IB History (SL) IA - HOW SIGNIFICANT WAS FIDEL CASTRO’S ROLE IN THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS OF 1962?
This investigation assesses the significance of Fidel Castro’s role in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. To investigate Fidel Castro’s role in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the investigation is carried out through the events that took place during the Crisis, such as the reasons for the USSR missiles being positioned in Cuba and the resolution of the Crisis. In order to evaluate Fidel Castro’s role in the Crisis, he is being portrayed in comparison to the United States of America and USSR and their representatives John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. Letters between the leaders during the Crisis, memoirs and oral sources from the history are mainly used to evaluate Fidel’s significance. Two of the sources, CIA Memorandum, The Crisis Cuba/USSR written on the 27th October 1962 and a letter from the Chairman Khrushchev to Prime Minister Castro on October 28th, 1962 are evaluated for their origins, purposes, values and limitations.