, 1962 an American U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba captured pictures of long range Soviet missiles in Cuba. This was a crisis like never before. These missiles could reach any point of the U.S. with nuclear warheads causing mass destruction.  President Kennedy called a meeting with his main security advisors. They considered a number of options from diplomacy to a full scale attack and invasion on Cuba. The Joint Chiefs of Staff voted to invade. They felt this was the only viable option. However, Kennedy was concerned that this would start WWIII between U.S. and Soviet Union. He opted to set up a naval blockade.

4. Blockade Kennedy announced his plan on October 22, 1962. He showed the world the missile bases and said that the U.S. would be putting Cuba under “quarantine”. This meant that no offensive weapons would be allowed to enter Cuba. He also said that any attack on the U.S. from Cuba would be considered an act of war from the Soviet Union. Over the next several days the crisis became more intense. The Soviet Union said they would not back down. By the 24 th, Kennedy believed the U.S. would have to invade Cuba. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W50R NAbmy3Mhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W50R NAbmy3M

5. Negotiations and Results  Although the Soviet Union was publicly saying they would never back down, they were secretly negotiating with the United States. Eventually the two sides reached an agreement. The Soviet Union would remove the missiles from Cuba as long as the United States agreed to never invade Cuba again. In secret, the U.S. also had to agree to remove their nuclear missiles from Turkey and Italy. The crisis was over.  The crisis was President Kennedy’s greatest moment. After the Bay of Pigs failure and the Berlin Wall, his leadership had come into question. The world could feel confident in the leader of the United States again. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, left, and U.S. President John F. Kennedy

6. Collapse of the Soviet Union The collapse of the Soviet Union started in the late 1980s and was complete when the country broke up into 15 independent states on December 25, 1991. This signaled the end of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States.

7. Mikhail Gorbachev Becomes General Secretary  Elected General Secretary of the Soviet Union in 1985. When he took over the economy was in bad shape and his idea was to reform the economy and modernize the political situation in the country.

8. Glasnost  Allowed more freedom of speech and openness in government.  Government officials would be held accountable to the people for their actions.  Although Glasnost was a good thing for the people, it also allowed people to protest and the media to report on issues for the first time. Many of the outlying states used this new found freedom to express their desire for independence.

9. Perestroika  Means “restructuring”  Gorbachev meant to restructure the Soviet economy to work more efficiently. He allowed some private ownership and released some of the tight control the government had on the economy.  However, the people and economy of the Soviet Union were used to the government doing everything…things got worse before they got better!

10. Baltic Region With the new found freedom of Gorbachev’s reforms, some outlying Soviet states began to rebel. The first to demand their freedom were the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.

11. Nationalist Movement Spreads Soon more states wanted their independence including Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia. The central government of the Soviet Union began to feel the pressure of so many states wanting independence.

12. Attempted Takeover of the Government With the communist government on the verge of collapse, Soviet hardliners decided to take action. In August of 1991, they kidnapped Gorbachev and announced to the world that he was too sick to govern. They would be taking over. When the Soviet citizens began to protest, the hardliners called in the military to shut them down. However, the soldiers refused to shoot and arrest their own people. Without the military to back them up, the takeover had failed.

13. The Soviet Union Breaks Up On December 24, 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved. At the same tie Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation. The Soviet Union divided up into 15 separate independent countries including: 1.Armenia 2.Azerbaijan 3.Belarus 4.Estonia 5.Georgia 6.Kazakhstan 7.Kyrgyzstan 8.Latvia 9.Lithuania 10.Moldova 11.Russia 12.Tajikistan 13.Turkmenistan 14.Ukraine 15.Uzbekistan