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117-450: While there may be a formal alliance or other treaty obligations between the influenced and influencer, such formal arrangements are not necessary and the influence can often be more of an example of soft power . Similarly, a formal alliance does not necessarily mean that one country lies within another's sphere of influence. High levels of exclusivity have historically been associated with higher levels of conflict. In more extreme cases,

234-421: A megaton-class nuclear weapon. The Soviets were building nine sites—six for R-12 medium-range missiles (NATO designation SS-4 Sandal ) with an effective range of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) and three for R-14 intermediate-range ballistic missiles (NATO designation SS-5 Skean ) with a maximum range of 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi). On 7 October, Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado spoke at

351-530: A 2017 poll by WIN/GIA , the United States was the most preferred ally internationally. Russia and China , who preferred one another, both trailed America globally. Four countries, Bulgaria , Greece , Slovenia and Turkey , preferred Russia, despite being members of NATO . In Pakistan , 72% of respondents preferred ties to China, the largest margin of any country surveyed, while 46% of Bangladesh preferred India . A total of 22 countries indicated

468-677: A base for ballistic missiles aimed at the United States". On 10 August, he wrote a memo to Kennedy in which he guessed that the Soviets were preparing to introduce ballistic missiles into Cuba. Che Guevara himself traveled to the Soviet Union on 30 August 1962, to sign off on the final agreement regarding the deployment of missiles in Cuba. The visit was heavily monitored by the CIA as Guevara had gained more scrutiny by American intelligence. While in

585-530: A capacity to carry out offensive actions against the United States... the United States would act." Further, US credibility among its allies and people would be damaged if the Soviet Union appeared to redress the strategic imbalance by placing missiles in Cuba. Kennedy explained after the crisis that "it would have politically changed the balance of power. It would have appeared to, and appearances contribute to reality." On 18 October, Kennedy met with Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko , who claimed

702-539: A country within the "sphere of influence" of another may become a subsidiary of that state and serve in effect as a satellite state or de facto colony . This was the case with the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc after World War II. The system of spheres of influence by which powerful nations intervene in the affairs of others continues to the present. It is often analyzed in terms of superpowers , great powers , and/or middle powers . Sometimes portions of

819-420: A figure of 75. The US, on the other hand, had 170 ICBMs and was quickly building more. It also had eight George Washington - and Ethan Allen -class ballistic missile submarines , with the capability to launch 16 Polaris missiles, each with a range of 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km). The Soviet First Secretary , Nikita Khrushchev , increased the perception of a missile gap when he loudly boasted to

936-796: A future US invasion. Construction of launch facilities started shortly thereafter. A U-2 spy plane captured photographic evidence of medium- and long-range launch facilities in October. US President John F. Kennedy convened a meeting of the National Security Council and other key advisers, forming the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM). Kennedy was advised to carry out an air strike on Cuban soil in order to compromise Soviet missile supplies, followed by an invasion of

1053-510: A great chance but there are quite some rewards to it." Thirdly, from the perspective of the Soviet Union and of Cuba, it seemed that the United States wanted to invade or increase its presence in Cuba. In view of actions including the attempt to expel Cuba from the Organization of American States , the ongoing campaign of violent terrorist attacks on civilians the US was carrying out against

1170-476: A half dozen launching sites for intermediate range tactical missiles." The Cuban leadership was further upset when on 20 September, the US Senate approved Joint Resolution 230, which expressed the US was determined "to prevent in Cuba the creation or use of an externally-supported military capability endangering the security of the United States". On the same day, the US announced a major military exercise in

1287-656: A historian and adviser to Kennedy, told National Public Radio in an interview on 16 October 2002, that Castro did not want the missiles, but Khrushchev pressured Castro to accept them. Castro was not completely happy with the idea, but the Cuban National Directorate of the Revolution accepted them, both to protect Cuba against US attack and to aid the Soviet Union. In early 1962, a group of Soviet military and missile construction specialists accompanied an agricultural delegation to Havana. They obtained

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1404-405: A larger sphere of influence. For example, the software company Microsoft has a large sphere of influence in the market of operating systems ; any entity wishing to sell a software product may weigh up compatibility with Microsoft's products as part of a marketing plan. In another example, retailers wishing to make the most profits must ensure they open their stores in the correct location. This

1521-526: A lot of Russians, and then do nothing. If they don't take action in Cuba, they certainly will in Berlin. Kennedy concluded that attacking Cuba by air would signal the Soviets to presume "a clear line" to conquer Berlin. Kennedy also believed that US allies would think of the country as "trigger-happy cowboys" who lost Berlin because they could not peacefully resolve the Cuban situation. The EXCOMM then discussed

1638-631: A map of the Pacific Ocean as a large "bubble" surrounding the islands of Japan and the Asian and Pacific nations it controlled. According to a secret protocol attached to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 (revealed only after Germany's defeat in 1945), Northern and Eastern Europe were divided into Nazi and Soviet spheres of influence: Another clause of the treaty stipulated that Bessarabia , then part of Romania , would join

1755-414: A meeting with Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro . According to one report, Cuban leadership had a strong expectation that the US would invade Cuba again and enthusiastically approved the idea of installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. According to another source, Castro objected to the missiles' deployment as making him look like a Soviet puppet, but he was persuaded that missiles in Cuba would be an irritant to

