1. The Cuban Missile Crisis: Timeline of Events
Name

2. 6th August 1945
9th August 1945
At the end of World War II, the USA dropped a nuclear weapon on Japan, first over Hiroshima, and then 3 days later over Nagasaki.
These are the only times nuclear weapons have been used in war.

3. Brief Timeline of Hiroshima/ Nagasaki
7 Dec 1941: Attack on Pearl Harbour
24 July 1945: Truman tells Stalin that the USA has a new, powerful weapon, but doesn’t say it is atomic.
26 July 1945: Potsdam Declaration is issued requiring unconditional surrender from Japan. Two days later, Japan rejects it.
6 Aug 1945: Hiroshima bomb drops at 18:16am
8 Aug 1945: The Soviet Union announces that it is entering the war against Japan.
9 Aug 1945: Nagasaki bomb is dropped at 11:02am
15 Aug 1945: Japan surrenders
It its believed that the first event to have spurred on the US bombings of Hiroshima/Nagasaki would be the Japanese on Pearl Harbour in 1941 as some would have sought retaliation.
In 1942 the Manhattan Project is established and Truman comes to take on this project after his appointment in Shortly afterwards Hiroshima/Nagasaki are identified as target cities and it is decided that the bombs would be dropped without warning the civilian population.
20th June 1945 – Japan’s Emperor calls a meeting to discuss ending the war and contacts Moscow to see if the USSR would help mediate peace negotiations. The Postdam Conference opens on the 17th July 1945 and Truman informs Stalin they have a new weapon but misses out the fact it is atomic. The Postdam Declaration is then issued on 26th July 1945 and requires the unconditional surrender of Japan.
Japan rejects this and 9 days later on the 6th August, The first bomb falls on Hiroshima at 08.16am.
The USSR then announces it is entering the war against Japan and 3 days later on the 9th August 1945 the Nagasaki Bomb is dropped at 11.02am.
Following the death and destruction caused by the two bombs, on the 10th Japan offers to surrender if the Emperor is retained, which is agreed and Japan officially surrenders on the 15th August However these events spurred on the first nuclear tests of the USSR in 1949 and Britain in 1952.

4. The aerial photo on the left was taken before the bomb exploded over Hiroshima.
Q: How do you know same place?
The photo on the right was taken after the bomb exploded.

5. These are the steps leading up to a bank in Hiroshima, where people were waiting at 8am for the bank to open when the bomb exploded at about 8:15.
The circular grey patch known as the ‘shadow’ is all that was left of a person who was sitting on the steps.
These steps are now in the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Museum displayed along with many other artefacts left after the bomb.

6. This was one of the few buildings left standing in Hiroshima after the bomb. It used to be an industry exhibition hall.
It is difficult to determine the exact numbers of dead as exact population figures were also destroyed as the records were held in the city. But from nationwide records and medical records after the event, 75,000 died within the first few hours if not immediately. By the end of December 1945 this number had risen to 140,000 and by the end of 1950 to 200,000. The subsequent deaths were caused by radiation sickness, burns, and a lack of medical supplies for treatment of injuries.

7. Reasons FOR dropping the Bomb
Retaliation for Pearl Harbour
To “end the war quickly”
Some say lives were saved as USA didn’t have to make a land invasion
To test a nuclear bomb ‘for real’
To send a message to Russia
Q: Japan couldn’t have gone on for much longer with the war (some say it was close to surrendering) so what reasons could the US give for dropping the bomb?
Some say the USA wanted to force Japan to surrender as quickly as possible to minimize American casualties.
The 1st nuclear test by the United States army was called Trinity and took place in a dessert in New Mexico. Some say the 2nd time was to test the world's first atomic bomb for an actual attack on a real city/target and to observe its effects.
Others say it was to establish US dominance after the war.
Some people believe it was in revenge for attacking Pearl Harbour. .

