The U.S. Attempts to Contain Cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?-
Cuba was important to the United States for a few reasons. Cuba was used as a bumper for the US between the spanish countrolled countries. American businessmen also had a lot of money invested in Cuba mostly in Sugar plantations.


2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?-
I think that the US didnt want to look like it was scared of Cuba, because if they were to attack the USSR would back up Cuba and the two Superpowers would have another mini war using smaller countries. The US used exiles because they would blend in and would be less noticed by the Cuban government, the US was probaly hoping that they would say that the US sent them.


3. Why did the invasion fail?-
This invasion failed because the exiles were poorly trained and probaly didnt know what to do. The Cuban government found out about them and captured some as prisoners, and others were killed by the military.


4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power.-
Source 17- Shows the locations of missles in the two superpowers and where each country had other weapons placed in other countries as back up reserves.
Source 24- This source shows why the missles placed in Cuba were a threat to the united states. The map shows how the missles would be able to reach almost every point in the united states. It also shows that there is a USSR ship off the Florida coast which shows that it would be able to send a missle to hit the Space