The Cuban Missile Crisis (known as the October Crisis in Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 or Caribbean Crisis (Russ: Kарибский кризис) in the USSR) was a confrontation among the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, Cuba and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in October 1962, during the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

. In August 1962, after some unsuccessful operations by the US to overthrow the Cuban regime (Bay of Pigs

Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...

, Operation Mongoose), the Cuban and Soviet governments secretly began to build bases in Cuba for a number of medium-range

Medium-range ballistic missile

A medium-range ballistic missile , is a type of ballistic missile with medium range, this last classification depending on the standards of certain organizations. Within the U.S. Department of Defense, a medium range missile is defined by having a maximum range of between 1,000 and 3,000 km1...

 and intermediate-range ballistic

Intermediate-range ballistic missile

An intermediate-range ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km , between a medium-range ballistic missile and an intercontinental ballistic missile...

 nuclear missiles (MRBMs and IRBMs) with the ability to strike most of the continental United States.