1872-633: A personal message from Khrushchev reassuring him that "under no circumstances would surface-to-surface missiles be sent to Cuba." The missiles in Cuba allowed the Soviets to effectively target most of the Continental US. The planned arsenal was forty launchers. The Cuban populace readily noticed the arrival and deployment of the missiles and hundreds of reports reached Miami. US intelligence received countless reports, many of dubious quality or even laughable, most of which could be dismissed as describing defensive missiles. Only five reports bothered

1989-495: A preference for the United Kingdom at a rate of 10% or more, but the United States was the only country to prefer Britain over any other, at a rate of 43%. Five countries preferred France at a rate of 10% or more, led by Belgium at a rate of 25%. A single country, Iraq , expressed no preference, while three other countries, Lebanon , Palestine , and Slovenia , expressed no preference at a rate of 11% or more, although at

2106-427: A single country can fall into two distinct spheres of influence. In the 19th century, the buffer states of Iran and Thailand , lying between the empires of Britain , France and Russia , were divided between the spheres of influence of those three international powers . Likewise, after World War II , Germany was divided into four occupation zones , three of which later consolidated into West Germany and

2223-433: A smaller rate than their preference for Russia on the part of Lebanon and Slovenia, and China on the part of Palestine. Kosovo reported the most unified opinion, preferring the United States at a rate of 92%, while Russia's most unified supporters were Mongolia (71%), Armenia (67%) and Serbia (56%). In total, 21 countries expressed a preference for America at a rate of 50% or more. Cuban Missile Crisis This

2340-586: A sphere of influence by seizing a part of Ukraine, maintaining large numbers of forces on its borders, and demanding, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently stated, that "Ukraine cannot be part of any bloc." Criticising Russia in November 2014, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that "old thinking about spheres of influence, which runs roughshod over international law" put the "entire European peace order into question." In January 2017, British Prime Minister Theresa May said, "We should not jeopardise

2457-456: A strong background, nor, generally speaking, does he have the courage to stand up to a serious challenge." He also told his son Sergei that on Cuba, Kennedy "would make a fuss, make more of a fuss, and then agree". In May 1962, Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev was persuaded by the idea of countering the US's growing lead in developing and deploying strategic missiles by placing Soviet intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, despite

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2574-580: Is a relationship among people , groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called allies . Alliances form in many settings, including political alliances , military alliances , and business alliances . When the term is used in the context of war or armed struggle, such associations may also be called allied powers , especially when discussing World War I or World War II . A formal military alliance

2691-475: Is also true for shopping centers that, to reap the most profits, must be able to attract customers to their vicinity. There is no defined scale measuring such spheres of influence. However, one can evaluate the spheres of influence of two shopping centers by seeing how far people are prepared to travel to each shopping center, how much time they spend in its vicinity, how often they visit, the order of goods available, etc. Corporations have significant influence on

2808-892: Is an accepted version of this page Conflict resolved diplomatically The Cuban Missile Crisis , also known as the October Crisis ( Spanish : Crisis de Octubre ) in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis ( Russian : Карибский кризис , romanized :  Karibskiy krizis ), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union , when American deployments of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba . The crisis lasted from 16   to   28 October 1962. The confrontation

2925-409: Is not about spheres of influence. The difference is that these countries themselves opted to join." In corporate terms, the sphere of influence of a business , organization, or group can show its power and influence in the decisions of other businesses/organizations/groups. The influence shows in several ways, such as in size, frequency of visits, etc. In most cases, a company described as "bigger" has

3042-595: Is not required for being perceived as an ally— co-belligerence , fighting alongside someone, is enough. According to this usage, allies become so not when concluding an alliance treaty but when struck by war. When spelled with a capital "A", "Allies" usually denotes the countries who fought together against the Central Powers in World War ;I (the Allies of World War I ), or those who fought against

3159-565: Is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war . In 1961 the US government put Jupiter nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey. It had trained a paramilitary force of expatriate Cubans , which the CIA led in an attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow its government. Starting in November of that year, the US government engaged in a violent campaign of terrorism and sabotage in Cuba, referred to as

3276-840: The Axis Powers in World War II (the Allies of World War II ). The term has also been used by the United States Army to describe the countries that gave assistance to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War . The Allied Powers in World War I (also known as the Entente Powers ) were initially the United Kingdom , France , the Russian Empire , Belgium , Serbia , Montenegro and Japan , joined later by Italy , Portugal , Romania ,

3393-583: The Cuban Project , which continued throughout the first half of the 1960s. The Soviet administration was concerned about a Cuban drift towards China , with which the Soviets had an increasingly fractious relationship. In response to these factors the Soviet and Cuban governments agreed, at a meeting between leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in July 1962, to place nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter

3510-680: The Eisenhower administration and less than twelve months after the Cuban Revolution , the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) developed a plan for paramilitary action against Cuba. The CIA recruited operatives on the island to carry out terrorism and sabotage , kill civilians, and cause economic damage. At the initiative of the CIA Deputy Director for Plans , Richard Bissell , and approved by

