Wanting to expand their sphere of influence, the Soviet Union supported Fidel Castro’s dictatorship in Cuba. Russian aid to the country of Cuba caused the US to be faced with the problem of nuclear missiles being within striking distance of every one of its major cities. President Kennedy was faced with three possible options for the dilemma: a nuclear strike on the missile sites in Cuba, and air attack with conventional bombs, or a naval blockade to prevent the Russians from transporting more missiles to Cuba. President Kennedy decided on a “quarantine” of Cuba through a naval blockade. After stiff negotiations, the Soviet Union agreed to remove its missiles from Cuba without the addition of more. Nuclear war was avoided within a matter of minutes. In an unpublicized agreement, JFK agreed to Khrushchev’s condition of the removal of the US missiles in Turkey and Greece. The United States and Russia each removed their missile positions near the other’s borders. While trying to increase their spheres of influence, the United States and Russia inched closer to a nuclear confrontation, however, each were simply trying to be bigger and better than the other. The insecurity of both nations gave momentum to this competition.

Following Khrushchev’s decision on the Berlin Wall, he received much criticism from the Russian people. In response, he ordered new nuclear tests that eventually led to the creation of the Hydrogen bomb. This advancement caused the Americans to soon follow with their own Hydrogen bomb as the arms race began to hear up with increased funding by both sides in order to out-perform the other. These advancements caused either country to gain a greater respect for the other. This respect led to the Geneva Summit in November 1985. President Reagan met with Gorbachev in order to discuss the control of nuclear weapons, as either side was willing to make huge cuts to their nuclear arsenal. Gorbachev was determined for Reagan to end the development of the space based anti-missile system, however, Reagan was strongly opposed. The development of nuclear weapons soon took a backseat to the development of more advanced defense systems against nuclear attack as each country tried to e!

The Arms Race epitomized the Cold War. Both the United States and the Soviet Union spent huge amounts of money in militarization. The idea that the United States and the Soviet Union had the power to destroy

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