8. Reasons AGAINST dropping the Bomb
Immoral - many innocent civilians suffered (between 140,000 and 600,000 deaths).
Some say Japan was going to surrender soon anyway.
The USA might have been trialling the nuclear bomb on real people.
It provoked an international arms race, which led to the nearest possibility of nuclear war – The Cuban Missile Crisis.
And in hindsight what reasons can you suggest AGAINST dropping the bomb?
It was incredibly immoral and inhumane, estimates suggest that the number of casualties from both bombs falls near to 200,000. Many were essentially burned to death instantaneously, but others suffered long afterwards with health complications as a result of the radioactive material.
There are suggestions Japan was close to surrender anyway. On 20th June 1945, the Japanese Emperor did call a Supreme War Direction Council meeting to discuss the possibility of ending the war. The Foreign minister also contacted the Ambassador in Moscow to see if the USSR would help mediate in peace negotiations.
Testing the weapons on real people to see nuclear weapon effects or to send the USSR a message
Following Hiroshima/Nagasaki, other countries felt compelled to build up their nuclear weapons stockpiles – the USSR and Britain followed shortly with their first nuclear tests and this ‘arms race’ effectively brought about the ‘Cold War’. Today there are 9 countries with nuclear weapons. .

9. If a nuclear bomb hit Buckingham Palace…
NB: It is often shocking when the epicentre is replaced with the school’s location – this might provoke good discussion.
Nuke map allows you to simulate a variety of explosions, including the Hiroshima bomb, and one of the UK’s Trident bombs- each have different effects and ranges.

10. What happens when a nuclear weapon is dropped?
Within ½ mile of the centre all the people would die.
Within 3 miles there would be complete destruction of buildings and firestorms and 90% of people would die.
The temperature at the centre of the blast would reach millions of degrees c.
Winds would rage at 1000 mph
Go through bullets first – These are the facts as told by government, even those in favour of nuclear weapons are aware of effects and want peace, we’ll find out why the think weapons -> peace later.
Put your hand up if you would still be safe.
253mph in Australian cyclone is the fastest naturally occurring wind.
Q: Where would you prefer to be?

11. …effects further out…
Buildings would still collapse up to 10 miles away
Exposed skin would burn from heat rays
Lots of radiation would be released into the air causing radiation sickness
What about now, would any of you still be safe? Put your hand up if you would still be safe.
You could use ‘Nuke Map’ to show the areas affected by different nuclear explosions e.g. the Hiroshima bomb, or a Trident warhead. See here:

12. …far reaching effects.
Effects would be even further reaching with black radioactive rain falling throughout the region
A bomb exploded on the ground could spread radiation over large distances and be spread by the wind even further
The effects would reach far into the future with survivors getting leukaemia and cancer years later, and affecting their children and grandchildren
With greater time, comes a greater dispersal of the effects (temporal and geographical) !

13. The Soviet Union developed their own nuclear weapons shortly after the US in 1949.
Two superpowers with different political ideologies began forming alliances
with other nations to champion their influence.
‘Cold War’ - because there was no ‘Hot’ direct warfare between the two countries. Instead mass stockpiling of nuclear weapons in an arms race created conflict and suspicion.
Weapons stockpiling resulted in Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) – the logic that neither country would attack the other with a nuclear weapon because they would suffer a similar attack in retaliation.
The Cold War ended in 1991, but the consequences continue to shape world politics
The Cold War
Once the US had displayed its nuclear might through Hiroshima/Nagasaki – it was only a matter of time until the rest of the world would follow.
The Soviet Union developed and tested their nuclear weapons in 1949 and with this began ‘The Cold War’. While the US and the Soviet Union had been allies in WW2, differences in economic and political ideology saw the superpowers compete to form alliances across the globe in order to champion their influence and reduce support for the other superpower. While the ‘Cold War’ earned its name due to the lack of ‘hot conflict’ – i.e. no direct warfare, there were ‘Proxy wars’ such as the Korean War and the Vietnam war, where each superpower would take sides and play out their conflict indirectly. Meanwhile, the cold war saw the mass stockpiling of nuclear weapons, which created much suspicion and distrust. Nuclear weapons stockpiling was based on the logic of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) – where neither country would attack with a nuclear weapon for fear they would be victims of a similar attack in return. While the cold war lasted for roughly 50 years, it ended in Yet it continues to shape the world of politics today.

