Ideological Warfare: Cuban Missile Crisis and its effect on International Peace 1959 – 1962

Abstract

This work focused on the ideological warfare between the Western and Eastern blocs and endeavour to find out, how the ideological war between the great powers from these blocs, affected international peace, and the influence of the Cold War over Cuba. This era heralded the advent of the most destructive instruments in the annals of human development – the Atomic Bomb and the Ballistic Missiles. The presence of these instruments in the midst of humanity, gave rational beings something to worry about. The method adopted in the study combines both descriptive and historical narrative. Qualitative research methodology was used in the re-interpretation and analysis of verifiable information collected from different sources. The approach was interdisciplinary and presentation of findings was both chronological and thematic. An analysis of the national interests of the United States of America and Soviet Union showed a divergence of very fundamental goals, goals deeply rooted in the national interests of the two states. The findings show that the influence of the Cold War over Cuba violated international peace and polarised the international system. The paper concluded by investigating the background relationships of the two states and revealed that antipathy existed, but not to a degree strong enough to cause such an open confrontation between the two countries.