Castro urges a Soviet nuclear first strike
1962 · Event
Convinced an American invasion of Cuba is hours away, Fidel Castro spends the night in the Soviet embassy in Havana dictating a cable urging Khrushchev to launch a nuclear strike if the island is attacked. The letter horrifies Moscow and hastens the climb-down.
On these timelines: Cuban Missile Crisis, Master, Russia & the USSR, USA
More from Cuban Missile Crisis
- Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
- Kennedy announces the naval quarantine of Cuba (1962)
- Khrushchev announces Soviet withdrawal from Cuba (1962)
- Vasily Arkhipov blocks a nuclear torpedo launch (1962)
- American U-2 shot down over Cuba (1962)
- Kennedy learns of the Soviet missiles in Cuba (1962)
- U-2 photographs reveal Soviet missiles in Cuba (1962)
- Soviet ships stop at the quarantine line (1962)
Around 1962
- Six-Day War (1967)
- Cuban Revolutionary War (1953)
- Watergate scandal (1972)
- Apollo 11 moon landing (1969)
- The Troubles (1968)
- Decolonisation of Africa (1952)
- Prague Spring (1968)
- US Civil Rights Movement (1954)
- Suez Crisis (1956)
- Vietnam War (American phase) (1965)