My dd is struggling at alevel slightly. She seems to freeze up in the exams and so not have enough time to finish. Today she had a semi-important exam for her predicted grades which she hopes to get up to an A from a B. Any teachers knocking about to give feedback? Shes really beating herself up over this, says its about C/D grade. Im willing to get a tutor for her but unsure where to start?
The view that the USA was more responsible than the USSR for the crisis over Cuba between 1960-1962 has high validity. Although it can be said that the USSR must take some responsibility for the crisis, as their provocative decision to build up an economic and political relationship with Cuba made it seem to the USA that Cuba was going to become a country from which communist regimes in the Caribbean could be managed, ultimately the USA carried out drastic operations which were an overreaction to the military and economic help that the USSR was giving Cuba, particularly considering the military and missile superiority of the USA at the time. Therefore, the USA is more responsible for the Cuban missile crisis over the USSR, as the excessive decisions made by Kennedy made it clear to the USSR that Cuba needed great protection, and so the deployment of Soviet missiles in Cuba was needed for this
The USA must take responsibility for the crisis as they carried out many military operations under Kennedy who was determined to draw a harder line than the Eisenhower administration which lost Cuba which made it clear to both the USSR and Cuba that Cuba was under a US threat. One such operation was the April 1961 Bay of Pigs, which involved 1500 anti-castro exiles to land in Cuba and carry out a military revolt. Despite this being a profound humiliation for the USA, as the exiles were quickly caught, it did confirm to the USSR and Cuba that the USA would not stop interfering in the affairs of Cuba, which it considered to be in its sphere of influence.Furthermore, the bay of pigs pushed Castro to declare Cuba a communist country to gain the support of the USSR and also justified the newly instated castro regime, as he was successfully able to protect the Cuba from american imperialism .Indeed the USSR and Cuba were correct that the USA would increasingly interfer in the affairs of Cuba as the USA carried out the November 1961 Operation Mongoose and 1962 Quick-kick less than a year after the Bay of Pigs. Mongoose aimed to stabilise the regime via covert operations , eventually leading to a military revolt led by General Lansdale. Various forms of invasion were planned , such as OPLAN 12 and 14, making it clear that these would eventually be used against Cuba to overthrow the castro regime. Quick-Kick was when US practise military manoeuvres against an imaginary dictator started with a further secret plan to eventually overthrow castro called ortsac .Both showed that the USA were unwilling to let the Cuba remain a communist country, as this would a profound humiliation for the USA, particularly when considering the dominance that the USSR had over their sphere of influence and so justified the plan of deploying soviet missiles in Cuba, as it was clear that Cuba would need protection against the USA
However the USSR must also take some responsibility for the Crisis as they deliberately iniated a relationship with Cuba , which had been in the US sphere of influence for decades, which led to the downfall of US-Cuban relations. In February 1960, the soviet first deputy primer mikoyan , visited Cuba and sought an economic relationship with them, buying 5 million tonnes of Cuban sugar and 10 million dollars of credits which had been traditionally sold to the USA. When in April 1960 the first shipment of USSR oil
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reached Cuba, it therefore seemed natural for the US companies to refuse to refine the oil and for the USA to impose economic sanctions when Castro nationalised US companies. Furthermore, the massive build of military and economic help from the USSR towards the USA rightfully frightened the USA, as deployment of soviet missile via Operation Anadyr readdressed the missile gap. Indeed it is true that Khrushchev did use Cuba as a geostrategic opportunity , to ensure that the USSR reached parity with the USA over missiles as the USA had developed long range missiles which could reach the USSR from the USA, but the Soviets had only managed to develop medium range missiles . Khrushchev also made increasingly proactive statements aimed at the USA, declaring Cuba a member of the soviet bloc in January 1962, and so making it seem to the USA that they must protect the rest of the carribean. However , ultimately the reason that the soviets though that Operation Anadyr was needed was because of the irrational military operations that the USA carried out, and without these operations the deployment of soviet missiles in cuba would not have occurred.
Overall, it is clear that the USA was more responsible for than the USSR for the Cuban missile. Whilst it may be argued that the Soviet intended to use Cuba as a geostategic opportunity, the fact remains that they felt that this opportunity was required because they felt that it was inevitable that Cuba would be attacked by the USA, due to the USA’s increasingly excessive operations