Essay Examples on Cuban Missile Crisis Essay Example

Essay Examples on Cuban Missile Crisis Paper 1st Essay Sample on Cuban Missile Crisis John F. Kennedys greatest triumph as President came in 1962, as the worlds two largest superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, edged closer and closer to nuclear war. The Soviet Premier of Russia was caught arming Fidel Castro with nuclear weapons. The confrontation left the world in fear for thirteen long days, with the life of the world on the line. Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, secretly ordered the placement of Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba. This was thefirst time any such weapons had been placed outside Eurasia. Historians have offered several explanations for his actions. One factor in his decision was strategic. A year earlier, the United States had placed several medium-range nuclear missiles in Turkey. Another factor was a threat by the United States to one of the Soviet Unions satellite countries, Cuba. The United States had, in the past, attempted to kill Castro. In July 1962, the United States found out that nuclear missile shipments were being mad e to Cuba. US U-2 spy planes flew over the island, bringing back reports of construction and ballistic missiles. On September 4, the Soviet ambassador met with Robert Kennedy to discuss a message from Khrushchev. According to the message, the military build-up was defensive in nature and not militarily threatening. Robert Kennedy informed the ambassador that the United States would closely watch all military activity in Cuba and warned of severe consequences should the Soviets place offensive weapons. President Kennedy did not believe the message. He asks Congress for the authority to mobilize over 100,000 reservists into active duty. The Soviets response was that they could fire rockets from Russia just as easily as from Cuba. Offensive missiles in Cuba, they argued, were therefore unnecessary for an offensive base. Furthermore, the United States has twelve times the firepower of the Soviets. 2nd Essay Sample on cuban missile crisis Russian government promised you say that than that of the missiles into Cuba.One day U.S. spy plane finds out the missiles actually in the Cuba, so American government gets very said and the size to full force missiles out of Cuba.The letter one comes from Krishev that says if you promise not to invade Cuba than we would take the missiles back. Than the second letter comes from a show that says you have to promise not to invade Cuba and take your missiles back to the John F. Kennedy decides to do air attack or invade, because Soviet Union was pushing it. John F. Kennedy thought that Russia is trying to start the war because therere putting missiles in Cuba. Before an attack John F. Kennedy tries to answer thefirst letter that Krishev sent.Before that move John F. Kennedy decides to send his brother to speak secretly with Russian government, because hes brother was very friendly and understanding.At the meeting with Russian government Kennedys brother tells the Russian government tha t he should worry because were going to take the missiles away from Cuba, just keep this meeting down low so that the whole world were have to know about this. So Russian government decides to agree with Kennedys brother and take the misses away from Cuba. The arguments about Kennedys decision not to attack Cuba were good and bad.Some people thought that Kennedy should have attacked Cuba and destroyed the missiles.And some people thought that it was right decision to fight this problem peacefully, so that nobody would get hurt.I personally think that it was better to so the problem without letting the chain of events go off.Because if Kennedy would have decided to do an air attack on Cuba, then Krushev would decide to attack Turkey and get American missiles out. 3rdEssay Sample on cuban missile crisis We will write a custom essay sample on Essay Examples on Cuban Missile Crisis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Essay Examples on Cuban Missile Crisis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Essay Examples on Cuban Missile Crisis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer People say that the world has never come closer to destroying itself than in October, 1962. There has not been another time in history in which two superpowers with nuclear abilities challengend each other,that could have brought a premature end to the world. With the threat of muclear warfare, never before had the death of so many people become so near. The Kennedy administration had been put through a test. A test that, if failed, could have meant the death of more than 200 million people around the world. This event showed just how serious the issue of living in the nuclear age can be. For thirteen days in October of 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union came to the edge of a nuclear war.Before October, the United States intellignece knew that the Soviets were sending weapons to Cuba, but did not know whether these arms included offensive weapons. Moscow had never sent offensive weapons anywhere out of Russia, not even China, who was one of Russia’s strongest allies at the time. The Soviet government told its ambasssador to reassure the U.S. that only defensive weapons were being placed in Cuba. President Kennedy announced to the ambassador that he would not order an invasion of Cuba unless he knew that Cuba had become an offensive base for the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union assured the United States that this would not happen, however, on October 16, when President Kennedy was informed that the U.S. had discovered nuclear missiles in Cuba. The president was shocked. He could fathom why the Soviet Union would take such a risk, a riskthat could lead to nuclear confrontation. After many meetings with Kennedy and his administration, four possibilities had been drawn up. One reason of why the Soviet Union might have placed ballistic missles in Cuba was for Cuban defense. 