Soon after Stalin’s death, Georgy Malenkov became prime minister. He, along with his other cabinet leaders were more powerful than Khrushchev. This annoyed the soon to be ruler. Khrushchev succeeded in removing Malenkov from the position of prime minister in February 1955, replacing him with Nikolay Bulganin. Many of his opponents and rivals in the party, however, were still on the Politburo. In February 1956, Khrushchev gave his "secret speech" at the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party. In this speech, which was not released in full to the Soviet press, Khrushchev sharply criticized Stalin for his purge of the party, the large-scale executions of Soviet citizens, the deportation of a number of national minorities from their homelands, his cult of personality, and widespread violations of the law. This speech started a campaign of de-Stalinization to eliminate the worst of the excesses of Stalinism. During his years in office, Khrushchev provoked many world leaders with the issue of communism verses capitalism. Instead of showing force with nuclear weapons, he demonstrated the power that communism had over capitalism. According to the doctrine of peaceful coexistence, Communism would still triumph over capitalism. However, it would do so not through war but by demonstrating its superiority to capitalism. In 1962 Khrushchev provoked the United States and brought the world dangerously close to nuclear war by sending Soviet nuclear missiles to Cuba. Only during a last effort under the direction of President Kennedy, was he able to convince the Soviet leader to withdraw the missiles.

We have seen many events that have taken place throughout time. Some are small in detail and haven’t had much effect on our society, while others have had lasting impressions on us. The Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis are certainly events that changed the world’s thinking about future wars. Though nuclear war hasn’t invaded our lives, the events that took place in 1961 have made us aware of the dangers and devastation that it would certainly bring.

The circumstances that surround this event certainly took its toll on society not only during the 1960’s but also for years to come. Following the Bay of Pigs, a major confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union began on October 22, 1962, when Kennedy announced that Soviet-supplied offensive missile bases were being built in Cuba and demanded that the USSR dismantle and remove the weapons. At the same time, he declared that U.S. naval forces would enforce a quarantine of the island, intercepting and inspecting cargo on ships bound for Cuba to determine whether they included offensive weapons. The OAS nations solidly supported the U.S. stand. For several days, war seemed possible and at times imminent, but at the end of a week Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the bases and permit the United States on-site inspection in return for a U.S. guarantee not to invade Cuba. Although Cuba refused to permit the inspection, U.S. aerial reconnaissance revealed that the bases were being disassembled. In late December prisoners captured during the 1961 invasion attempt were released by Castro in exch

Some topics in this essay:
Communist Party, Cuba Hoping, Union October, Nikita Khrushchev, Missile Crisis, Cuba Cuba, Photoanalysts CIA, Soviet Union, Soon Stalin, War II, bay pigs, communist party, nuclear war, pigs invasion, bay pigs invasion, cuban missile crisis, cold war, missile crisis, total failure, cuban missile, soviet union, castro cuba,