3627-564: The Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security , stating the "aim of creating in Europe a common space of security and stability, without dividing lines or spheres of influence limiting the sovereignty of any state." On August 31, 2008, Russian president Dmitri Medvedev stated five principles of foreign policy, including the claim of a privileged sphere of influence that comprised "the border region, but not only". Following

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3744-762: The Moldovan ASSR and become the Moldovan SSR under the control of Moscow. The Soviet invasion of Bukovina on 28 June 1940 violated the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, as it went beyond the Soviet sphere of influence as agreed with the Axis . The USSR continued to deny the existence of the Pact's protocols until after the dissolution of the Soviet Union when the Russian government fully acknowledged

3861-642: The Monroe Doctrine to tout the United States as the region's preferred trade partner over other nations such as China . For Siam ( Thailand ), Britain and France signed an agreement in 1904 whereby the British recognised a French sphere of influence to the east of the River Menam's ( Chao Phraya River ) basin; in turn, the French recognised British influence over the territory to the west of

3978-581: The Russian Federation 's 'sphere of influence', according to a statement by Boris Yeltsin , dated September 1994. According to Ulrich Speck, writing for Carnegie Europe , "After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the West's focus was on Russia. Western nations implicitly treated the post-Soviet countries (besides the Baltic states) as Russia's sphere of influence." In 1997, NATO and Russia signed

4095-520: The Sino-Soviet split and Tito–Stalin split —the People's Republic of China and the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , among other countries at various times. Meanwhile, United States was considered to have a sphere of influence over Western Europe , Oceania , Japan , South Vietnam and South Korea , among other places. However, the level of control exerted in these spheres varied and

4212-541: The Special Activities Division were to be infiltrated into Cuba to carry out sabotage and organization, including radio broadcasts. In February 1962, the US launched an embargo against Cuba , and Lansdale presented a 26-page, top-secret timetable for implementation of the overthrow of the Cuban government, mandating guerrilla operations to begin in August and September. "Open revolt and overthrow of

4329-533: The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS: Telegrafnoe Agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza ) announced that the Soviet Union had no need or intention to introduce offensive nuclear missiles into Cuba. On 13 October, Dobrynin was questioned by former Undersecretary of State Chester Bowles about whether the Soviets planned to put offensive weapons in Cuba. He denied any such plans. On 17 October, Soviet embassy official Georgy Bolshakov brought President Kennedy

4446-498: The UN General Assembly : "If... we are attacked, we will defend ourselves. I repeat, we have sufficient means with which to defend ourselves; we have indeed our inevitable weapons, the weapons, which we would have preferred not to acquire, and which we do not wish to employ." On 11 October in another Senate speech, Sen Keating reaffirmed his earlier warning of 31 August and stated that, "Construction has begun on at least

4563-569: The United States , Greece and Brazil . Some, such as the Russian Empire, withdrew from the war before the armistice due to revolution or defeat. After the end of World War II and during the Cold War , the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed as a political and military alliance that promotes anti-communist values. More recently, the term "Allied forces" has also been used to describe

4680-665: The coalition of the Gulf War , as opposed to forces the Multi-National Forces in Iraq which are commonly referred to as "Coalition forces" or, as by the George W. Bush administration, "the coalition of the willing" . Scholars are divided as to the impact of alliances. Several studies find that defensive alliances deter conflict. One study questions these findings, showing that alliance commitments deterred conflict in

4797-426: The contiguous United States . Graham Allison, the director of Harvard University 's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs , points out, "The Soviet Union could not right the nuclear imbalance by deploying new ICBMs on its own soil. In order to meet the threat it faced in 1962, 1963, and 1964, it had very few options. Moving existing nuclear weapons to locations from which they could reach American targets

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4914-589: The " century of humiliation "), Great Britain , France , Germany , Russia , and Japan held special powers over large swaths of Chinese territory based on securing "nonalienation commitments" for their "spheres of interest"; only the United States was unable to participate due to their involvement in the Spanish–American War . These spheres of influence were acquired by forcing the Qing government to sign " unequal treaties " and long-term leases. In early 1895,

5031-456: The "Photo Gap". No significant U-2 coverage was achieved over the interior of the island. US officials attempted to use a Corona photo-reconnaissance satellite to obtain coverage over reported Soviet military deployments, but imagery acquired over western Cuba by a Corona KH-4 mission on October 1 was heavily covered by clouds and haze and failed to provide any usable intelligence. At the end of September, Navy reconnaissance aircraft photographed

5148-560: The ' Monroe Doctrine ', was formalized under President James Monroe , who asserted that the New World was to be established as a Sphere of influence, removed from European encroachment. As the U.S. emerged as a world power, few nations dared to trespass on this sphere (A notable exception occurred with the Soviet Union and the Cuban Missile Crisis .). As of 2018, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson continued to refer to

5265-535: The 2008 Russo-Georgian War , Václav Havel and other former central and eastern European leaders signed an open letter stating that Russia had "violated the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act , the Charter of Paris ... all in the name of defending a sphere of influence on its borders." In April 2014, NATO stated that, contrary to the Founding Act , Russia now appears to be attempting to recreate

