The U.S. Attempts to Contain Cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?
Cuba was important to The United States because it was so close. It the Soviets got control of Cuba or became to friendly with Castro, which they did, then the Soviets would be to close to comfort for the US because they could easily start a nuclear war with them.

2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?
By sending Cuban exiles, they could see how powerful Castro's army was without endangering their own American soldiers.

3. Why did the invasion fail?
The Cuban exiles only numbered around 1,400 while the Cuban army under Castro was near 20,000. Castro's army crushed the exiles, killing or capturing all of them in a matter of days.

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.
In the beginning of the Cold War America had all the advances in the technology. They were the first to create the atomic bomb and if needed, they could send it and destroy the Soviet Union within 30 minutes. But soon enough the Soviets were the first to have a satellite in space and then soon they started to have good relations with the Cubans, enabling them to set up a nuclear base there, and this wasn't good for the United States because Cuba is so close, so now the US is the weaker country.