14. The Cuban Missile Crisis
19 Dec 1960: Cuba officially aligns itself with the Soviet Union following the severing of diplomatic ties and the embargo from the US.
17 Apr 1961: CIA backed Cuban exiles are defeated at the ‘Bay of Pigs’, after launching an invasion to overthrow the new Castro government.
27 July 1962: Following the failed CIA backed invasion of Cuba in 1961 President Castro announces that any direct US attack on Cuba would result in the equivalent of a world war.
10 Aug 1962: CIA director informs President Kennedy that Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles will soon be deployed in Cuba.
14 Oct 1962: The US obtains photographic evidence of nuclear missiles stationed in western Cuba.
23 Oct 1962: President Kennedy orders US ships to form a ‘naval blockade’ to prevent the transportation of missiles.
26 Oct 1962: The US begins discussions about invading Cuba.
26 Oct 1962: President Khrushchev sends a letter to President Kennedy proposing to remove his missiles on the condition that the U.S never invade Cuba, and remove missiles threatening the Soviet Union from Turkey.
27 Oct 1962: A US spy plane gets lost and enters Soviet air space.
27 Oct 1962: President Kennedy agrees to President Khrushchev’s proposal and the secret condition that the United States would remove missiles stationed in Turkey.
28 Oct 1962: President Khrushchev announces Over Radio Moscow that he has agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Some say it was the closest the world came to a nuclear war…
Brief Timeline, Students will have this in front of them shortly anyway. Could leave us as a visual aid during the workshop.
Background Information:
During the Castro government of Cuba, many US companies and individuals saw the nationalisation of their industries and property. This prompted President Eisenhower in 1960 to freeze Cuban assets, sever diplomatic ties and tighten the embargo on Cuba. This loss of trade
with the US led the Cuban government to find a new ally in the Soviet Union. Concerned at this, President Eisenhower gave $13.1 million to the CIA with the intention of overthrowing the Castro government.
On the 17th of April 1961 a CIA sponsored paramilitary group launched an attempted invasion of Cuba, known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. The invasion was defeated by the Cuban army but prompted stronger ties with the Soviet Union for economic, political and military security from the US.
Tensions between the Soviet Union and the US had been rising since the end of the Second World War, with both sides building up their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The US had positioned nuclear missiles in Turkey, the UK and Italy with the capability of striking the Soviet Union and was in a militarily stronger position than the Soviet Union at that point. The Soviets believed that placing missiles on Cuba, capable of striking the US would
not only defend their ally Cuba, but also give them leverage to attempt to win control over West Berlin from the West, through conceding the removal of the missiles from Cuba in return for West Berlin.
The installation of Soviet missiles on Cuba had begun by September 1962 and on October the 14th US planes captured footage of the construction of a missile base. Once reported to President Kennedy, he was left with a number of options, from ignoring the threat and appearing weak in the face of Soviet aggression, to launching an invasion of Cuba and risking a nuclear exchange. Many of his advisors thought that air strikes or an invasion of Cuba were the most appropriate reactions, but Kennedy worried that this could lead to retaliation from the Soviet Union.
Kennedy eventually opted to form a naval blockade of Cuba to stop Soviet missiles reaching the island. The Soviet commander in Cuba was authorised to use tactical nuclear weapons against US forces should they invade, and as Soviet missiles were already installed, any attack on Cuba could have led to the outbreak ofnuclear war.
On October President Khrushchev sent a message to Kennedy, offering to remove the missiles from Cuba if the US promised not to invade or directly support the overthrow of the Castro government. Kennedy later received another message from Moscow, offering to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba if the US removed theirs from Turkey as well as promising not to invade Cuba. This possible resolution angered many of Kennedy’s advisors as it would make the US seem weak and uninterested in supporting their Turkish allies.
Kennedy sent his brother Robert to deliver a message to the Soviet ambassador, agreeing to pledge not to invade Cuba and also
privately agreeing to remove US missiles from Turkey once the crisis had passed. The agreement was accepted by
Khrushchev. Had it been rejected, a US invasion of Cuba, followed by a nuclear retaliation from the Soviet Union
would have been likely.
It is claimed that the Cuban missile crisis was the closest the world came to a nuclear armed World War Three, with governments and people across the world fearing a nuclear apocalypse.

15. Any Questions?
Any Questions?