5382-724: The Americas without prior approval from the Soviet Union. With the end of the Cold War , the Eastern Bloc fell apart, effectively ending the Soviet sphere of influence. Then in 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist , replaced by the Russian Federation and several other ex-Soviet Republics who became independent states. Following the fall of the Soviet Union , the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States that became independent in 1991, were portrayed as part of

5499-591: The Bay of Pigs will embolden the Soviets to do something that they would otherwise not do." Following the failed invasion, the US massively escalated its sponsorship of terrorism against Cuba. Starting in late 1961, using the military and the CIA, the US government engaged in an extensive campaign of state-sponsored terrorism against civilian and military targets on the island. The terrorist attacks killed significant numbers of civilians. The US armed, trained, funded and directed

5616-519: The Caribbean, PHIBRIGLEX-62 , which Cuba denounced as a deliberate provocation and proof that the US planned to invade Cuba. The Soviet leadership believed, based on its perception of Kennedy's lack of confidence during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, that he would avoid confrontation and accept the missiles as a fait accompli . On 11 September, the Soviet Union publicly warned that a US attack on Cuba or on Soviet ships that were carrying supplies to

5733-678: The Chinese market should the country be officially partitioned. Although treaties made after 1900 refer to this " Open Door Policy ", competition among the various powers for special concessions within China for railroad rights, mining rights, loans, foreign trade ports, and so forth, continued unabated, with the US itself contradicting the policy by agreeing to recognise the Japanese sphere in the Lansing-Ishii Agreement . In 1910,

5850-464: The Communist regime" was hoped by the planners to occur in the first two weeks of October. The terrorism campaign and the threat of invasion were crucial factors in the Soviet decision to position the missiles on Cuba, and in the Cuban government's decision to accept. The US government was aware at the time, as reported to the president in a National Intelligence Estimate , that the invasion threat

5967-403: The Cuban mainland. He chose a less aggressive course in order to avoid a declaration of war. On 22 October Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to prevent further missiles from reaching Cuba. He referred to the blockade as a "quarantine", not as a blockade, so the US could avoid the formal implications of a state of war. An agreement was eventually reached between Kennedy and Khrushchev. Publicly,

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6084-494: The Cuban or Soviet SAMs in Cuba might shoot down a CIA U-2, initiating another international incident. In a meeting with members of the Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance (COMOR) on 10 September, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy heavily restricted further U-2 flights over Cuban airspace. The resulting lack of coverage over the island for the next five weeks became known to historians as

6201-608: The French laid claim to a sphere in Southwest China . By December 1897, German Kaiser Wilhelm II declared his intent to seize territory in China, precipitating the scramble to demarcate zones of influence in China . The Germans acquired, in Shandong province, exclusive control over developmental loans, mining, and railway ownership, while Russia gained a sphere over all territory north of the Great Wall , in addition to

6318-557: The Kennedy library transcribed some of them. On 16 October, President Kennedy notified Attorney General Robert Kennedy that he was convinced the Soviets were placing missiles in Cuba and it was a legitimate threat. This made the threat of nuclear destruction by two world superpowers a reality. Robert Kennedy responded by contacting the Soviet Ambassador, Anatoly Dobrynin . Robert Kennedy expressed his "concern about what

6435-723: The Menam basin and west of the Gulf of Thailand . Both parties disclaimed any idea of annexing Siamese territory. In the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, Britain and Russia divided Persia ( Iran ) into spheres of influence, with the Russians gaining recognition for influence over most of northern Iran, and Britain establishing a zone in the Southeast. In China, during the mid 19th and 20th centuries (known in China as

6552-516: The Soviet Rocket Forces, led a survey team that visited Cuba. He told Khrushchev that the missiles would be concealed and camouflaged by palm trees. The Soviet troops would arrive in Cuba heavily underprepared. They did not know that the tropical climate would render ineffective many of their weapons and much of their equipment. In the first few days of setting up the missiles, troops complained of fuse failures, excessive corrosion, overconsumption of oil, and generator blackouts. As early as August 1962,

6669-401: The Soviet Union Guevara argued with Khrushchev that the missile deal should be made public but Khrushchev insisted on total secrecy, and swore the Soviet Union's support if the Americans discovered the missiles. By the time Guevara arrived in Cuba the United States had already discovered the Soviet troops in Cuba via U-2 spy planes. With important Congressional elections scheduled for November,

6786-403: The Soviet Union because the withdrawal of US missiles from Italy and Turkey was a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, and the Soviets were seen as retreating from a situation that they had started. Khrushchev's fall from power two years later was in part because of the Soviet Politburo 's embarrassment at both Khrushchev's eventual concessions to the US and his ineptitude in precipitating

6903-411: The Soviet ship Kasimov , with large crates on its deck the size and shape of Il-28 jet bomber fuselages. In September 1962, analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) noticed that Cuban surface-to-air missile sites were arranged in a pattern similar to those used by the Soviet Union to protect its ICBM bases, leading DIA to lobby for the resumption of U-2 flights over the island. Although in

7020-428: The Soviets having 340 would not therefore substantially alter the strategic balance. In 1990, he reiterated that "it made no difference.... The military balance wasn't changed. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now." The EXCOMM agreed that the missiles would affect the political balance. Kennedy had explicitly promised the American people less than a month before the crisis that "if Cuba should possess