4thEssay Sample on Cuban Missile Crisis Soviet Union was very much behind the United States in the arms race or the Cold War. Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe but U.S. missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev decided upon the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba, he eventually put his idea into action. Positioning the missiles in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide prevention of potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union.Fidel Castro allowed Khrushchev to position his missiles in Cuba because Fidel Castro was looking for a way to defend his island nation from an attack by the U.S. Ever since the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961, Castro felt a second attack was inevitable. On October 15 the United States learned of the secret missile bases in Cuba through reconnaissance photos and President Kennedy was immediately informed. President Kennedy saw this as a threat to the United States and to world peace and immediately took action. On October 22, 1962 President Kennedy address the nation and the world.He informed the nation that these missiles were capable of striking the eastern two thirds of the United States as well as much of Latin America.President John F. Kennedy called on Premier Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this provocative threat to world peace in order to establish a better relationship between the two nations. Upon learning of this threat facing the nation President Kennedy immediately organized the ExComm, a group of his twelve most important advisors to handle the crisis. After seven days of guarded and intense debate within the upper echelons of government, Kennedy concluded to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba. He wanted to prevent the arrival of more Soviet offensive weapons on the island.By this time tension was growing on both sides. 5thEssay Sample on Cuban Missile Crisis Many agree that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war; but exactly how close did it come? The Crisis was ultimately a showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union from October 16 to October 28, 1962. During those thirteen stressful days, the worlds two biggest superpowers stood on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. The Crisis started as a result of both the Soviet Unions fear of losing the arms race, and Cubas fear of US invasion. The Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, thought that both problems could easily be solved by placing Soviet medium range missiles in Cuba. This deployment would double the Soviet arsenal and protect Cuba from US invasion. Khrushchev proposed this idea to Cuban Premier, Fidel Castro, who, like Khrushchev, saw the strategic advantage. The two premiers worked together in secrecy throughout the late-summer and early-fall of 1962. The Soviets shipped sixty medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) along with their warheads, launch equipment, and necessary operating personnel to Cuba. When United States President, John F. Kennedy discovered the presence of these offensive weapons, he immediately organized EX-COMM, a group of his twelve most important advisors. They spent the next couple of days discussing different possible plans of action and finally decided to remove the US missiles from Turkey and promise not to invade Cuba in exchange for the removal of all offensive weapons in Cuba. On October 28, Khrushchev sent Kennedy a letter stating that he agreed to the terms Kennedy stated, and the crisis ended. The Cuban Missile Crisis can be blamed on the insecurity of Cuba and the Soviet Union. After the United States unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Castro and end communism in Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Castro was fearful of another US invasion. 6thEssay Sample on Cuban Missile Crisis In 1960, as tensions grew between the Soviet Union and the United States, the premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, began planning to secretly supply Cuba with nuclear missiles.Not until 1962 did the United States gain knowledge of these actions and begin to take action.The United States president, John F. Kennedy, warned, The gravest issues would arise should the Soviets continue to place nuclear weapons in Cuba.A standoff took place between the two great nations as the rest of the world looked on and held its breath.This became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. While the Soviets incessantly stated that they were defensive missiles the United States saw them as clearly offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction and demanded their removal.However, with the Soviets declaring that they were solely for defensive purposes, how could the U.S. justify taking action?It was determined that each missile was capable of traveling a distance of more than 1000 nautical miles.There w ere also additional sites designed for ballistic missiles traveling twice as far, jet bombers being assembled, and the necessary air bases being prepared.This put Washington D.C. or any other city in the southeastern part of the United States in jeopardy of being struck by one of these missiles. For a long time, the Soviets thought that they were years a head of the US in terms of intercontinental missiles. After all, they had put ‘Sputnik’ into orbit, well before the US had dreamt of such an act. Most of the Soviet organizations did not believe that there was a necessity to build more intercontinental missiles. This laxity made it harder for the Soviets to understand and deal with the fact that they had been surpassed.

