The Cuban Missile Crisis From October 14 to 28, 1962, the world was closer to nuclear war than ever before. For 13 days, the world stood on the brink of nuclear Armageddon. In the end, rationality did not prevail; It was only thanks to a bit of luck that the situation could not get out of hand. The crisis exemplified the doctrine of mutually assured destruction, which would come to define the remainder of the Cold War. It also showed how fragile diplomacy can be when addressing the issue of preventing global annihilation. This conflict was not just between the United States and the Soviet Union. As Mark Laffey and Jutta Weldes write in Decolonizing the Cuban Missile Crisis, Mark Laffey and Jutta Weldes document the Cuban perspective on the situation that they say is often overlooked. Furthermore, Castro's role is also overlooked. In One Minute to Midnight, Michael Dobbs examines Castro's influence on the crisis and how he helped hold the world hostage. From 1947 to 1991, the Cold War was a period of prolonged military, political, and economic tensions between the United States. States and its Western Bloc/NATO allies, and the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. Although no direct military conflict has ever broken out between the two sides, proxy wars have occurred. The doctrine of mutually assured destruction, the construction of large nuclear arsenals, military buildup and deployment, espionage, and competitions such as the space race also characterized the Cold War. Once the battle lines were drawn, it was only a matter of time before something like the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. The origins of the Cuban Missile Crisis lay in the United States' installation of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey, aimed at Moscow. of paper... so close to seeing nuclear war. A struggle between two world powers for supremacy neglected the third crucial element which was Cuba. Cuba was not simply a passive pawn in a large game of chess. Cuba, under Castro's control, played a critical role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro was keen to win his case in order to protect Cuba's interests and sovereignty and to ward off what was perceived as American aggression. Ultimately, Castro's extremist rhetoric was unsuccessful. And humanity was saved from total annihilation.SourcesWeldes, Jutta. “Decolonizing the Cuban Missile Crisis.” International Studies Quarterly 52: 555-577. (accessed April 30, 2014). Dobbs, Michael. One minute to midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the brink of nuclear war. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.