7137-411: The Soviets held a two-to-one advantage in conventional ground forces, more pronounced in field guns and tanks, particularly in the European theatre. Khrushchev also had an impression of Kennedy as weak, which to him was confirmed by the President's response during the Berlin Crisis of 1961 , particularly to the building of the Berlin Wall by East Germany to prevent its citizens from emigrating to

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7254-448: The Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement not to invade Cuba again. Secretly, the United States agreed to dismantle all of the offensive weapons it had deployed to Turkey. There has been debate on whether Italy was also included in the agreement. While the Soviets dismantled their missiles, some Soviet bombers remained in Cuba, and

7371-490: The Soviets would never install nuclear missiles in Cuba. EXCOMM discussed several possible courses of action: The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously agreed that a full-scale attack and invasion was the only solution. They believed that the Soviets would not attempt to stop the US from conquering Cuba. Kennedy was skeptical: They, no more than we, can let these things go by without doing something. They can't, after all their statements, permit us to take out their missiles, kill

7488-491: The Soviets' operation entailed elaborate denial and deception , known as " maskirovka ". All the planning and preparation for transporting and deploying the missiles were carried out in the utmost secrecy, with only a very few told the exact nature of the mission. Even the troops detailed for the mission were given misdirection by being told that they were headed for a cold region and being outfitted with ski boots, fleece-lined parkas, and other winter equipment. The Soviet code-name

7605-447: The Treasury , aimed for the United States to establish a sphere of influence in North America . Hamilton, writing in the Federalist Papers , harboured ambitions for the US to rise to world power status and gain the strength to expel European powers from the Americas , taking on the mantle of regional dominance among American nations, although most of the New World were European colonies during that period. This doctrine, dubbed

7722-442: The U-2 photographs and identified objects that they interpreted as medium range ballistic missiles. This identification was made, in part, on the strength of reporting provided by Oleg Penkovsky , a double agent in the GRU working for the CIA and MI6 . Although he provided no direct reports of the Soviet missile deployments to Cuba, technical and doctrinal details of Soviet missile regiments that had been provided by Penkovsky in

7839-400: The US and help the interests of the entire socialist camp. The deployment would include short-range tactical weapons (with a range of 40 km, usable only against naval vessels) that would provide a "nuclear umbrella" for attacks upon the island. By May, Khrushchev and Castro agreed to place strategic nuclear missiles secretly in Cuba. Like Castro, Khrushchev felt that a US invasion of Cuba

7956-495: The US did nothing over the missile deployments in Cuba, he could muscle the West out of Berlin using said missiles as a deterrent to western countermeasures in Berlin. If the US tried to bargain with the Soviets after it became aware of the missiles, Khrushchev could demand trading the missiles for West Berlin. Since Berlin was strategically more important than Cuba, the trade would be a win for Khrushchev, as Kennedy recognized: "The advantage is, from Khrushchev's point of view, he takes

8073-469: The US from inside the Soviet Union. The poor accuracy and reliability of the missiles raised serious doubts about their effectiveness. A newer, more reliable generation of ICBMs would become operational only after 1965. Therefore, Soviet nuclear capability in 1962 placed less emphasis on ICBMs than on medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles ( MRBMs and IRBMs ). The missiles could hit American allies and most of Alaska from Soviet territory but not

8190-415: The US government's demands, made as part of the hostile US reaction to Cuban government policy, were unacceptable. With the end of World War II and the start of the Cold War , the United States government sought to promote private enterprise as an instrument for advancing US strategic interests in the developing world. It had grown concerned about the expansion of communism . In December 1959, under

8307-512: The US suspected the Soviets of building missile facilities in Cuba. During that month, its intelligence services gathered information about sightings by ground observers of Soviet-built MiG-21 fighters and Il-28 light bombers. U-2 spy planes found S-75 Dvina (NATO designation SA-2 ) surface-to-air missile sites at eight different locations. CIA director John A. McCone was suspicious. Sending antiaircraft missiles into Cuba, he reasoned, "made sense only if Moscow intended to use them to shield

8424-505: The United States kept the naval quarantine in place until 20 November 1962. The blockade was formally ended on 20 November after all offensive missiles and bombers had been withdrawn from Cuba. The evident necessity of a quick and direct communication line between the two powers resulted in the Moscow–Washington hotline . A series of agreements later reduced US–Soviet tensions for several years. The compromise embarrassed Khrushchev and

8541-555: The United States) might have their own courts, post offices, commercial institutions, railroads, and gunboats in what was on paper Chinese territory. However, the foreign powers and their control in some cases could have been exaggerated; the local government persistently restricted further encroachment. The system ended after the Second World War . On September 6, 1899, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay sent notes to

8658-424: The West . The half-hearted nature of the Bay of Pigs invasion reinforced Khrushchev's and his advisers' impression that Kennedy was indecisive and, as one Soviet aide wrote, "too young, intellectual, not prepared well for decision making in crisis situations... too intelligent and too weak". Speaking to Soviet officials in the aftermath of the crisis, Khrushchev asserted, "I know for certain that Kennedy doesn't have

8775-400: The allied powers successively liberated other states. The wartime spheres lacked a practical definition and it had never been determined if a dominant allied power was entitled to unilateral decisions only in the area of military activity, or could also force its will regarding political, social and economic future of other states. This overly informal system backfired during the late stages of

