Cuban Missile Crisis

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/cuban-missile-crisis

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who discovered Cuban Missile Crisis?October 14, 1962 (confirmed by U-2 reconnaissance)
2. What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?It was a 13‑day showdown in 1962 when the U.S. and the Soviet Union almost went to war because the Soviets put nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida.
3. Why did the Soviet Union put missiles in Cuba?They wanted to balance the U.S. missiles in Turkey and protect Fidel Castro’s government after the Bay of Pigs attack.

Ballistic Missile: A missile that follows a trajectory determined by gravity and initial thrust, often carrying nuclear warheads.
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD): A doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.
Arms Control: International agreements and treaties designed to limit the production, testing, and spread of weapons, especially nuclear weapons.