Behistun Inscription - Message to the Persian Empire

Behistun Inscription - Message to the Persian Empire The Behistun inscription (also spelled Bisitun or Bisotun and typically abbreviated as DB for Darius Bisitun) is a 6th century BCE Persian Empire carving. The ancient billboard includes four panels of cuneiform writing around a set of three-dimensional figures, cut deep into a limestone cliff. The figures are carved 300 feet (90 meters) above the Royal Road of the Achaemenids, known today as the Kermanshah-Tehran highway in Iran. Fast Facts: Behistun Steel Name of Work:  Behistun InscriptionArtist or Architect: Darius the Great, ruled 522–486 BCEStyle/Movement: Parallel CuneiformTextPeriod: Persian EmpireHeight: 120 feetWidth: 125 feetType of Work: Carved inscriptionCreated/Built: 520–518 BCEMedium: Carved Limestone BedrockLocation: Near Bisotun, IranOffbeat Fact: The earliest known example of political propagandaLanguages: Old Persian, Elamite, Akkadian The carving is located near the town of Bisotun, Iran, about 310 miles (500 kilometers) from Tehran and about 18 mi (30 km) from Kermanshah. The figures show the crowned Persian king Darius I stepping on Guatama (his predecessor and rival) and nine rebel leaders standing before him connected by ropes around their necks. The figures measures some 60x10.5 ft (18x3.2 m) and the four panels of text more than double the overall size, creating an irregular rectangle of approximately 200x120 ft (60x35 m), with the lowest part of the carving some 125 ft (38 m) above the road. Behistun Text The writing on the Behistun inscription, like the Rosetta Stone, is a parallel text, a type of linguistic text that consists of two or more strings of written language placed alongside each other so they can be easily compared. The Behistun inscription is recorded in three different languages: in this case, cuneiform versions of Old Persian, Elamite, and a form of Neo-Babylonian called Akkadian. Like the Rosetta Stone, the Behistun text greatly assisted in the decipherment of those ancient languages: the inscription includes the earliest known use of Old Persian, a sub-branch of Indo-Iranian. A version of the Behistun inscription written in Aramaic (the same language of the Dead Sea Scrolls) was discovered on a papyrus scroll in Egypt, probably written during the early years of the reign of Darius II, about a century after the DB was carved into the rocks. See Tavernier (2001) for more specifics about the Aramaic script. Royal Propaganda The text of the Behistun inscription describes the early military campaigns of the Achaemenid rule King Darius I (522–486 BCE). The inscription, carved shortly after Dariuss accession to the throne between 520 and 518 BCE, give autobiographical, historical, royal and religious information about Darius: the Behistun text is one of several pieces of propaganda establishing Dariuss right to rule. The text also includes Dariuss genealogy, a list of the ethnic groups subject to him, how his accession occurred, several failed revolts against him, a list of his royal virtues, instructions to future generations and how the text was created.   So, What Does it Mean? Most scholars agree that the Behistun inscription is a bit of political bragging. Dariuss main purpose was to establish the legitimacy of his claim to Cyrus the Greats throne, to which he had no blood connection. Other bits of Dariuss braggadocio are found in others of these trilingual passages, as well as big architectural projects at Persepolis and Susa, and the burial places of Cyrus at Pasargadae and his own at Naqsh-i-Rustam. Historian Jennifer Finn (2011) noted that the location of the cuneiform is too far above the road to be read, and few people were likely literate in any language anyway when the inscription was made. She suggests that the written portion was meant not only for public consumption but that there was likely a ritual component, that the text was a message to the cosmos about the king. Translations and Interpretations Henry Rawlinson is credited with the first successful translation in English, scrambling up the cliff in 1835, and publishing his text in 1851. The 19th-century Persian scholar Mohammad Hasan Khan Etemad al-Saltaneh (1843–96) published the first Persian translation of the Behistun translation. He noted but disputed the then-current idea that Darius or Dara might have been matched to King Lohrasp of the Zoroastrian religious and Persian epic traditions.   Israeli historian Nadav Naaman has suggested (2015) that the Behistun inscription may have been a source for the Old Testament story of Abrahams victory over the four powerful Near Eastern kings. Sources Alibaigi, Sajjad, Kamal Aldin Niknami, and Shokouh Khosravi. The Location of the Parthian City of Bagistana in Bistoun, Kermanshah: A Proposal. Iranica Antiqua 47 (2011): 117–31. Print.Briant, Pierre. History of the Persian Empire (550–330 BC). Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia. Eds. Curtis, John E., and Nigel Tallis. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. 12–17. Print.Daryaee, Touraj. Persianate Contribution to the Study of Antiquity: Etemad Al-Saltanehs Nativisation of the Qajars. Iran 54.1 (2016): 39–45. Print.Ebeling, Signe Oksefjell, and Jarie Ebeling. From Babylon to Bergen: On the Usefulness of Aligned Texts. Bergen Language and Linguistics Studies 3.1 (2013): 23–42. Print.Finn, Jennifer. Gods, Kings, Men: Trilingual Inscriptions and Symbolic Visualizations in the Achaemenid Empire. Ars Orientalis 41 (2011): 219–75. Print.Naaman, Nadav. Abrahams Victory over the Kings of the Four Quadrants in Light of Darius Is Bis itun Inscription. Tel Aviv 42.1 (2015): 72–88. Print. Olmstead, A. T. Darius and His Behistun Inscription. The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 55.4 (1938): 392–416. Print.Rawlinson, H. C. Memoir on the Babylonian and Assyrian Inscriptions. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 14 (1851): i–16. Print.Tavernier, Jan. An Achaemenid Royal Inscription: The Text of Paragraph 13 of the Aramaic Version of the Bisitun Inscription. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 60.3 (2001): 61–176. Print.Wilson-Wright, Aren. From Persepolis to Jerusalem: A Reevaluation of Old Persian-Hebrew Contact in the Achaemenid Period. Vetus Testamentum 65.1 (2015): 152–67. Print.