8892-431: The analysts. They described large trucks passing through towns at night that were carrying very long canvas-covered cylindrical objects that could not make turns through towns without backing up and maneuvering. Defensive missile transporters, it was believed, could make such turns without undue difficulty. The reports could not be satisfactorily dismissed. The United States had been sending U-2 surveillance over Cuba since

9009-730: The crisis became enmeshed in American politics. On 31 August, Senator Kenneth Keating (R-New York) warned on the Senate floor that the Soviet Union was "in all probability" constructing a missile base in Cuba. He charged the Kennedy administration with covering up a major threat to the US, thereby starting the crisis. He may have received this initial "remarkably accurate" information from his friend, former congresswoman and ambassador Clare Boothe Luce , who in turn received it from Cuban exiles. A later confirming source for Keating's information possibly

9126-611: The crisis. According to the Soviet Ambassador to the United States , Anatoly Dobrynin , the top Soviet leadership took the Cuban outcome as "a blow to its prestige bordering on humiliation". In late 1961, Fidel Castro asked for more SA-2 anti-aircraft missiles from the Soviet Union . The request was not acted upon by the Soviet leadership. In the interval, Castro began criticizing the Soviets for lack of "revolutionary boldness", and began talking to China about agreements for economic assistance. In March 1962, Castro ordered

9243-403: The effect on the strategic balance of power, both political and military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that the missiles would seriously alter the military balance, but McNamara disagreed. An extra 40, he reasoned, would make little difference to the overall strategic balance. The US already had approximately 5,000 strategic warheads, but the Soviet Union had only 300. McNamara concluded that

9360-729: The existence and authenticity of the secret protocols. From 1941 and the German attack on the Soviet Union , the Allied Coalition operated on the unwritten assumption that the Western Powers and the Soviet Union had each its own sphere of influence. The presumption of the US-British and Soviet unrestricted rights in their respective spheres began to cause difficulties as the Nazi-controlled territory shrank and

9477-638: The failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. The first issue that led to a pause in reconnaissance flights took place on 30 August, when a U-2 operated by the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command flew over Sakhalin Island in the Soviet Far East by mistake. The Soviets lodged a protest and the US apologized. Nine days later, a Taiwanese-operated U-2 was lost over western China to an SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM). US officials were worried that one of

9594-534: The freedoms that President Reagan and Mrs Thatcher brought to Eastern Europe by accepting President Putin's claim that it is now in his sphere of influence." In 2009, Russia asserted that the European Union desires a sphere of influence and that the Eastern Partnership is "an attempt to extend" it. In March that year, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt stated that the "Eastern Partnership

9711-480: The great powers, Britain, France, Germany, United States, and later, Russia and Japan, ignored the Open Door Policy to form a banking consortium , consisting of national banking groups backed by respective governments, through which all foreign loans to China were monopolised, granting the powers political influence over China and reducing economic competition between foreigners. This organisation controlled

9828-443: The images. At 6:30 pm EDT, Kennedy convened a meeting of the nine members of the National Security Council and five other key advisers, in a group he formally named the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM) after the fact on 22 October by National Security Action Memorandum 196. Without informing the members of EXCOMM, President Kennedy tape-recorded all of their proceedings, and Sheldon M. Stern, head of

9945-662: The island would mean war. The Soviets continued the Maskirovka program to conceal their actions in Cuba. They repeatedly denied that the weapons being brought into Cuba were offensive in nature. On 7 September, Soviet Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Dobrynin assured United States Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson that the Soviet Union was supplying only defensive weapons to Cuba. On 11 September,

10062-472: The island's structural weaknesses. The US government provided weapons, money, and its authority to the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista that ruled Cuba until 1958. The majority of the Cuban population had tired of the severe socioeconomic problems associated with the US domination of the country. The Cuban government was thus aware of the necessity of ending the turmoil and incongruities of US-dominated prerevolution Cuban society. It determined that

10179-570: The island, economic sanctions against the country, and the earlier attempt to invade it , Cuban officials understood that America was trying to overrun the country. As a result, to try to prevent this, the USSR would place missiles in Cuba and neutralise the threat. This would ultimately serve to secure Cuba against attack and keep the country in the Socialist Bloc. Another major reason why Khrushchev planned to place missiles on Cuba undetected

10296-567: The latter would react by launching a retaliatory nuclear strike against the US. Finally, placing nuclear missiles on Cuba was a way for the USSR to show their support for Cuba and support the Cuban people who viewed the United States as a threatening force, as the USSR had become Cuba's ally after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. According to Khrushchev, the Soviet Union's motives were "aimed at allowing Cuba to live peacefully and develop as its people desire". Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. ,

10413-419: The major powers (France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan, and Russia), asking them to declare formally that they would uphold Chinese territorial and administrative integrity and would not interfere with the free use of the treaty ports within their spheres of influence in China, as the United States felt threatened by other powers' much larger spheres of influence in China and worried that it might lose access to

10530-406: The majority of Chinese tax revenue in a "trust", utilising a small portion to bolster the rule of Chinese warlord Yuan Shikai to great effect. The renewed consortium of UK, France, Japan and the U.S. in 1920 effectively vetoed all developmental loans to China, exerting control over the Chinese government by aiming to control all railroads, ports and highways in China. The Consortium helped to contain

10647-456: The misgivings of the Soviet Ambassador in Havana, Alexandr Ivanovich Alexeyev , who argued that Castro would not accept the deployment of the missiles. Khrushchev faced a strategic situation in which the US was perceived to have a "splendid first strike " capability that put the Soviet Union at a huge disadvantage. In 1962, the Soviets had only 20 ICBMs capable of delivering nuclear warheads to

10764-630: The months and years prior to the Crisis helped NPIC analysts correctly identify the missiles on U-2 imagery. That evening, the CIA notified the Department of State and at 8:30 pm EDT , Bundy chose to wait until the next morning to tell the President. McNamara was briefed at midnight. The next morning, Bundy met with Kennedy and showed him the U-2 photographs and briefed him on the CIA's analysis of

10881-518: The new President John F. Kennedy , the US launched the attempted Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961. It used CIA-trained forces of Cuban expatriates . The complete failure of the invasion, and the exposure of the US government role before the operation began, was a source of diplomatic embarrassment for the Kennedy administration . Afterward, former President Eisenhower told Kennedy that "the failure of

10998-405: The ousting of Anibal Escalante and his pro-Moscow comrades from Cuba's Integrated Revolutionary Organizations . This affair alarmed the Soviet leadership as well as raised fears of a possible US invasion. As a result, the Soviet Union sent more SA-2 anti-aircraft missiles in April as well as a regiment of regular Soviet troops. Historian Timothy Naftali has contended that Escalante's dismissal

11115-648: The past the flights had been conducted by the CIA, pressure from the Defense Department led to that authority being transferred to the Air Force. Following the loss of a CIA U-2 over the Soviet Union in May 1960 , it was thought that if another U-2 were shot down, an Air Force aircraft arguably being used for a legitimate military purpose would be easier to explain than a CIA flight. When the reconnaissance missions were reauthorized on 9 October, poor weather kept

11232-525: The planes from flying. The US first obtained U-2 photographic evidence of the missiles on 14 October, when a U-2 flight piloted by Major Richard Heyser took 928 pictures on a path selected by DIA analysts, capturing images of what turned out to be an SS-4 construction site at San Cristóbal , Pinar del Río Province (now in Artemisa Province ), in western Cuba. On 15 October, the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) reviewed

11349-792: The political and financial conflict between parties and states over the loans, while imposing foreign control on China's finances during the period of revolutionary upheaval, which the Consortium also helped to precipitate. For another example, during the height of its existence in World War II , the Japanese Empire had quite a large sphere of influence. The Japanese government directly governed events in Korea , Vietnam , Taiwan , and parts of Mainland China . The " Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere " could thus be quite easily drawn on

11466-470: The prenuclear era but has no statistically meaningful impact on war in the postnuclear era. Another study finds that while alliance commitments deter conflict between sides with a recent history of conflict, alliances tend to provoke conflicts between states without such a history. A 2000 study in the Journal of Conflict Resolution found that allies fulfill their alliance commitments approximately 75% of

11583-661: The previous tax exemption for trade in Mongolia and Xinjiang , economic powers similar to Germany's over Fengtian , Jilin , and Heilongjiang provinces. France gained a sphere over Yunnan , as well as most of Guangxi and Guangdong provinces; Japan over Fujian province; and the British over the whole Yangtze River valley (defined as all provinces adjoining the Yangtze river as well as Henan and Zhejiang provinces), parts of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, and part of Tibet . Only Italy 's request for Zhejiang province

11700-513: The regulations and regulators that monitor them. During the Gilded Age in the United States, corruption was rampant as business leaders spent significant amounts of money ensuring that government did not regulate their activities. Wall Street spent a record $ 2 billion trying to influence the 2016 United States elections . For historical and current examples of significant battles over spheres of influence see: Alliance An alliance

11817-895: The remaining one became East Germany , the former a member of NATO and the latter a member of the Warsaw Pact . Many powerful states in past centuries had subordinate tributary states , whose native dynasty acknowledged the suzerainty of the great power . Many areas of the world are joined by a cultural influence inherited from a previous sphere of influence, even if they are no longer under political control. Examples include Anglosphere , Arab World , Persosphere , Eurosphere , Francophonie , Françafrique , Germanosphere , Indosphere , Hispanidad , Latin Europe / Latin America , Lusophonie , Turkosphere , Sinosphere , Slavisphere , Malay world , Post-Soviet States and many others. Alexander Hamilton , first U.S. Secretary of

11934-513: The study, "States honored their alliance commitments 66% of the time prior to 1945 but the compliance rate drops to 22% from 1945 to 2003. Moreover, the rates of fulfillment for defense pacts (41%) and nonaggression pacts (37%) are dramatically lower than offensive alliances (74%) and neutrality agreements (78%)." One of the most profound effects of alliances can be seen in technological innovation, due to conduits of knowledge flows that are open between allies but closed between rivals. According to

12051-418: The subject of continual Cuban diplomatic complaints to the US government. The first consignment of Soviet R-12 missiles arrived on the night of 8 September, followed by a second on 16 September. The R-12 was a medium-range ballistic missile, capable of carrying a thermonuclear warhead. It was a single-stage, road-transportable, surface-launched, storable liquid propellant fuelled missile that could deliver

12168-427: The terrorists, most of whom were Cuban expatriates. Terrorist attacks were planned at the direction and with the participation of US government employees and launched from US territory. In January 1962, US Air Force General Edward Lansdale described the plans to overthrow the Cuban government in a top-secret report, addressed to Kennedy and officials involved with Operation Mongoose. CIA agents or "pathfinders" from

12285-401: The time. Most research suggests that democracies are more reliable allies than non-democracies. A 2004 study did however question whether alliance commitments by democracies are more durable. A 2018 study updated and extended the data from the 2000 Journal of Conflict Resolution study and found that allies only fulfill their commitments about 50% of the time from 1816 to 2003. According to

12402-645: The war and afterward, when it turned out that the Soviets and the Western Allies had very different ideas concerning the administration and future development of the liberated regions and of Germany itself. During the Cold War , the Soviet sphere of influence was said to include: the Baltic states , Central Europe , some countries in Eastern Europe , Cuba , Laos , Vietnam , North Korea , and—until

12519-519: The world that the Soviets were building missiles "like sausages" but Soviet missiles' numbers and capabilities were nowhere close to his assertions. The Soviet Union had medium-range ballistic missiles in quantity, about 700 of them, but they were unreliable and inaccurate. The US had a considerable advantage in its total number of nuclear warheads (27,000 against 3,600) and in the technology required for their accurate delivery. The US also led in missile defensive capabilities, naval and air power; however,

12636-569: Was Operation Anadyr . The Anadyr River flows into the Bering Sea , and Anadyr is also the capital of Chukotsky District and a bomber base in the far eastern region. All the measures were meant to conceal the program from both internal and external audiences. Specialists in missile construction, under the guise of machine operators and agricultural specialists, arrived in July. A total of 43,000 foreign troops would ultimately be brought in. Chief Marshal of Artillery Sergei Biryuzov, Head of

12753-432: Was a key reason for Cuban acceptance of the missiles. When Kennedy ran for president in 1960, one of his key election issues was an alleged " missile gap " with the Soviets. In fact, the US at that time led the Soviets by a wide margin, which would only increase over time. In 1961, the Soviets had only four R-7 Semyorka intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). By October 1962, some intelligence estimates indicated

12870-466: Was a motivating factor behind the Soviet decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962. According to Naftali, Soviet foreign policy planners were concerned Castro's break with Escalante foreshadowed a Cuban drift toward China and sought to solidify the Soviet-Cuban relationship through the missile basing program. The Cuban government regarded US imperialism as the primary explanation for

12987-419: Was declined by the Chinese government. These do not include the lease and concession territories where the foreign powers had full authority. The Russian government militarily occupied their zone, imposed their law and schools, seized mining and logging privileges, settled their citizens, and even established their municipal administration on several cities, the latter without Chinese consent. The powers (and

13104-484: Was happening" and Dobrynin "was instructed by Soviet Chairman Nikita S. Khrushchev to assure President Kennedy that there would be no ground-to-ground missiles or offensive weapons placed in Cuba". Khrushchev further assured Kennedy that the Soviet Union had no intention of "disrupting the relationship of our two countries" despite the photo evidence presented before President Kennedy. The US had no plan in place because until recently its intelligence had been convinced that

13221-622: Was imminent and that to lose Cuba would do great harm to the communists, especially in Latin America. He said he wanted to confront the Americans "with more than words.... the logical answer was missiles". The Soviets maintained their tight secrecy, writing their plans longhand, which were approved by Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky on 4 July and Khrushchev on 7 July. From the very beginning,

13338-650: Was not absolute. For instance, France and the United Kingdom were able to act independently to invade (with Israel ) the Suez Canal (they were later forced to withdraw by joint U.S. and Soviet pressure). Later, France was also able to withdraw from the military arm of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Cuba, as another example, often took positions that put it at odds with its Soviet ally, including momentary alliances with China, economic reorganizations, and providing support for insurgencies in Africa and

13455-512: Was one." A second reason that Soviet missiles were deployed to Cuba was that Khrushchev wanted to bring West Berlin , controlled by the American, British and French within Communist East Germany , into the Soviet orbit. The East Germans and Soviets considered western control over a portion of Berlin a grave threat to East Germany. Khrushchev made West Berlin the central battlefield of the Cold War. Khrushchev believed that if

13572-616: Was the West German ambassador to Cuba, who had received information from dissidents inside Cuba that Soviet troops had arrived in Cuba in early August and were seen working "in all probability on or near a missile base" and who passed this information to Keating on a trip to Washington in early October. Air Force General Curtis LeMay presented a pre-invasion bombing plan to Kennedy in September, and spy flights and minor military harassment from US forces at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base were

13689-408: Was to "level the playing field" with the evident American nuclear threat. America had the upper hand as they could launch from Turkey and destroy the USSR before they would have a chance to react. After the emplacement of nuclear missiles in Cuba, Khrushchev had finally established mutual assured destruction , meaning that if the United States decided to launch a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union,

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